Nathan and Jordan No longer apprentices

Nathan and Jordan have been working at Variohm since September 2014, earlier this year they completed their apprenticeship qualification.

As a company we are very proud to have supported both of them through their entire qualification, here is more about their journey.  

The Apprenticeship journey.

Nathan and Jordan both began working for Variohm in September 2014 when they started their apprenticeship. Richard Kelley, our Engineering Manager has been their manager for the duration of their qualification and continues to be, he says “These guys have been as pro-active as you can be, soaking up knowledge, and over the past 2 years with me they have demonstrated they are capable, interested, enthusiastic and always keen to find opportunities to learn more.”

Apprenticeships were new to us so, as a company, we kept an open mind and with advice from The Engineering Trust we have been able to tailor the qualification to the position they have filled. The course they started was the 4 year Advanced Apprenticeship in Engineering Manufacture (Mechanical Manufacturing Engineering.) As time passed and as both Nathan and Jordan moved over into the engineering department, their job role evolved and became more office based. The Engineering Trust then suggested that it could be beneficial for them to take on a second qualification in Engineering Technical Support (Technical Services) this was more suited to what became their job role within Variohm.

Both Nathan and Jordan were able to complete their qualifications before the recommended 4 year time frame. Nathan says “It was tough but we were able to complete both qualifications within a 3 year period and after internal/external verification on the 15^th February 2018 we were awarded the Advanced apprenticeship status and were no longer apprentices.”

No longer Apprentices

Having completed their qualification now means that both Nathan and Jordan are no longer apprentices and have new job titles, Nathan is our Research and Development Engineer and Jordan is our Mechanical Development Engineer.  Jordan Says “It feels good to have completed a vocational qualification in my field of work- some of the principles I have learned are being directly applied to Design/Development and Manufacture of new Product ranges/ Automated Tooling for the programming of our sensors – decreasing labour time and eradicating potential error in our old manual process.”

Richard their manager says “I personally feel very proud of them, I am glad I have been able to provide the technical support they needed to excel and pass their apprenticeship with flying colours.” 

As a company we are proud to have seen them through their qualification. This has been a new experience for us, however we are continuing to support apprentices both at our Variohm site in Northamptonshire and over at our Herga site is Bury St Edmunds.

Being part of a group of companies means that we can give our apprentices new experiences and opportunities. Nathan describes his favourite part of the apprenticeship “The best part about the apprenticeship has been getting involved with new enquiries within the engineering department and becoming an influential member of the team. It’s a good feeling knowing that you have been an influential part to the design of a product or component that is now a production part and is something that is being used in a real world application.”

Jordan says “For me the best part (other than completing it) was the transition over into the Engineering Department and applying what I had learnt into real world applications and being able to competently manage projects with the knowledge and experience gained over the course.”

Qualifications at Variohm

As well as supporting employees through apprenticeships we also offer many of our employees the chance to study at apprenticeship level and take on other qualifications where appropriate.

Nathan and Jordan have shown a brilliant attitude towards their studies and their job roles, Richard adds “I am a firm believer in personal development, and we have been fortunate enough to find two people who have outperformed any expectations I may have had.  I hope we can continue to provide the platform and career opportunities for them to continue to learn their craft over the coming years.”

Cathy, our Operations Director comments “Nathan and Jordan have been instrumental in developing our engineering department. We are very proud of their abilities and believe they are an asset to our team and well-rounded employees.”

Read more about their journey in our previous blog posts or take a look at the video about Nathan and Jordan below.