Apprenticeships

Becki Johnson (18) is in her second year of her Perrys Apprenticehip. She has long imagined being a mechanic. Her dad, also a mechanic, didn’t think girls could mend cars. Becki wants to prove him wrong. Besides this motivation, she discovered rally cross driving and this fuelled her ambition to learn how cars worked and how to mend them.

She is studying for a three-year qualification specialising in electrical work. She didn’t get the right help at the first college she was at, but the flexibility of the scheme allowed her to change colleges and now she is happy. Becki goes there one day a week. She is the only woman in her class, although there are three others on the full time course.

8.00

Becki arrives at work. She works with her mentor, a qualified technician. The jobs are distributed to the team and Becki is given a job that her supervisor knows she can do on her own. This might be changing an engine or a gearbox. For this, she disconnects all the cables and bolts and then takes the car onto the ramp to lift out the engine.

It’s a freezing winter morning. At first Becki wore lots of layers, but this made her colder. So she wears less and if she has to be outside, she is now used to the low temperature so it’s not a problem. In the old days taking off a wheel would result in Becki being covered in dirt! As she has gained experience she has developed efficient working methods, and because she is now stronger she handles equipment and parts with skill and keeps clean.

13.00

Lunch is an hour. A food van arrives at the workshop in the morning and Becki and the team buy their lunch. It sells sandwiches, baguettes and hot food such as cheese and bacon turnovers and sausage rolls. Becki eats this in the canteen with others in the team. She gets on with everyone and receives lots of support and advice. She is one of three apprentices in her workshop.

14.00

Becki enjoys the challenge of the different tasks she hasn’t done before or too often, such as working on engines. She is now able to do a service without supervision. She is getting familiar with electrical work because her supervisor specialises in this. She will use an Examiner’ – a diagnostic tool – to help identify faults. This plugs into the vehicle and is operated by a touch screen. So the skills required for this job are not only mechanical. It helps to know how to use a computer.

Becki enjoys all parts of her job. She says it beats being stuck in an office and she gets great satisfaction out of using her hands and her brain to solve problems.

17.00

Becki encourages other young women like herself to work in the motor industry. She doesn’t see why they can’t be as good as the men. There is equipment to help and everyone at Perrys is friendly and helpful. She loves her work and, ironically since this is a description of a ‘typical’ day, no day is the same.