By Miranda Reilly
Harry Kachika, Apprentice Mechanical Technician
Harry started his apprenticeship about a year ago after studying maths
and engineering at college. He enjoys every day of it and the people he works
around. In the future, he’d like to use his experience to go abroad wherever
his work takes him.
· Hi,
Harry. Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself, do you have any
particular hobbies?
I go to the gym a lot, and I play
basketball daily. I go out sometimes, not that much. I’m very active.
·
What is
your apprenticeship, and how far into it are you?
I’m a year and a bit into it now; it’s
three years long. I’m an Apprentice Mechanical Technician.
·
What are
you hoping to do once it’s finished?
I’m hoping to stay here for a bit; in the
future… I’d like to branch out, maybe go abroad.
·
Any
particular country?
Not a particular one, wherever it takes me!
· Can you
talk us through an average day here?
Right now I’m working on my project, but
usually academics from different departments come into the workshops with
drawings, asking us to make things for them. I use a lot of different machines
– CNC [Computer Numerical Control], lays, drills, grinders.
·
What are
you doing for your project?
I’m making a typing machine.
·
Did you
get much free choice in that, or was the project assigned to you?
It was a free choice, but it was also a
mutual decision between me and my supervisor about what would be best.
·
What are your
supervisor and other people overseeing you like?
They’re really helpful, I think – they’re
understanding that you’re an apprentice, so you don’t know everything, so they
have to be very patient but at the same time they challenge you. I think
they’re really good people.
· Did you
always want to go into this career, or were you unsure?
I always wanted to go into engineering,
yeah. Not this specifically, but definitely engineering.
·
What were
you doing before you started here?
I was at college, studying maths and
engineering.
·
Did your
college talk about apprenticeships much?
Not really, they were more on the uni side
of things – I found out about apprenticeships myself, really.
· So how
did you find out about Oxford’s apprenticeships?
I found it on the apprenticeships website.
It was a fairly easy application process, pretty straightforward.
·
And has
it been how you expected it to be or has it surprised you?
I don’t know what I was expecting, since I
didn’t know what apprenticeships were like, but I’ve had previous jobs so I was
expecting to work independently, but wasn’t expecting how easy it would be.
· What
skills and experience do you think you’ve gained?
I’ve definitely gained more confidence, people
skills; I’m better at working by myself as well as in a team, I’m more punctual
– I’ve learned a lot of mechanical engineering skills as well. I think it’s a
good experience, a good opportunity for people not looking to go to uni.
· What
would you say to other departments who are considering hiring apprentices but
aren’t sure?
I think it would be a good idea: more
people are going into apprentices, and if the department want their knowledge
to keep growing when the older guys retire, they should take on apprentices.
Apprentices gain knowledge from the people who are already there and can carry
on when they leave.
·
Any other
thoughts?
Give it a go, man. Even if the
apprenticeship’s not the one you want, you can always switch: working at the
university means that you can try out different departments if you’re not
feeling the one you’re at.
·
Have you
explored any other departments yourself?
Not other departments, but I have explored
other engineering buildings. I would like to go see others, though.
- 17:08
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