Insight from an apprentice: Former CCC student shares her journey from college to global construction firm Mace

We talk to Favour Nnawuchi, a former CCC engineering student who is currently an apprentice with Mace Group.

Favour Nnawuchi completed the Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Engineering at Capital City College (CCC) which enabled her to embark upon an MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) apprenticeship with Mace Group. Mace is a leading global firm within the construction and consultancy sector. The company delivers impactful projects that transform the landscape across the world, from the skylines of large well-known cities, to the infrastructure of smaller communities. As part of her apprenticeship, Favour spends 80% of her time working and 20% of her time studying at LSBU.

Favour recently returned to CCC’s Angel centre to talk to current engineering students about her experience of joining global construction firm Mace. The students at the event really appreciated her insight, so we spoke to Favour to find out more about her college experience and her pathway to her current apprenticeship at Mace.

What did you enjoy most about your time at college?

I would say it was spending time with my friends from my course. My friends really helped me to stay motivated and we had a group chat that provided a lot of support and helped me remember things like coursework deadlines.

My friend Tasmin and I really helped and supported each other during the course. She’s also at LSBU doing a full-time degree course and we’re still in touch. I think it’s really important to keep hold of friends that help you stay motivated.

What did you like most about your course at CCC?

I really enjoyed the lessons on AutoCAD, where we learnt how to develop a 3D model. It was something I’d never done before and they took us through it step by step.

Also, the teachers were really good and the Head of Engineering in particular always made sure we got to lessons on time and that we were doing our coursework. There was one piece of coursework that I had to complete two weeks early because it was all starting to pile up. He was great at encouraging us to do the work rather than leaving it all to the end. I’d definitely recommend the college because the teachers there really motivate you and push you to do the work, and that was the biggest thing that helped me.

Did you have to overcome any challenges during your course?

One challenge I had was getting to lessons on time in the mornings. I live with my family and we’re all waiting for the bathroom in the morning, so there were days when I ended up being nearly 30 minutes late. To overcome this, I started to prepare myself better by waking up earlier while everyone else was still in bed so that I could leave on time.

Another issue was completing the coursework, because the deadlines started to pile up at times. For example, after our AutoCAD lessons, we had to do a piece of coursework on the manufacturing processes of a material. We were given a practical task and had to make a physical pencil holder and an AutoCAD model to go with it. It was challenging because I had to make time within the day to go into the workshop to produce the material for the project. I started to book time in the workshop in the evenings so that I could make sure I had the right measurements and calculations to complete the project. That was the biggest challenge but, in the end, I got a Distinction for the project so I was happy with that.

I told the teachers that I was aiming for an apprenticeship and they guided me through the coursework and helped me ensure I was covering everything I needed to get the best grades I could.

A lot of the General Engineering that we studied links to what I’m doing now within MEP. The AutoCAD lessons in particular have been really useful because I already know lots of the shortcuts and how to use the software.

After my course, I got my grades and I was trying to decide between going to university and doing an apprenticeship. I had to do my research because I wanted something that would lead to a degree and I ended up doing applications for a few different companies.

I was going through the list on the government apprenticeship website and I saw Mace. There were so many different roles to choose from, I clicked on MEP because I was interested in the mechanical path. The application process took three to four months in total. After I sent through my information, I was invited to a video interview. I was really scared as I’d never done an interview before but I had a week to prepare. Before the real interview, we were given a short practice interview but I was still nervous because I wasn’t sure what they were going to ask me. In my interview they asked about five questions and I used the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method to answer them.

A week later, I found out that I’d passed the Mace video interview and was invited to attend an assessment day at their assessment centre. This time I had about six weeks to prepare, but I was still quite scared. During the assessment day I worked with other applicants on a few different tasks – one was a collaborative project looking at the advantages and disadvantages of starting a project at a specific location and giving a presentation to show our ideas. Finally, I had a one-to-one interview with the director where I explained why I wanted the job. After completing the assessment day, I was told I’d been successful and could start my apprenticeship in September 2023.

What are the advantages of doing an apprenticeship?

When you do an apprenticeship, you get practical hands-on experience and that’s something that most companies need rather than theoretical knowledge. With an apprenticeship, you learn while you’re doing the job and you may not get paid the same as a graduate but you build it up over time. At Mace, they also encourage you to build your technical portfolio by doing research on a specific area related to your role and presenting it to your manager each week.

If you know that you want to do an apprenticeship, go for it – but don’t rush into applying without doing lots of research. Make sure you read through the full description of each apprenticeship and work out what it involves and what kind of career path it leads to. That way you can make sure it’s right for you.

You can also read articles about companies or use LinkedIn to find current apprentices within a company and get in touch with them to find out more about the application process, how their apprenticeship is going and what the support is like.

Mace supports me in lots of different ways, and the support I get is really valuable. I’ve had 6 months of mentorship from an MEP manager who has guided me through part of my apprenticeship. I also have an apprenticeship buddy who supports me.

I really like the hands-on experience that you get and the opportunity to go on site and watch things develop. I’ve been on my  current project which is the refurbishment of Woolgate Exchange from the start, and I get to observe how the building goes up level by level and see the services installed – it’s just beautiful.

Also, in terms of communication and learning, I go on site a lot so I get to know the site workers really well and learn about what they’re doing each day. It’s a really great environment and everyone’s really friendly.

At the moment, I’m in the middle of completing a 2-year Higher National Certificate (HNC) as part of my apprenticeship. After this, I’m going to do a 1-year Higher National Diploma (HND) and work towards getting a degree. In the future, I’d like to explore other types of engineering such as Aerospace engineering.

You can find out more about doing an apprenticeship while employed and discover Apprenticeship job vacancies with us by exploring Apprenticeships+.

CCC also offers a wide range of Engineering and Construction courses to learners from a variety of backgrounds.

Share!