Carl had a nine-year career in data analysis roles before deciding to take the plunge and embark on a new career path as a Quantity Surveyor. He has joined the Solomons apprenticeship programme as an Assistant Quantity Surveyor and will be based at our headquarters in Newton-le-Willows as part of the North West team.

How have you found it so far?
It’s been really informative and enjoyable. Learning about Solomons and the world of Quantity Surveying has been great. It’s really got me excited about a future career in Quantity Surveying.

Tell us more about what you did before joining the apprenticeship programme?
I graduated from Edgehill University in 2012 with a degree in geography then joined a company called Fairbanks Environmental working in the fuel monitoring industry. It was data analytics really – monitoring petrol stations for clients like Shell and BP, looking after their fuel, identifying leaks, and liaising with logistics companies with fuel deliveries. We were basically their consultants. If anything went wrong, we’d coordinate engineers to go out and fix issues.

Why Quantity Surveying?
While at Fairbanks I was seconded for a year into a people management role. During this time there were changes within the company and, after being there for nine years, I decided I wanted to go into something new and more challenging. I wanted to find a career that would give me the opportunity to keep learning and growing. I’ve always liked the built environment and understanding how the world works – how geography, human relations and the environment interact. I started looking at career options linked to that, and surveying came up. I came across Quantity Surveying and thought it looked really interesting with the chance to work on projects and be part of a team.

Why Solomons?
At the time I was looking at university courses to study Quantity Surveying. I was friends with Graham Walker at university and saw that he worked at Solomons as a Project Quantity Surveyor. I started looking into the company and got in touch with him to ask him what it was like working here. He said how great it was, so I sent him my CV to him, and it went from there.

Now you’ve started the apprenticeship, where do you think you’ll get, do you have any targets?
Obviously, the main target is to get the apprenticeship and chartership. As the industry is new to me, I’m going to get through the course, pick up the skills needed through the real-life experience I’ll get and generally grow as a Quantity Surveyor. I’ll consider what I want to go into as a go along and better understand what’s out there.

What do you do in your spare time?
I do a lot of walking. I’m a member of the National Trust so I make the most of that with my family. I go running, mostly in the gym when I can, and read quite a bit. At the moment, it really been about seeing friends and family after all the restrictions during the last 18 months.