A CAREER THAT I CAN BUILD ON
DETERMINED to change the world in which he lives, Fitzgerald Chikoba has known most of his life that he wanted to be a civil engineer.
With dreams of one day building magnificent roads and bridges, the 20-year-old from Leeds is well on his way, not through university but by earning and learning on the job at the Highways and Transportation Department for Leeds City Council.
What do you do?
I am based in the office some of the time and am usually working on computer-aided design software (AutoCAD) to help develop projects. These range from car parks and roads to roundabouts – anything to do with highways and transportation.
A developer might come to us for instance asking for support and guidance in getting new infrastructure up and running, so we will help them solve problems such as what new roads are needed.
When the time is right I go out on site with hard hat and tape measure in hand and help get projects underway. I’m working on a car park at the moment and constantly learning.
Where do you get the buzz?
Seeing something that I have helped design is amazing. One of my first projects has been involved in getting some bollards installed to protect pedestrians. I chuckle to myself every time I see them.
One day of course I would love to build a bridge, but you have to start somewhere.
Why did you end up doing this?
It might sound corny but I really want to shape the world so others can enjoy it. When I was growing up I was always completely fascinated with how things worked.
I drove my parents crazy taking broken things apart in the hope of fixing them – from washing machines to bikes I was desperate to know how they worked.
I tend not to do it nowadays, but my dad isn’t worried anymore. If I break something at least I can now afford to buy a new one.
As I grew older, I started to look at bridges and roads and wonder how they got built.
Everything we do in our lives has had a civil engineer involved with it at some point. I just knew I wanted to be a part of that.
How did you make it a reality?
I sort of got distracted for a bit by football – I loved it and at 16 got selected for a two-year scholarship to play for Halifax Town. During that time I studied sports science.
I wasn’t selected to carry on but that didn’t worry me at all as I knew it was time to focus on civil engineering. I certainly didn’t want to go to university – I felt that a subject like this needed real-life work experience as well as studying. I certainly didn’t want the debt you get with university.
A BTEC in civil engineering was perfect to get started and after a few months of applying for different styles of apprenticeships I found Leeds Council offering a three-year BTEC moving on to HND and HNC, which are part of what you would get for a degree anyway.
I have never been so happy as the day I started. I have a couple of months to go and I know they’ll fly past.
What has it been like?
By studying through college as well as working as part of the team I have learned so much. If ever I am stuck, I just speak to a colleague and they help me work out the issue. Working from home took some getting used to during the pandemic, but I got on with it.
I have little brothers at home but everyone has been having to just get on with work.
What advice do you have for others?
The important thing is to find out what it is you want to do. Whether you know already or need to research or find work experience, once you know, you just have to look at different ways to do it.
I personally think the BTEC route is the best, certainly for civil engineering.
Hands-on learning was undoubtedly the right thing for me. I am being trained and will have my dream job too. What can be better than that?
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I felt that civil engineering needed reallife work experience, not university
Contacts
Fitzgerald’s BTEC qualifications – which are equivalent to A-levels – have been awarded by Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding organisation offering academic, vocational and work-based learning qualifications.
For inspiration on alternatives to university, check out pearson. com/en-gb.html
Other great places to look for vocational training and qualifications is NotGoingToUni (notgoingtouni.co.uk) which lists everything from internships to apprenticeships to help you get started on your chosen career path.