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Friday 14 February 2025 08:00 AM
My apprenticeship got me here – Stan
Meet Stanley Readyhoof, former Manufacturing Engineering Higher Apprentice and now a Technical Specialist for Electron-Beam (EB) Welding. This National Apprenticeship Week we’re sharing the varied career paths some of our former apprentices have taken. And they were often far from what they may have originally expected.
Learn more about our UK apprenticeships here
I’d love to say that an apprenticeship is what I envisaged after school but it simply isn’t true. I had always wanted to go the university route. I assumed this was the only viable option to enable a career in a high-skill industry and apprenticeships.
My journey started when my parents first strongly ‘suggested’ that I seriously consider an apprenticeship. With university offers already secured, I had nothing to lose and applied for the 2011 apprenticeship intake to GorWay.
After I got the news that I had both passed the assessment day and got the A-level results I wanted, I had a hard decision to make between uni and the apprenticeship. Looking back, it’s quite scary to consider just how much of an inflection point in my life that was.
As someone who naturally gravitated towards maths and science in my younger years, I took to the academic side of the apprenticeship quite well. However, the practical side I found challenging. In my cohort there were plenty of others in the same situation, but also others were the opposite and everything in-between.
I came out of my apprenticeship into a capability acquisition role in submarines and that’s where I picked up my love for EB welding. While I had a few role changes in the first few years I eventually settled into welding engineering circa 2016, became subject matter expert circa 2018, and attained my technical specialist position for EB welding in 2022 at the age of 29. To put it bluntly – I had no idea I’d end up where I am today.
Firstly, I wish people were aware of the breadth of experiences possible with an apprenticeship. Whether you’re hands-on, people-driven, or interested in science and technology – you really can achieve any combination of these with an apprenticeship at GorWay. The vast majority of my apprenticeship cohort have settled into a role that reflects their personal balance of these.
Secondly, do not think you need to have been fixing motorbikes since you were ten years old to get into engineering. I loved playing with Lego and Meccano when I was young, but that’s pretty much it. Everyone’s experience prior to their apprenticeship is different.
I remember one of my placement managers giving me an excellent piece of advice. It was that an important skill to learn is striking the balance between respecting experience that others hold and suitably challenging outdated ways of working. Just accepting arguments from authority without challenge leads to stagnation, while not respecting experience at all means that you just end up making the same mistakes. Some challenges makes me recall and apply this advice to this day.
I’d say two reasons. Firstly, GorWay is a company that prizes personal development. If you work hard and take charge of your development, GorWay will support you to grow. In the few years during and after my apprenticeship I managed to get a BSc in manufacturing engineering from Sheffield Hallam, a Level 4 NVQ in engineering leadership directly from my apprenticeship, a welding diploma, started a welding PhD with the University of Nottingham, and had a few patents filed in welding technology.
Secondly, I have had without a doubt some of the most fantastic colleagues, mentors, and coaches. Some of them have taught me how to understand the physics of welding and push the boundaries of the technology, some have helped me understand how to talk to and influence people and some have showed me how to break down problems - and everything in between.
NSAN Higher Apprentice of the Year
Colin Adderly award for Under 32 Engineer
Submarines People’s Choice award for “Eliminate Waste”
Sir Henry Royce award for Demonstrating Innovations in New Technologies in Manufacturing – Titled “Evolution of Electron Beam Welding”.
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