To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2025, I thought i would share a bit about my journey and why I value the apprentice route so highly.
I started an apprenticeship in 2000, straight from college upon completing my A-Levels. I had been offered places at University but I didn't feel ready unlike some of my friends, so I stayed put in Cornwall and was accepted onto an apprenticeship route. Luckily it was before my exams, so it really took the pressure off.
I spent two years working and studying, as well as having the opportunity to experience different types of organisations across that period. I enjoyed most of my time, and felt that I had a lot of support. The income wasn't amazing, and I had to supplement it with working in a local hotel bar in the evening and weekends. Looking back I think that is where my work ethic came from, working 9-5, them 6-12 most of the week. It put me in good stead for later becoming a teacher.
I can vividly remember the studying aspect, and just not taking it seriously at the time. I don't think i understood the course and didn't really study outside of the session as I was burning the candle at both ends. In hindsight this is something I wish i had done differently, but when you are 18-20 things don't quite matter as much, as everything will probably be ok. I cannot even remember how many exams I took, whether i passed them or not.
One moment whilst working at a small accountancy firm in Cornwall changed my life forever, and set me on a very different path. My boss, Peter Williams (who sadly is now passed). He sat me down and had a frank conversation about my future, and whilst he was happy to have me as part of the team he said I should seriously reconsider applying for university again as I could end up being stuck in this town and wasting my potential. This resonated significantly with me, and he helped my apply for UCAS.
I was unconditionally accepted into a number of Universities and decided upon Canterbury studying Business Studies & Marketing. I swapped Marketing for Religious Studies after 1 year, and my life took a different turn and i ended up becoming a teacher, for what I assumed was my life long career.
In 2019 I left teaching and restarted by AAT studies from Level 3. Studying independently and distance with the amazing Accountancy Learning out of Exeter. So amazing that any of our team that is studying AAT will be doing it with them. I was able to smash through my exams despite the Pandemic disruption, securing 95% in most of my exams, and moving onto Level 4 with more disruption, averaging over 85%. This led me to being able to become qualified and licensed and start my own very small accounting and bookkeeping business.
The AAT is such a perfect starting point for anyone wanting to get into accountancy, and I would passionately suggest to anyone seriously weighing up the options of a degree vs AAT to speak to as many people who have done it as possible.
We are currently advertising for an Accountancy Apprenticeship position in the business and have had well over 125+ people interested so far. Some of which have degrees and masters and are looking for this route. To me it shows how valuable the apprenticeship route is, and how much better it can be than going to university and getting lots of debt, and actually being no further along than if you had started an apprenticeship at 16 or 18.
If this is something that interested you, check out the below links:
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