To be honest it was LEGO® Technic. I was at my Uncle’s house and he bought my cousin a set and he didn’t like it so I started building it and took it home. I was told to go to bed but I stayed up all night making it and it just spanned from there… buying more and more sets. When I was old enough I left school in year 12, I went to do a Diploma in Mechnical Engineering rather than staying for year 13. It was quicker to leave in Year 12, do a diploma and then get credited for a degree afterwards. That way if I decided I didn’t want to complete a degree I still came out with a qualification. Then I decided to do an apprenticeship afterwards. Later on I can go back, finish the year and get the degree if I feel inclined.

For my apprenticeship, I started looking at places to work. I did look at Stafford to begin with, but at the time it was really hard to find an apprenticeship. Then I looked around New Zealand for opportunities and heard back from a business in Hawkes Bay so ended up going down there to work for about two years. I didn’t particulary like it down there and wanted to come back to Waikato, so I reached out to ATNZ, the organisation who arranged by apprenticeship, to find another host company. They suggested Stafford Engineering, who were keen to have me, and I got the job the next week!

Stafford had a reputation for having good machining workshops!

Before I started my apprenticeship I had only minimal experience on manual machines. So I have learnt how to mill, turn, and lots of other types of machining like air cutting and surface cutting. I learn about Wire EDM which is a type of subtractive manufacturing – they can make stuff to real high tolerances. Like if you have a square block it can cut a star out of it and then cut a star out of another material and they’ll slit together and they’ll disappear inside the other one. There’s plenty of videos on Tiktok! Then I started running a CNC milling machine, learning lots about that and then as I’ve moved up, I started working back in the manual workshop running manual machines again.

When you’re young you have lots of ideas and you want to look at doing things in different ways. Learning to compromise with others who like to do things their own way has been a learning curve. In the engineering industry there are older people with a lot of knowledge and it’s about learning how to work with everyone. Pretty much everybody has a different way of doing things and it’s really your job to evolve them together to the way you think is best. So long as you can explain to people why you’re choosing to do it this way, most people are receptive.

The stuff we do needs to be precise, and I like making things right. I enjoy being able to make things just the way they’re supposed to be so this is quite fun for me. I like having the versatility and knowledge to be able to run lots of different machines. When you get given a task you need to complete it. It might not just be one process you’re using – you’ve got to do different types of work on different machines to get one end product.

I think age is a massive part, sometimes I might have some more experience than some of the new people but I think some people see age first and not take you as seriously, even if you might have good ideas. You have to stick it out but do make your position known. You can’t be quiet and sit in the corner and not say anything. As long as you stay true to yourself and express what you think, I think it’s quite important you back yourself and have that self-belief.

I found team work to be a bit challenging. When you’re at school, yes you do team work but it’s a completely different environment and you have to manage different departments especially in such a big company. Sometimes you find it challenging to try and manage your ideas different people’s ideas and find a mutual agreement. Project management was also something I found hard and managing all the different people in the team and all the different personalities. No one can really teach you what’s the best way, you just have to learn on the job. And if you make a mistake don’t be embarrassed by it, just learn from it.

I enjoy having the independance to give things a go, and having a bit of time to try things and learn while I am doing it. I’ve had other workplaces where you don’t have the time to learn stuff, and I like having a bit more space to soak up knowledge. Having a supportive learning environment is probably the best thing I’m finding at the moment. The best thing you can do is ask questions because other people won’t know what to tell you unless you ask them about what you’re struggling with.