Audio Transcript: Apprenticeship Podcast - Maria Valverde & Sean Wilson

[Music] hi this is skills for Life a podcast
Series where we hear from current and past apprentices at Scottish Power to
find out why an apprenticeship is such a great career choice in this episode I'm
joined by Maria Valverde who's a data science apprenticeship at Scottish Power
and by Sean Wilson who did the project management apprenticeship at Scottish Power and is now working as a project
leader so thank you both very much for coming in to talk to us um Maria I'll I'll
start with you so you have just recently graduated from uni is that right and
what were you doing there so well I'm or originally from Spain and I moved to glassgo in 2019 to start my University
degree at Glasgow uni I did genetics for my undergrad I graduated in June and I
started the data science apprenticeship degree at Scottish Power so yeah just
recently joined oh wow I knew that wasn't a Glasgow accent of course so you came from Spain
you you studied here in Glasgow you finished your genetics course and now you are on the data Sciences
apprenticeship um program how's it going and what's involved so well so far when
I was doing my undergr my undergrad um it was third year imagine uh I was
having a lot of like love work and everything and I found out that that was not for me so basically in the fourth
year I started doing more B informatics and all that and that's how I got into data science and thanks to a course I
did in my informatics and coding and I decided to apply to Scottish Power for
the data science degree because that was the way to open another door in BIO informatics or data science and so far
it's going very well I I've started my course at University and I learning a lot and I'm very happy oh good good to
hear um how did you find out about the program at Scottish Power I found out on
LinkedIn actually I was looking through few ODS and everything and I found out
about the program and I really like the fact that they offer you to get a whole degree apart from getting work
experience so that's how I got interested and how does it work so do you do some time at Uni and some time uh
work is it a combination of both or so basically uh what I do is I do four days
at work um I work some of the days at the office and I work some of the days
uh from home and I go to UNI one day that is my University day is Friday so
basically I'm just working for four days and going to UNI the other day and most
of the projects of University are work based so I also get to work on
University content during my four days because it's also related to the company and also about University that sounds
like a good balance and Sean um you did the project management apprenticeship um
or you you did that but you fast tracked out of it didn't you but just before we go into that you actually were at
University before but you you came out of uni to start the sub ship didn't you yep yep so I went to UNI for two years
and to be honest I didn't enjoy it that much I didn't enjoy just doing Theory so
I wanted to join a workplace and learn skills off experienced people so since I've joined I've not regreted it one but
to be honest I've learned a lot of skills and developed myself massively too in and out of the workplace through
different challenges and to be honest pressure has grown me as well within the
workplace and how does your setup work then how how does it work for you do you also do some um work based stuff and
then stuff at Uni or uh right now it's nothing but in September I'm looking to
go back at Uni to finish the last two years and then look at any other possibilities moving forward and I feel
as though that's my next steps is as much education right now to build strong routes MH so when you did what what was
your degree in Business started and then you thought it was maybe not quite for you so you came out of that onto the
project management apprenticeship yep and then tell us about how you FastTrack because you're now employed you you yeah
you got f job this is you in Scottish Power yeah so I I couldn't have imagined
it so it was a threeyear program initially it was meant to be so I got different projects to tackle uh
throughout my my two years as well so to be honest I kind of showed that I was willing to do anything H and I wasn't
that as good with the practical but I was good with pra h i was good at rolling up my sleeves and getting on
with it with challenges and such a big business like Scottish Power has always got challenges and opportun so I've kind
of just adapted and learned each time and got a bit better each month and every day mhm and what business area are
you in so I'm in h distribution uh so it's under licensed programs and it's
mainly focusing in on uh Net Zero in terms of LCT people facilitating so
people can go and get a car charger and a heat pump so LCT low carbon technology
y just checking so work heat pumps and and EVS
electric vehicles and all stuff that's going to help get to to Net Zero how do
you find that because that's a an area in an an industry that's really making a
difference for the future it's massive absolutely massive even talking to anyone outside of work they always ask
questions regarding what we're doing uh the areas we are working in and modernizing there places that I have so
lens where I used to walk to school we do doing everywhere they are crising we're doing so many areas and it's just
massive projects I'm dealing with which I'm enjoying as well mm and what's uh if there is such a thing as a normal day
for you what does that look like at work uh every day is different to be honest uh a Thursday is just all calls but
mainly it's managing a team managing Service Partners it's really hectic to
