I’VE GOT THE LIFE I WANTED
BETHANY WELSH BALFOUR BEATTY CIVIL ENGINEER
ARCHITECTURE and design have been Bethany Welsh’s obsessions since first-year at school. The classroom was never her favourite place but she loved technical subjects.
She recalled: “I was always outdoors, doing stuff. I didn’t not like going to school, but when the last bell rang it was the best time of my day.
“I wanted to be out on the site designing, seeing projects being built, being part of that process.”
A graduate-level apprenticeship with Balfour Beatty in the north of Scotland ticked all the boxes.
Bethany has worked on major infrastructure projects such as the Inveramsay Bridge outside Inverurie.
As a contractor for the RAF, she has been on bases around the north of Scotland, as well as working on the nuclear plant at Caithness.
She has also joined smaller projects including a local authority flood protection scheme. And she has run her own concrete-pouring operation – not an achievement on many 20-year-olds’ CVs.
There is classroom time involved, but it’s nothing like school.
Bethany explained: “It’s much more interesting now. It’s something you want to learn because you’ve got the job and you can relate it to what you’re doing every day.”
Now in her fourth year with Balfour Beatty, Bethany is convinced she made the right career move.
She said: “I will come out with the same qualification as someone who has been to university, but with years and years of experience, which is ultimately what employers are looking for.
“Once I have qualified I want to be a site engineer.
“I’ve thought about going into the design side of civil engineering, maybe when I’m older. But that site experience – that’s with me for life. I will remember that more than reading a book.”