Eighteen-year-old Carys Lewis-Waterfield is following in her father’s footsteps by doing an engineering apprenticeship and working for him in the family’s steel fabrication firm.
Carys said: “I’ve grown up around engineering and sitting behind a desk at a computer isn’t for me. I need to be doing something practical which is why an apprenticeship is perfect as I’m learning practical skills, gaining a qualification, getting paid and, at 18, am already on the career ladder.”
Carys, who attends college two days-a-week to study for the Level 2 diploma in fabrication and welding, added: “Combining working and studying is a great way for me to learn as when I’m doing something at work I can relate it back to what I’ve been taught at college, and my dad’s happy as he knows I’m learning the correct way to do things and gaining the theory to back up the practical skills he’s teaching me.
“People think that engineering is just for males but it isn’t. My advice to young women who want to get into engineering is ‘don’t follow other girls because that’s what you think you should do – don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, you can do it if you want to!’”
