Spotlight on Apprentices: Dave Williams
In our ongoing series of case studies, Jordanne Allsopp, IGEM Marketing Communications Co-ordinator, is chatting to our members about their careers to date and how IGEM has supported them so far. To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, she spoke to former apprentice Dave Williams, now Network Asset Engineer at Cadent and an IGEM EngTech member.
When asked what advice Dave Williams would give to anyone wanting to get into the gas industry, he said: “In my opinion, an apprenticeship is the best route to go down. Many of the great people I’ve worked with were apprentices or trainees at the beginning of their careers and it’s a great way to gain a full understanding of the job from the ground up.”
Dave started out his career as an apprentice in 2007 as an Apprentice Pressure Control and Storage (PC&S) Engineer at National Grid. He said: “I was in a relatively large cohort of apprentices and was lucky to make some friends for life during those three years. Most of us are still in contact now and work together regularly.”
Once Dave qualified as a PC&S Engineer in the North London network, he became involved in maintenance, commissioning, overhaul, and fault finding across a range of pressure control equipment and pipelines.
After a few years, Dave looked for some development as an engineer, which led to him successfully securing an assessor role in the skills and competence team. Dave said: “As part of this role, I assessed NVQ candidates in the workplace on safety, policy, engineering and procedural knowledge and competence. I was part of a team that tried to continuously reimagine and improve working methods.”
He added: “I was happy to be line manager to some fantastic apprentices, some of whom are now evolving their careers in the same way I did and becoming very successful engineers.”
He explained that he still tries to help where he can today by developing new talent coming into the business. For example, Dave was recently asked to be the EngTech Lead for the Developing Engineers Forum at Cadent.
In 2018, Dave became an Asset Supervisor for the East of England network, where he utilised his engineering knowledge and operational experience to manage asset health and deliver strategic investment for the network.
During the pandemic, the opportunity presented itself to become an Integrity Engineer for the 2bar and below team, where he would focus on pressure reduction installations (PRIs) and DSEAR.
He said: “This was a fantastic role and really allowed me to develop my underpinning knowledge of gas industry engineering. One thing I loved most was being able to take the time to think, digest information and plan.”
Dave now works as a Network Asset Engineer in asset investment for the East of England network at Cadent. He hopes to learn more about asset management and add value to his team and to his stakeholders.
He said: “I’ll be undertaking Institute of Asset Management training in the next few months and am looking to use that new knowledge along with my understanding and experience of the assets to develop a truly robust and resilient network asset management plan and ensure continued resilience and safe operation of the network.”
When asked why he became an IGEM Member, he said: “Originally, during my apprenticeship, IGEM members from the YPN came to discuss membership with my group and I became an apprentice member.”
Dave then rejoined in 2019 as an EngTech. On his decision to return to IGEM, he explained: “I decided to become a member for recognition as an engineer in the gas industry and to open up access to a wealth of additional learning materials that weren’t as readily available to me before.
“I value EngTech for allowing me to be recognised as an engineer but also for the plethora of people it has brought me into contact with. Being the Cadent representative for IGEM’s EngTech Working Group is a fantastic honour and I hope to utilise my network to help promote the grade more with the hope of bringing even more engineers into IGEM.”
When asked about his engineering heroes, Dave said two people in particular have really influenced his life and career. The first is Richard Peck, Pressure Control Technician for the North London network. Dave said: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without his help, support, guidance and no-nonsense way of explaining things.”
He also mentioned John Grimsdell, former Network Supervisor for the North London network, adding: “Thanks to John, I have a keen interest in bringing through future talent and helping them the same way he helped me.”
Finally, Dave emphasised the importance of asking questions. He said: “Don’t be scared to ask questions, even if you understand something, double check. If you’re not sure, ask. If you don’t know, admit to it. It’s harder to learn if you don’t admit to not understanding or not knowing something."