Adam Pike - Third Year Mechatronics Apprentice

I chose to take an apprenticeship because it allows me to gain qualifications as well as practical skills and knowledge which I would not gain through the university route, such as 18th Edition Electrical, control wiring courses and industry-led pneumatics courses. By going through the apprenticeship route, I am also able to apply knowledge to real life situations, instead of just knowing the principles but not being able to apply them.  

What makes me a good apprentice is that I find it a lot easier to learn while doing something, and I enjoy it. I feel more comfortable learning something if I have actually done it myself, which will also allow me to understand the principles better. I am also a very motivated individual, who enjoys a challenge (such as problem solving), which allows me to learn at a faster rate because I can push for more difficult tasks. Being an apprentice has allowed me to strengthen my communication skills, which makes me a strong collaborator, as I am not worried about asking questions or presenting my ideas.  

As an apprentice, the thing I enjoy the most is the practical work. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a project at the start as a bunch of components, working on it, then seeing the end product be commissioned in the synchrotron. The practical work is so diverse that no two days are ever the same. This adds to the knowledge you gain and so you are able to have a wide skillset.  

Before starting my apprenticeship, I was not expecting the workload for the first and second years. I would advise any new apprentice to consider how motivated they are to become an engineering technician, as it involves a lot of work.  

If I were to show someone a piece of work that I have conducted to excite them, I would choose a robotics R&D project that I built, alongside design engineers. I started off with pallets upon pallets of components, ranging from machined parts, robots, structure framing and electrical components, and brought their creation to life. I was involved in everything for the project after the design stages, such as mechanical assembly, electrical assembly, PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) Programming and some robot teaching.  

Prior to Diamond, I had an Automotive Mass Manufacturing background, which was interesting, but at the end of the day I was maintaining machinery that produces motor-vehicles. At Diamond, there is a sense of pride behind the scientific experiments and the work that is conducted. The work is also so precise and diverse that it means you must think of innovative ways to make the synchrotron more effective, and manufacturing the systems that are involved in the running of the synchrotron always changes, which involves new challenges!