Apprenticeships: Jake’s story

An ambitious 20-year-old is encouraging school leavers to consider apprenticeships as a way to fast track their career.

Jake Carey, a wind power engineering apprentice is following in his family’s footsteps by training to work on wind turbines, Wales’ biggest renewable energy source, doing his bit to tackle the climate crisis.

He said:

“Growing up in Llandudno you can’t miss the wind turbines when you’re walking along the seafront, but I never imagined myself being one of the few who actually gets to sail out and work on them!

“I think I could easily have been one of those people who panics about what they’re going to do when they finish school and automatically copied my friend’s career paths.

“However, I’d always been interested in engineering, electronics and science but there wasn’t really an opportunity at school to dig deeper into it. My uncle really encouraged and inspired me to think about an apprenticeship as a good way of learning more and getting into the STEM sector.

“I absolutely love every minute of my course at Coleg Llandrillo, and even though there’s a lot of theory and technical elements to learn before we can work on the turbines themselves, I know as soon as it’s safe to I’ll be putting all my theory into practice.

I’ve also been able to learn from other mechanics and engineers who have been doing the job for years and they’ve been amazing mentors to me along the way.

“Doing an apprenticeship has really opened my eyes to the world of work, I’m only 20 now but here I am, almost qualified, in a really specialised and highly technical job.

“I know that once I’m qualified, I’ll have the opportunity to work anywhere in the world, as turbines are being built in lots of different countries and my skills will always be in demand. Even though I’d love to travel, eventually I’d like to settle in my hometown in north Wales, where RWE are looking to build more wind farms.

“The main thing I love about my apprenticeship is that I’ve already got my life and career mapped out at a relatively young age.