Cameron has come a long way since joining OnSite as a fresh-faced apprentice back in 2021. At 18 years old, he embarked upon a Level 2 water network operative apprenticeship, which he completed in 2023. He has since chosen to specialise in civil engineering, completing a Level 3 apprenticeship in civil engineering last year. Now a Level 4 civil engineering apprentice, we caught up with Cameron, 21, to find out how he feels he is progressing with his OnSite apprenticeship journey.
“My current apprenticeship is very similar to last year’s Level 3. I work on a wastewater site, setting out lines and levels for the ground workers. There’s a site manager with me and now and again the senior civil engineer comes out just to check my work and he’s fine with it. If I have any problems, I can call him but recently I haven’t had to call him about anything, I get on with my work and he just leaves me to it.
“Last year I understood what I was doing but my manager, Marcus, was with me a lot more. As the year went on, he left me to it, and I now feel more confident and assured of my work. I’m not thinking ‘is that wrong?’ and asking for my manager to double check. I check the work myself until I’m happy with it. I’m left to my own devices, to manage my time and my diary and plan for my work. Marcus has confidence in me to leave me to it. I can call Marcus at any time which is reassuring if I have a problem. I don’t speak to him as much anymore, but I know he’s there if I need him and I trust his expertise.
“I have developed my communication and interaction with the team. As I’m still quite young, it was daunting going up to people twice my age and telling them what to do, but now I feel confident to tell them before they have to ask me, so I’m a step ahead. I feel part of the team and can have a laugh with my colleagues. It’s a lot to do with confidence. The more you do the job, the better you feel.”
“I like being busy. Time goes quickly and I’m learning on the job. Different challenges arise which I enjoy solving and I enjoy the flexibility and variety of the jobs each day. I’m interested in working towards running my own site and the management side of it. At Christmas the site manager had some time off. I understood the paperwork and filled it in for him, which was good because it was an extra responsibility.
“When I came out of school, I didn’t have a clue about what I wanted to do so I did the water operative apprenticeship and now the civil engineering apprenticeship. Ever since I started, I’ve just been going further and further in my career. The more courses you do, the better qualified you are. After the course I’m doing now, that will be three apprenticeships I’ve completed and should be enough for what I want to do. If any courses come up in the future, I might sign up but after this one, I’m happy with where I am and feel able to stand on my own two feet.
Marcus, Cameron’s manager, commented: “I have seen great progress in Cameron over the last 12 months. Cam has shown he can complete engineering duties without my involvement, and I can trust him to engineer a complete project without my input.
“Cam is an asset to the business and the more young students we can get to join the apprenticeship scheme the better for the industry.
“I believe site experience is the best way to gain knowledge of the industry and apprenticeships are the best way to achieve this.”
Interested in an apprenticeship? We currently have no opportunities available but please keep an eye on our careers page which we keep updated with our latest vacancies.