be honest right now on boarding eight Service Partners onto a contract uh with six new Service Partners onto framework
is just keeps you busy all the time so I like to keep on 8 to4 but it's quite
hard sometimes I can imagine and um Maria what's your sort of day today what
talk us through what the data science data science's apprenticeship involves yeah I know data science is not very
normal to many people so I'm going to try to be as yeah keep it simple keep it
simple for us don't know so basically I work in the network data and intelligence area and my my team is
called ISD that stands for a information system development so basically my team
works with all the maps containing all the assets that Scottish power energy networks has so my team basically uh
updates and keep all the map uh updated and basically those maps are controlled
by code and that's what we do because most of my job is coding with a computer
so yeah I got many different projects and same as not every day is the same I
got a lot of different projects of problems that can arise with the assets
or things that need to be updated so I can get from a list of assets that need
to be updated to for example the last thing I did was
creating a database to be able to contain all the transmission lines
information to be able to manage them better so it's very different every day
and it's very stimulating because you get to actually solve problems maybe
it's not something that is like work that people from the public can see but
is very useful and essential for any company because we have so many data
that needs to be managed some way so yeah I really like it absolutely that
when you talk about this um idea of roles that maybe people don't see those sort of Hands-On roles whether they're
Engineers or you know something like that that have a visibility to the public but these roles are so integral
to the sort of electrification that the country needs for the future to get to Net Zero and it's they're they're huge
aren't they they're hugely important yeah for example uh we were working with a map that actually all the engineers
are able to use and see where the assets are and like the conditions and everything so it's not something that is
directly able to see from the public perspective but it's very useful for the business too so when you talk about
assets what what are we talking about substations and stuff for Sub Station poles transmission lines overhead lines
all the things that the company owns basically and they recorded and those
there are so many so those data needs to be managed and store and update it to be
able to first to know what the company has second to be able for the engineers
to fix and if there's a fall or manage the yeah so it's a really sort of
crucial role in helping the the engineers and stuff as well to get to those assets and know what needs done
and and in terms of when you joined when you were thinking about coming to Scottish Power did you have a background
or any knowledge of the energy industry well to be fair um well this is quite a
interesting story because last year when I was last year university I tried to escape from the genetic subject so I
pick a business course and the final project was H creating a business idea
or a startup and my idea of a business
company was uh about creating energy using two bacteria that already existed
so basically I took that idea to a business competition and I came in like
second place out of 24 teams wow so so that's how I got started into the energy
world and it's very funny because when I was creating my business idea and like
the business model Comas and all that I said that Scottish Power was going to be my main partnership to be because we
were able to produce energy using those bacteria but after we need a partnership
with uh some somehow how to distribute and like and take the energy that we
were able to produce to every one so when I was when I planned that in the business competition I said that
Scottish Power H was going to be my main partnership and now I'm here working so
yeah and do your two roles sort of cross over because as you're in distribution you said Sean and so as the the Project
Lead there and managing projects that you've probably had input to In Your
Role at some point as well in terms of the data and there must be with the asset management part it's huge I didn't
realize how is like just different parts of the business just every day I'm learn
something new about customer service asset management and our project is
basically ripping out cables that are at the end of their life and putting new ones in so I think there is some sort of
tie but it seems pretty Broad in terms of how much she does cover ours is quite
specific and underground right now with houses we're mainly dealing with putting bigger cables cable heads in houses so
ours is a we bit more specific to we doing right now although that said it's funny how with um one of the main sort
of themes of this is skills for life and how the skills that you you have that
you learn in the workplace can be transferable and and you know applicable to to loads of different Industries and
areas and I think even although you're saying you're in a quite sort of specific technical role in Project leads
in and manager for that you've also mentioned the fact that you're also you know C you're dealing with customers so
customer service communication and Commercial there's so many elements definitely that I FR Mar talk me about
deal with eight Service Partners is ups and downs and eight different business owners H it definitely teaches you a lot
definitely because I think and again another sort of theme coming through from these podcasts that we've been doing is that there's so much more to
