Findlay Mackintosh
Mechanical Engineering Apprentice at Dales Marine
Why I like this job
“The best thing for me is working on the engines. There’s so many different jobs you can be doing like piston heads, cylinder heads, liners, injectors. Then there’s the other side of it where you’re working on the tail shaft, the blades, the propulsion. And even inside the boat, you’ve got all your valves and systems.
Every day is different. One day I can be working on the engine, the next it’s the tail shaft or propulsion. That’s the best part of the job really, you go into work and it’s always different. You’re always learning new skills and building your experience.
I prefer practical work. I can see physically what I’m doing and the progress I’m making on the job. That’s how I enjoy working, mostly hands-on.”
My route to get this job
“I went straight from school. I’d done engineering sciences, physics, and metalwork, and they were the subjects I enjoyed the most,as much as you can enjoy school, obviously.
I saw the job advertised on Facebook and looked into it more. Then I applied online and got an email saying they’d like me to come for an interview.
I went through in a suit and tie and did the interview. There were also two practical exercises. One was a communication task which was two walkie-talkies, one person in one room with building blocks, the other person with a photo of what to build. You had to talk each other through it without seeing each other. It was really about seeing how well you could communicate.
The other one was a practical test where you got shown a picture and given a box of gears and pulley systems, and you had to replicate the system so it worked the same way. That was interesting as well.
After that I got an offer saying they’d like me to be an apprentice. I accepted and it’s been really good.”
Why I like working at Dales Marine:
“It’s a big company and there’s lots of people here, but it feels like a proper team. You can talk to everyone. There’s nobody you’d think, ‘not this guy again’! You speak to everyone and that makes working here so much better.
That actually surprised me, just how connected everyone is. Even across different workshops, it still feels like one big group.
When you’re busy, it’s a really good job. You’ve got a boat in the dock and loads of jobs to be doing. And even when it’s quieter and you’re finding jobs around the workshop, you’ll look at a machine and go, ‘I wonder what that does’. You should ask about it, and you learn about all the machines and what they’re for.
The apprenticeship covers such a wide variety of stuff that you can go on and do many different things for many different companies across the world.”