Joshua building new carpentry and property development career on York College evening class

Joshua, 23, is currently midway through his 10-week Level 1 Carpentry & Joinery course and intends to study Plumbing with us in the future.

Such transferable and in-demand skills could also help Joshua fulfil another ambition – to work overseas one day.

On his reasons for seeking this retraining opportunity, Joshua said: “My main career path so far has been Graphic Design, but I fancied a change and felt like this course would be a good first step. My friend is on the course, too, and we are both looking at branching into buying property and doing it up so, being able to do the jobs ourselves, would help with that.

“We know that trades are always going to be needed and, personally, I also like the attraction of moving to another country and having a skill puts you in a stronger position to do that. I’ll be looking to do my Level 2 course next, so I can do this as a job and, then, I’d also like to give Plumbing a go at College because, for renovating houses, it’s always going to be useful to have more than one skill.”

Being able to access funding to cover the costs of the classes, meanwhile, has been an added benefit for Joshua, who has been impressed with the standard of tuition and fully equipped workshops in College.  

“The tuition is great and I’ve been able to do the course for free because of my pay level, which is really helpful,” he enthused. “You also get all the tools here – chisels, hacksaws, marking gauges and everything like that.

“You have everything that you need and they’re all in good condition. There’s nothing that’s broken!”

Prior to enrolling on the course, Joshua had done “a bit of woodwork” at home, including making a chessboard, so he knew that he enjoyed it.

Any initial trepidation he had about returning to education also dissipated quickly.

“The last time I was in education was sixth form which was in 2020,” he explained. “It had been a while and I was a little bit nervous coming into College but you get used to it again. Other people are in the same shoes, too, so there’s a bit of a community sense to it and everybody’s friendly.”

To learn more about our Level 1 Carpentry & Joinery course, please click here

Details on all our adult learning courses, meanwhile, can be found here

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