Apprentice Specialist Laboratory Support Technician
Faculty of Science & Engineering
Describe your work area and its importance.
The main aim(s) of the apprenticeship is to provide an apprentice with a transferable skills set that will afford the opportunity to develop a rewarding career as a specialist laboratory support technician, upon successful completion of the apprenticeship program.
On a typical day, what do you spend most of your time on?
Everything form the ground up! As an apprentice I rotate 3-4 times a year around different labs and disciplines to gain a broad skill set. I am provided with instruction, information and training from senior laboratory staff and managers, so that I am able to independently and competently undertake many key chemical procedures, and prepare a broad-range of geological and biological materials used in both teaching and research, within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Faculty of Humanities. So as you can se, my job varies from day to day, month to month.
Describe your career path to date, including highs and lows.
After leaving school I studied A ‘levels. During my first year of A ‘levels I applied for an Apprenticeship in Engineering at the University of Manchester. My application was successful and I started Trafford College in Sept 2015 where I studied a level 2 Btec in Mechanical engineering. During my second year on the apprenticeship programme I moved into the workshop on campus where I realised that Engineering was not for me so I applied to be transferred onto the Apprentice Specialist Laboratory Support Technician programme. I was able to do this because I had good Biology and Chemistry GCSE’s and AS Levels.
I am currently studying at Level 3 Btec in Chemistry on day release while I rotate through different labs to gain some practical experience.
Low point – realising I was on the wrong career path
High point – being given the opportunity to switch from Engineering to Apprentice Specialist Laboratory Support Technician