Scottish power than electricity sort of thing or or the engineers and it's just this idea that there's such a whole
broad spectrum of of areas to be involved in what would you say is one of the most surprising things that you've
found in your time so far I would say the amount of opportunities in the business right i'
say the opportunities and the wealth the wealth knowledge to be honest that I feel as all the amount of help that I
get and the amount of people that are experienced in the business is unbelievable I've I can phone up like
basically loads of people in the business and ask for helping they'll always help me I've got people in my department that worked for Scottish
Power in America M people that are District general managers like a alien r
that I could phone and ask for help and the gaker feel as though there's that much experience that it's just taken me
to a stage I never thought I would have got without the help of people at that MH and I think that's one of the good
things as well about coming into a big company on a on an apprenticeship scheme
be it graduate or or you know entry level or whatever there's this sort of concept of being able to join what is a
global company with so many different aspects to it but still having some kind of support you know tighten it support
to actually help and enable you to flourish in that role y 100% that the amount of opportunities whether I could
go with Renewables in the future uh Transmission in the future that it just the amount of doors I was
at a it was like a meeting when Vicky kelsaw came in and Kei Anderson and Kei
was talking about there's not a job here we can't offer there's that many opportunities and I really back by that
going if you look at it there is so many doors to open mhm somebody else mentioned that in a previous um series
as well in that or a previous episode in that those people at the top Keith
Anderson the overall head of Scottish Power and and Vicky kol VB energy networks the fact that these people are
so accessible and are so Keen to communicate with staff but also not just
one way it seems to be a two-way stream and somebody else had mentioned that they're Keen to hear from people who are
in the business so they want fresh ideas and they want you to to bring these ideas to them and to question things and
to to provide Solutions and it seems like it's a really good two was 100%
yeah I've got a meeting basically with my line manager every week and we sit with the SBD H distribution director
Craig ala and there's multiple times I've presented business cases to him and he's accepted or he's told me you're
wrong so there's a few definitely I've learned a lot of sitting with somebody
in a room and makes you have that 360 view to go away and think there's multiple options and it's sometimes you
need to take away and bounce ideas off people that are more experienced off you and I think that's just the way of grow
it's just bouncing off different ideas of people and seeing how that solution applies to them have you found a similar
experience Maria yeah honestly my experience of is been short because I
started in September but it's been great so far and and I've learned so many things and well I don't know if I'm a
data scientist yet probably not but I've learned a lot of problem solving skills
for example the ability to like when they give you a problem and maybe you're not going to see the solution instantly
but I've learned to not the stress see what I need to do first do it if I can
if not ask because as he was saying like that's the advantage of being not in a
well being a learning a stent that you can ask and there are many people who
knows more than you so you can actually go and say can you help me with this and
yeah I've learned a lot in problem solving and divide the problem step by
step and see what I can do see what needs to be done and actually I found out that that's the way to solve
problems and actually at the end you've solved them and it was easier than you
were thinking but it's just like not stress and see what needs to be be done and do it is as simple as that and I I
think that's also important not for the war not just for University but also for life in general yeah absolutely a whole
lot of transferable skills in terms of your kind of dayto day what does that
look like do you have a a normal day or is every day different for you as well I think every day is different well
sometimes I'm working on the same projects for a week or for two weeks but basically they give me a problem that
has to do with data that I need to solve so just using my skills or the things
that I know so far or information I am able to solve the problem so is very
intellectual stimulating I will say and I'm really enjoying and well basically
because if you think of a data scientist you will think of someone just coding with a computer every day but is
actually not the same do actually are coding to do something so and that those
things are different so it's not as boring as it looks so yeah I would
recommend it to everyone and is there anything that has surprised you about your time so far
yeah honestly how well I can do time management when I have to like actually
sit and do things because I was the kind of a student that get good grades but I
leave everything to the last minute so I was horrible with deadlines I've done so
many all nighters and now I've learned to manage my time better because I'm at
the office and I also get to do University things and I've surprised myself like H doing submissions like one
week or more before the deadline which was not imaginable for me before I know
how you feel with that I'm still like that um in terms of uh when you think
back to when you were at school and and going on to university did you have in
