Last week, we had the pleasure of having Athena Ivison join us from St Bedes, Lanchester, for her work experience. She had a great week gaining firsthand experience in the working world, spending time with each team member and learning about the role each individual plays in making up that team.

Athena is an aspiring engineer, so she spent pleanty of time with our engineering team learning about what they do, and gaining experience into coding radios and testing that everything worked. Her hard work definetly paid off!

We asked Athena a series of questions to get some insight into how her week has been:

Q. What have you been doing this week?
A. On my first day at Apex I was given a plan of what I would be doing throughout the week, this included an introduction to the company and to the different radios they sell; I was introduced to each member of staff and spent time with them discussing their roles; the main teams I spent my week at Apex with was in the service and engineering departments, in service I helped to inspect and clean the radios; and in engineering I assisted in coding radios and testing the repeaters; I met with Chris, who is a senior radio engineer, and discussed his role. Finally, I had a meeting about the future of Apex. This week I have also been putting a project together on bringing work experience into Apex, which I then presented to the general manager, Mark.

Q. What did you enjoy the most about your week at Apex?
A. My favourite day by far at Apex was Wednesday, when I helped to make the cabels and code the radios. To make the cable I cut rubber around the cable and added metal to each side, one side plugs into the repeater, and the other plugs into the antenna. Gaining this expereince helped me to see what real engineers do.

Q. What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome during your experience?
A. From the support I have received from all staff members during my week, I don’t believe I have encountered any challenges.

Q. What are your key takeaways from your work experience?
A. The key takeaways from my time at Apex are the skills and knowledge about who the company are and what they do, as well as the different sectors within the business.

Q. What new skills or knowledge did you gain?
A. Some new skills and knowledge I gained from my week at Apex were the different types of radios and their functions, as well as the different job types that are offered within the business.

Q. What are your career aspirations, and how does this experience fit in?
A. In the future, I aspire to become an electrical, mechanical or radio engineer. This experience has provided me with excellent insight into what it’s like to be an engineer, which will also look great on my CV when I consider future job opportunities.

We thoroughly enjoyed having Athena join us for her work experience, and wish her all the best for the future. You never know, she may be a leading radio engineer at Apex soon!