I jumped university to become an apprentice carpenter. I love my work.

This test also filed is based on a conversation with Matthew Rutherford, an apprentice carpenter of the county in Northern Ireland. He was appointed champion of Screwfix Trade Apprentice 2024.

I was definitely on a trajectory towards the university, but I knew it was not really for me.

Once you have succeeded in the GCSE – a national assessment carried out by all the 16 -year -old students in the United Kingdom – and continue at levels A – a qualification of the school – students are mainly pushed to go to university. There is not even an opportunity to entertain the idea of ​​learning.

I knew I wanted to work with my hands, which is not what people were waiting for because I did well in school. Before finishing my levels A, I was definitely pushed to go to university.

But when I had them under my assets, and Once I have overcome the obstacle to convince my parents that making commercial learning was a good idea, I was ready.

Where it all started

Throughout my life, I built things. My father is important in the renovations and the maintenance of goods, so he taught me a lot. We have carried out a number of projects together, such as building garages and renovating our house.

I also spent time working for certain construction companies and for a landscape architect who designs and built gardens.

When I look back, I just have a great love for the built environment and the whole project and how it gathers from start to finish.

When my father and I built a garage in our rear garden, I could see the earth what is happening and what is involved in the soles, at the work of the block, at the roof.

There are so many different scenes in construction, which is incredibly exciting for me. A carpenter has been there from the start – they are the first there, and they are the last to leave. They can see the entire project.

This is what pushed me into carpentry and carpentry. It gives me the widest overview of the construction, and I just want to absorb everything.

The daily

As part of my three-year learning, I go to university one day a week, where I do a post-GCS lesson in carpentry and carpentry. This is important because it gives me a chance to discuss aspects of health and safety.

The other four days have spent with my employer. One day, I could hang the doors; The next one, I could place floors or clean a house once a job is finished.

I make sure to ask a lot of questions, so I learned a lot. I have certainly seen an progression in the past year, which has been really encouraging. Last year, I won a national Screwfix learning prize, a British tool and equipment retailer.

The price was a package of money, tools and training worth £ 10,000, which represents a little more than $ 13,000, which was invaluable, and not something that I expected at school two years ago.

No student debt

The other good thing about learning is to win while you learn.

I have a number of friends at university and they contract loans, working part -time – and they will end up with a bunch of debt after four years.

I can start saving for things like a mortgage now. It is as if I had an advantage of four years, and I always find myself with a high qualification.

Trades must be treated as a first choice

It was difficult to convince people around me that not everyone needs to go to university.

There is this idea that if everything goes downhill or if you cannot enter additional studies, a business is still there. It is almost deposited as a second choice, just something like a way to go to work and earn money.

I want people to start seeing him as a first choice because it is something he is proud of. It’s such an enriching career, and I can’t promote it enough.

You get better quality work when you attract people who are invested in what they do.

If you look around, you will notice that every day you trust a job to do a good job. You enter their airports, their schools, their offices. You drive their cars and use their roads. It’s not like you expect this thing to collapse around you, so I think it is massively undervalued as a career option.

I would recommend learning anyone. You learn people who have worked for years, and there is a lot to say for learning about work.