your mind then because we've spoken to some people who found that process or that whole situation I'm sure it's
common with so many people you get to that stage at the end of school and you think I don't exactly have a a career in
mind or a you know a dream job so it's quite daunting what kind of um what what
subjects did you guys both take at school and then on to we know you've done at University but what about at
school level were you so well as you can imagine data science what was not the job that I was dreaming
when I was a child but now I love it so basically uh when I was in high school
and at the school I always love maths but when I was finishing High School I
got more into biology and genetics and I thought that there it was a really new feel and I had so many ideas of things
that I wanted to create so I think that's why I went into study genetics
but when I was there I found out that uh research was not for me and maybe I
didn't see myself working in a lab full-time and the research world is more
it's not like you going to the LA and you can do whatever ideas you have in your mind it's more like you have to be
working in someone else's project until you have two phds and that's 30 years
after so it's not like you actually contribute as I was imagining so when I found that out
um I I maybe it was late to like drop out from University because
I was in third year and I had one more year left to finish so I was so glad
that I found this opportunity because I've always loved maths and number and I found that I was much more efficient and
better working with numbers than reading a paper like a research paper that I just couldn't really do it and so I was
so so glad I found out out at the end but I also say that if you don't like
your degree don't continue doing it because the work is what matters after
and you have to do that for the rest of your life so now I love what I'm doing and I'm so happy I found this that's
amazing that's really good to hear and talking about sort of coming out of uni and you've had the same experience Sean
and that's something I think that's a it's a really positive example of a
situation that some people might see as a negative you know I'm not liking this course I'm
going to stop the course I'm going to stop doing the course but then to pick up in a company that still allows you to
to have a career to to train in other aspects and to get further qualifications that's a really positive
thing isn't it yeah 100% anything basically for their education I've always been supported as well and I'd
say the main thing is probably leaving school I only thought uni was my only option M and that that that's kind of
all I was told and even when I was leaving you know my dad was trying to sway me stay stay H and it was the best
decision of my life to be honest to to leave and it was it was quite a a powerful decision to drop out unit and
go for an apprenticeship but I I look back and go I wish I'd done it straight after school and went into Scottish
Power either from the tools apprentiship and learn that aspect or like the
project management aspect I 100% I would go back and do an apprenticeship leaving
school wow really yeah 100% And I say that with my we cousins as well I always
say look at apprenticeships that that's a route 100% I would take and then go for your further education go and build
your wealth experience and your knowledge yep and what about the the subjects that you had done at school
before you went to University at first what had you taken uh maths and physics really so I quite like numbers as well
that was kind of my Approach uh I liked numbers dealing with that so theal my
commercial aspect in Spain as well there's just so many aspects I've dealt with that kind of suit my personality as
well and what I wanted to do but I'd say a lot a lot of times I see and the fear
I had to coming into span and Scottish Power was I didn't have technical knowledge I didn't have an electrical
background but I think you come in with your own skill set and that that's why you're in that business you're not there
to be an engineer you're not there to be a jointer I'm there to be a project manager
kind of bring my own skills to the party yeah absolutely and that again that's going back to this notion of coming to
Scottish Power in the energy industry you don't actually need to to have that
engineering background or you don't need to be an expert in whether it's renewable energy or or you know aspects
that the that span cover it's so technical I can't even think of words for
them how do you um keep yourself motivated through your apprenticeship
because you know I suppose does it ever feel sometimes like you're you're doing a bit of one thing and a bit of the
other in terms of you know a bit of un name a bit of work does that ever jar and if so how do you keep yourself
motivated well also related to what you were saying before I think doing an
apprenticeship is all about attitude is because you don't have that much technical knowledge is go there and say
Here I Am To Learn uh what needs to be done so yeah for me uh well also coming back
from doing a different thing at University now I keep myself motivated because I actually like what I'm doing
and it's so easy when you do like it I found out because I was doing for four years something that I don't I didn't
really like and I was maybe not bright enough like you to drop out and I finish it so yeah I think that's my way to keep
me motivated first actually do do something that I like and second is the fact that you're seeing how you're like
evolving and like improving every day and learning many new things is also very good and I don't know it gives you
hope to continue in see that you're doing things well and they having an impact on like the business so yeah I
