Charlotte Dean, 22, an automation technician at the newsprint manufacturer UPM-Kymmene

“When I finished my AS levels I knew that I didn’t want to go to university and when I found out what was involved in an apprenticeship, I thought it sounded perfect. I’d always enjoyed design and technology at school. I like taking things apart and putting them back together. I also liked the thought of having to use my head to figure things out. So I applied for and was accepted on a four-year automation apprenticeship. As part of my training I designed and built a test rig for a piece of machinery that is vital to the business. I had to learn everything as I went along and build it from scratch.

“It didn’t even enter my head that this type of apprenticeship wasn’t a normal thing for girls to do. The summer before I started my apprenticeship I did a summer school about what was involved and it was just me and one other girl and the rest were lads. It was fine; I’ve never had any trouble with the fact that I am working in that environment.

“Having completed my HNC last year, I hope to go on to university to get a degree in electrical engineering.”

Charlotte won the Dyson Young Woman Engineering Apprentice of the Year Award

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