The freedom I get from working here is amazing.

Why did you do an apprenticeship with Labman?

“I discovered Labman when I was looking for work experience. I came along for a week of work experience, and I liked it so much that I asked about apprenticeships. By the end of the week I was offered an apprenticeship, which began the following week.”

What sold it?

“The amazing atmosphere of the place really sold it for me. I’ve always been interested in engineering as a possible career, but I never thought seriously about it until I got to Labman. I saw and began working on the robots and met everyone who worked here and l realised that engineering is definitively the thing for me.

The freedom I get is one of my favourite things about working at Labman. It’s more relaxed and free than most work places. Going from school to work is a huge jump – being treated as an adult, having responsibilities and jobs, and of course being paid; Labman has helped me in this transition to feel free and independent.”

What do you do day to day at Labman?

“A normal day can literally involve anything from jobs like cleaning vacuums and factory maintenance to making parts and even assembling the robots. I particularly enjoy making parts for the systems because this is primarily what my personal training is focused on. I do my practical training, my NVQ, here at Labman, and I’m at college 1 day a week to study for my BTEC.”

Gideon Harrison – Apprentice Mechanical Technician

My day-to-day is always completely different.

Why did you do an apprenticeship with Labman?

“To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in engineering at all at first – I actually wanted to be a nurse. My sister worked at Labman, so I did a week’s work experience here to have something extra to put on my CV, and I absolutely loved everything about the place. I spoke to one of the Labman team about applying for an apprenticeship, got the grades I needed and started as soon as I could.”

What sold it?

“I loved how different Labman was – I’d never heard of anything like it before, and I still think it’s totally unique. The challenges I’m faced with every day are by far the most enjoyable and rewarding things about working here. Everything is different and constantly changing – you never do the same thing twice – it’s amazing. You can be operating the lathe one day, and the next day be building a robot.

Working on the lathe is a highlight for me, because every part I get to machine is different. This difference always provides a little bit of a challenge: ‘how am I going to make this? What’s the best way to create this design?’ I’ve recently been working on a cryogenic grinding system for a company in Israel, and I absolutely loved working on that because it’s so interesting to see the technology that goes into creating such a complex system.

The people and the atmosphere are incredible here too. Anything you want to do, you mention it to your mentor or appraiser, and you’ll be doing it within days – it’s amazing. I wanted to be trained on the Tekcel CNC router, so I mentioned it to the workshop supervisor and two days later I was being trained on how to use the machine.”

What do you do day to day at Labman?

“My day-to-day is always completely different. As a mechanical technician, I’m in the workshop a lot. One day can be spent in the workshop on the miller creating parts, and the next day could be on the factory floor building a robot – it changes every day. The challenge is the fun bit – you do things that you’ve never done before, it pushes you and teaches you things you’ve never learnt before.”

Samantha Hopson – Apprentice Mechanical Technician