think it's very good can you think of any examples of a sort of day or a
project that you've worked on that you've thought wow I would never have seen myself doing this yeah actually the
first one that I did when I went to Scottish Power was uh well it was
basically they were getting some data that H some other team created and they
have to apply them to another assets to see if they match and basically my my
task was uh there's a number that every ass H that is uh it has to do with some
rules and it's a rule of like maybe like 50 rules so basically my task was ER
having those rules into account I had to see if the number change it or not but the problem is what that H there were
like 4 million assets that I had to check so obviously you cannot do that like one by one so I had to create a
script doing using like basically I created some logarithms to see if what
happens to the assets uh of like with the new if the number was changing was
staying and if it was changing like what number was the new one so I had to basically create a way to automatize
that and so the computer will do that for me and I I don't know using logic and like
more things I created an script that was able to take that and give a new number
to the four million assets maybe that we were looking at so and that work so I was really
happy and I'm just really confed confused because my brain can't cope with that no yes yeah I don't think I
explain myself very well but oh no you did it's me it's me your explanation was perfect I'm just saying that I've I
don't have a logical brain yeah it was basically used like using some logic
applying on rules to a data set is more like a game it's like what happens to this number when you're applying a new
situation and thanks to the computer and like a script that I created I was able
to do that automatically and not having to do that four million times
yeah and what about you Sean probably responsibility just a lot of responsibility on me at times with
things that when I was an apprentice as well and my first year I was doing a a project for basically the it was the
district's involvement as well so it was involv in health and safety as well so
we had age jobs that were ranging back a number of years and we basically got a
notice to contravention so basic I got that responsibility of managing that project so I think things like that when
you've got that you it doesn't feel like motivation you just need to do it it's like discipline and also people like
Andy who was my manager Gerard who's my manager they they set good standards when you're kind of in your youth so
that you know you need to come in every day and it's almost like a standup every day what you doing that it doesn't
become motivation you just build those good patterns and behaviors yeah just becomes a way life or second nature in
your your professional life and you take that out of what too and you're you're probably better managing your time as
well other things as well so definitely things I've taken in hand out of work and applied it and it's worked do you
think in your roles there are certain skills and attributes that really help I
mean you mentioned discipline there and that's probably something you've honed in in this role are there any other
skills or or even personal attributes that that help along the way uh
i' probably say confidence to ask questions ask questions continually ask questions I came into the business and I
thought I wasn't good enough for the start and it's cuz I didn't ask questions nobody knows all the answers
you just need to keep you need to be annoying at the start and ask questions you do you just need to keep asking
questions and questions and I've got two new people in the business that are in
my room as well that are under myself and I just say don't be afraid to ask questions just keep asking questions because I hated the feeling at the start
with I was too nervous to ask questions and that that held me back probably spent 6 months where I was at the start
the same to what I was in 6 months time at the start of my career and then once I just became more comfortable and built
up that confidence I just start it started clicking I just started getting better mm and I think that's a great
message because I think it's such a common occurrence of feeling that that you know even it doesn't even have to do
with age anybody starting a new role at any age or or point in life they always feel nervous nobody likes being being the new person and and there's this sort
of weird feeling that if you ask questions it's because you don't know you know or or you're frightened to ask
questions in case people know that you don't know that but actually it's the most sort of it's the best way to to
learn it's the best way to and funny enough people often say that when when
other people ask questions actually I didn't know that either and then all of a sudden you have this sort of common ground of people saying I'm really glad
they asked that question and there does seem to be a culture in Scottish Power where that is fostered and welcomed this
idea of asking questions and learning have you found that yeah
definitely no one no one can know everything so it's better to ask
something if you don't know it and maybe you find out that you know something but the another person doesn't know and like
the other way around so it's very good to communicate and be able to learn new things not just from like the internet
but also from other people that maybe has different background than you or is
very interesting to be fair mhm and what do you think about the the the future
now you you've obviously got your a a bit of a plan in place and that you were saying education is really important and
this has enabled you to also sample a bit of proper work life if you like yeah
