I LOVE MY PPRENTICESHIP!
Ryan Barling, ECOM, Trainee Quantty Surveyor
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Where did you go to school? North Walsham High School and Paston College
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What subjects did you study? GCSE—BTEC Sport and French. Levels—Biology, Psycholo-
gy, Business Studies and PE
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Why did you choose an pprentceship? When startng at ECOM I was 21, so didn’t want
to go to University full-tme, pay c. £9,000/year tuiton fees, and then not earn a full-tme
wage for 3 years. However, in order to gain membership to the RICS you need to have com-
pleted a degree. ECOM offered me a trainee positon which allowed me to complete a
Quantty Surveying Degree pprentceship at nglia Ruskin University alongside working in
the office. By taking the apprentce route it means I will get a degree without paying any
tuiton fees, along with taking home a full-tme wage and the experience gained by working
in the office alongside my studies.
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What path did you take to get to your current positon? I had completed 5 years in retail
when I decided I wanted to change careers from my previous management positon to the
constructon industry. I undertook some research on jobs which matched my strengths and
what I enjoyed and found Quantty Surveying. In order to improve my CV, I completed an
RICS Quantty Surveying Foundaton course in my own tme whilst waitng for a vacancy for
a trainee QS to come up. I applied at ECOM a few months later, was offered a trainee po-
siton and am now in my penultmate year of my degree.
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What does a typical day in your role look like? One day a week I travel to nglia Ruskin
University to study and atend lectures, the remainder of the week I am working alongside
the rest of the team. Most days I spend at least some of the day in the office, either helping
more senior surveyors on tasks or working on my own deliverables for projects which I help
lead with a more senior member of staff. I then also atend several meetngs during the
week, along with the occasional site visit to value the works that have been completed by
the Contractor.
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What do you think are the most valuable skills have you learnt on your apprentceship?
By working alongside studying I am not only learning a lot of technical informaton, I am al-
so developing a number of general ‘sof skills’. These include building relatonships with cli-
ents / contractors, improving my professionalism in the workplace and gaining confidence
when questoning others.
I LOVE MY PPRENTICESHIP!
Ryan Barling, ECOM, Trainee Quantty Surveyor
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What is the job prospect/progression when you complete your apprentceship? My ap-
prentceship not only includes achieving a degree, but also allows me to gain chartership by
becoming a member to the RICS. Once completed, I will be classed as a Project Surveyor. I
will then work at becoming a Senior Project Surveyor, with the next step then becoming an
ssociate.
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Once chartered, I could also then explore opportunites with ECOM abroad, widening my
knowledge of how the industry works in other cultures.
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Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I would hope to have been chartered for c. 2 - 3
years and would hopefully on my way to being promoted to a Senior Project Surveyor. I
hope that I would have had the opportunity to work abroad, in either ustralia or the mid-
dle east.
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What do you like best about being an apprentce? The best bit about being an pprentce
is being part of the working environment whilst completng my degree. The technical
knowledge that I learn in the workplace allows me to apply this to my degree, ofen mean-
ing that I already have a good idea of what we are being taught at University.
Why do you love your apprentceship?
I get a full-tme wage at the same tme as completng a degree, funded
by the Government, all whilst working as part of a team day-to-day. By
the tme I’ve completed my apprentceship I will have achieved char-
tership with the RICS, all within 5 years of startng at ECOM.