How to become a civil engineering technician: Sally's story

A young woman wears a hard hat on a building site

I couldn't be behind a desk. Being outdoors all day really suits me.
Sally, 20

Sally wears a hard hat and operates a surveying machine on a construction site

In my job

I work on a busy construction site at an airport for a company called Laing O’Rourke. I mark out where walls are to be built and check they are in the right place once they are built. I survey the jobs completed by different tradespeople on the site to make sure they all meet the correct quality standards. I also assist other engineers and the labourers on my team to make sure they have all the information they need to complete the build job.

At school

From a young age I knew I wanted to be an engineer. I was always quite practical, and my Grandpa was a Science teacher so I always had that influence. I chose to do Engineering GCSE and I chose to keep on with the Sciences and Maths.

At college

I did A-levels in Engineering, Geography and Maths and that took me on to my apprenticeship.

In my apprenticeship

��’m working and earning while I am learning. I do one day a week at college and four days at work, so I am getting hands-on, practical experience which breaks it all up nicely. I get support from university teachers, and work are really good - they give me study days if I have big exams coming up.

Top tips

Do work experience and part-time jobs. Just getting out there and giving stuff a go is helpful. I had a couple of weeks of work experience and that massively helped my application to get my current role.