um once you do the further study that you're thinking about do you have your sight set on a particular career or role
or I think I've done that before as well when probably rush things and I think
this time I've kind of got goals as to stay motivated but I feel as though I'm
I'm definitely just try to take my time and make sure I deliver what I'm doing now and keep my blinkers on H and then I
know if I focus on the inputs outputs will come so to be honest I'm I've not got a sight of actually 100% of what I
want to do but I know each kind of project I do I kind of want a nail and then move up to that next opportunity
because last year talking about one one of the things I didn't think I could do was basically our investment delivery
was2 million a month and my project s it was massive and I've never kind of
experienced that commercial as aspect so I think just building up sort of a
portfolio and experienceing CV and taking it year on year H I'll take me where I want to be so how do you prepare
for things like that then you know we're talking about coming into to a a new business and a and an apprenticeship
scheme um I know you're now working in the business but in terms of get you know taking those first steps into those
areas or projects where there's there is a lot of responsibility there's a lot riding on it you
think to be honest you can't prepare for it you just you just get you get punched and you get back up you kind of learn
and there's so many people that have seen that they do give advice if you ask the questions and there is that amount
of support that I can't believe that I I do bounce ideas off people constantly
that annoy them h so things like that I think you just get better each stage and
even people at the very top are make mistakes daily and people at different stages in the career making mistakes so
I've kind of just taken even this year I'm kind of trying to take week on week try to create a general kind of
positives I've done negatives I've done and take it into the next week and make sure that I learn from it do you do that
every week I I'm trying to do that to just to good idea I'm going to try that
but that's a really good way even that I suppose in business speak would be goal set and evaluation and all that sort of
stuff and these are skills that employers ask for and things that you're you know doing without maybe necessarily putting that that name to them but
that's exactly what that is isn't it yeah yeah it just I find that annoying making the
same mistakes off so I like learning H and I don't like not on so I like taking
that step every time and making sure that I'm not that idiot making the same mistake and walking into a meeting where
it's management and I'm going I've done it again I kind of like going this is is the steps I've taken to make sure it never happens again and what about um
what what about you do you have a a goal or a job or something you know that you
really are focused on and that's where you're heading or well um and you said
the beginning of my program but I do know that I want to be a data scientist but I never rule out the idea of like
maybe having my own energy business at some point and like collaborate and be able to produce energy in acteria that
will be very cool so but I know I do want to be a data scientist so yeah maybe you could link
up and you could project manage that yeah so Maria when you started your
apprenticeship and obviously you had um come from uni and you were what was that
like because we did talk about the sort of application process and then what were the what were the first few weeks
like and did you think oh I've made the right decision here so well the when I I came into the business the first thing
that I did was go into a three days induction where I got to meet all the other grats and many people that was in
the same situation as me where just finished uni and they were joining the business so that gave me a lot of
confidence that I was not actually alone there were so many in my situation and
after I went for two weeks to Hoy lake that is one of the training centers and I got to learn so many things about
Scottish Power what they do um things about electricity all the things that
they manage H how Scottish Power is involved in some other things so that was really good because I was actually
confident that I make the right choice because I enjoyed so much the training and I would love to go back and I love
the company and Scottish Power is actually involved in so many good projects and so that was my first week
and right after that I went to the office for the first time and that's
where I met met my team and I found out what I was actually going to do and I started uni so it was all it was so many
things at the same time but for me it was very enjoying I love it yeah oh
great and Sean what about you as well what were the first few sort of days and weeks like when you started your app
apprenticeship because I guess given the route that you came in as well you might have been in two minds because you had
already been in a course that you came out from to to join so how did that work so so I remember I went up to Delan H
and I remember just seeing guys doing overhead line poles and just different things joining as well and I just
thought like join this company it was an absolute beast and I just thought to be honest I was looking at and going I've
made the right call but I did have a bad first week I turned up to HQ and I was meant to turn up to St Vincent Crescent
so 10 minutes to N I had to strap my back back and just Sprint with a suit on down there so I don't want to do that
again to be honest but did you write it in your journal and then you never made that mistake again I think that wasn't
