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Career Change at 25 from Hospitality. Higher Education or Apprenticeship?

Luke Piggott

Hello,

I'm Luke, I'm 25 and from the UK. I have been working in the Hospitality industry for nearly a decade, but have now decided to pursue a career in Engineering. I'm particularly interested in Electrical/ Mechanical practices but currently I do not have a specific end role. I'm rather ambitious and would like to progress as much as possible throughout my career ideally leading to a senior position once qualified with adequate experience. I find it difficult to pin down an exact discipline to head towards because I find many different areas of engineering interesting and I do not want to limit my opportunities when I already feel on the back foot by coming in to the field at an older age.

My current situation is as follows; After failing to obtain junior/ apprenticeship roles I have contacted a local college and enrolled on their two year (part time) HNC course in Electical/ General Engineering. This is with the aim of finding employment during the course. Since applying to college, the opportunity has arisen for me to undertake a Land-Based Service Engineering Technician Apprenticeship which will take place over three years.

I do not know whether to commit to the apprenticeship and achieve qualification to Level 3 after three years (with vocational experience), or to attend the HNC at college and achieve Level 4 after two years (with potentially no vocational experience except any and all work experience I can obtain in that time).

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

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    Both the apprenticeship and HNC are acceptable paths to UK-SPEC EngTech professional registration. Once accredited, either can provide the necessary underpinning knowledge and understanding (UK&U). However, there are some notable differences; some of which you have highlighted.

    Firstly, they are at different levels on the UK's Regulated Qualifications Framwork (RQF). The apprenticeship mentioned is Level 3, whilst the HNC is Level 4. The former qualification is relatively equivalent to A Level studies, whilst the latter is equivalent to a bachelor degree Year 1.

    Secondly, the apprenticeship has a 3 years full-time duration, plus synchronous work experience with income/stipend. Thus, immediately upon graduation you may be able to satisfy UK-SPEC EngTech registration requirements. On the other hand, the HNC is two years part-time without hybrid work experience or income/stipend. Relevant work experience must follow HNC graduation to satisfy UK-SPEC EngTech registration. 

    Based on the above, you may be able to secure EngTech professional registration within 3 years of apprenticeship enrollment. This will enhance your earning potential. However, pursuing the HNC will require more than 2 years from enrollment to satisfy EngTech registration, if you are unable to secure relevant full-time work experience during the programme. You'll have to secure a traineeship or entry level position upon HNC graduation to acquire the relevant work experience. If you do gain relevant full-time employment during the HNC programme, EngTech registration may be gained shortly after graduation. 

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