at that stage but I've definitely learned from it I didn't need the journal and just in terms of the sort of
support that you get we've already spoken about that kind of natural support network from other people in
your cohort um but in terms of well I suppose we've covered it in so far as
you've spoken about being able to lift the phone to anybody in in the in your business area that's obviously something
that's really important for people who are coming in you to the business yeah yeah no 100% I think it just takes time
and I think it's the first week probably will depending on if you've came from
school you came from uni it will take a we bit time to adjust but I've have not
really seen MD that's left that's not enjoyed it right now I've got people in my team that's well I've got somebody my
team that's an apprentice the year below me and he enjoys it every day as well so and there's a couple in license programs
that that are just at the start probably found it a little bit difficult just from school from uni then some people
come in just depending on their personality some come in and love it but I think eventually everybody gets there
it's just a taking time to adjust it because you're coming into a business where people are near retirement people
are middle age people are at the start of their career it's challenging for people coming in have you had similar experience yeah
uh well my team at work is recently new and but they make sure we have the
support for example I have a mentor that I can talk to every day if I feel like or if I have any problems and not only
that but also I found that from University I also have a lot of support because uh doing a apprenticeship degree
is different from a normal one when I was at Glasgow unit first year we were 800 in my class and I had no contact
with my professors but now we're only six seven people in my class uh so when
I know that I can always contact any of my professors and and they will get back to me for example I had a problem a few
weeks about a database and I email one of my professors and she video you call
me and explain everything and solve the errors so it's not just about the work it's also at universities and different
type of degree do you get a lot of support and like they understand that you're working with uh real data so you
always have support I and same as everyone that I know in my team and
you're basically not Al and just lastly then what are the benefits you think of
coming in to the business by the route that you have would you recommend it to others I will 100% recommend it because
when you go to UNI normal uni you are learning so many technical knowledge and
everything but you are not actually learning how to work so it gives you the
opportunity to learn things apply them in a real world setting and be also
learning how to to work and being a word like a setting and how to interact with
other people and I don't know I think it's very useful for because when you
are at University you many many times learn things that you never use again and you forget them but here is
literally like you learn something and you're applying that the day after see
you actually learn and not forget the thing I love that phrase that you're learning
to work here or you don't learn to work at University but you're doing it here because it's it's so true isn't it you
get taught at University all the theory I suppose and then but then when you're
actually having to not only put that theory into practice but having to do it in a work environment that's something
that you never get you can't teach that to anybody you can only experience it once once you're in so yeah that's a
good phrase and what about you Sean I I'd say the exact same to honestly it's just a
case it's not a straight line H you're kind of you're learning at different stages and then just applying it it's
completely different University and I it definitely is the better route and then go back to UNI in the future if if if
you'd acquire it CU a lot of people in uni or even my age I'm 22 I I see a lot
of people leave uni as well in my my year and because they didn't know what they wanted to do they go in and they
end up leaving and that that is a big thing is doing something you like and coming in doing apprentiship this
business is so big that if you don't like it there's another opportunity there that you can kind of move away bit
I was going to add that is completely true it's like when you're in high school you're in the last year and you
don't know what you want to do in life you just know what subjects you like at the school so it's very difficult to
make a decision that is going to affect the rest of your life so I wanted to
that is many Pathways and there are so many opportunities and doing an
apprenticeship degree I think uh there are so many opportunities and like ways
to change in case you think you haven't made the right decision that it is very
it can happen all the time true thank you so much both of you for really invaluable insights into your
pathway into the business and and um your thoughts on the future as well and and best of luck with all of that to
Maria valde did I say that right yeah Maria Val Maria Val yeah perfect data
science is apprenticeship at Scottish Power and to Sean Wilson project management apprenticeship now project
leader at Scottish power thank you so much for your time both of you thank you thank you a big thank you to all of our
apprentices who took the time to talk to us it's been an amazing insight into life on an apprenticeship program at
Scottish Power if you would like to find out more about any of the programs that we've discussed just visit our website
Scottish power.com [Music]
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