Panxin West: Skills for Life in NAW2025

It was an East Midlands based STEM Fair at the time and our brief was to ‘Identify and Improve an Aspect of Transport within Derby’ where we chose to design and develop a double decker train. Although we didn’t win the competition overall, I found my passion in Engineering. I suppose I knew that I wanted to make a difference in the world, but I wasn’t sure how, and growing up in Derby, everyone told me that Rolls Royce was the way to go. But we all knew how competitive and well sought after it was, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

Following rejection from Sellafield’s assessment day, to not even passing Rolls Royce’s online aptitude tests, I was determined to try again after A-Levels. So, I went to study Maths, Physics and Chemistry at college, because that’s what a lot of Higher Apprenticeships were asking for. I also did something called the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) which is basically equivalent to half an A Level, which you do in your final year at college. I started this project around the same time I was learning about nuclear in A Level Physics, so I chose to focus my study on nuclear. I thought that this was a good opportunity to do a bit more research into something that intrigued me, as well as have something extra to add onto my CV.

I finished my A Levels with a CCD and an A in EPQ. While there are a multitude of reasons why I didn’t obtain my target grades of ABB, the main one was losing focus of my goals and passions. Life happened, and suddenly the dreams of a 14-year-old seemed farfetched and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I think from then on I almost gave up on my passion to make a change to the world, how is little old me going to make a difference anyway, right?

Although I still made an attempt to apply to apprenticeships, this time passing the Rolls Royce online aptitude tests, I didn’t make it further in any of my applications due to the same reasons. I had lost my passion; I didn’t find joy in Maths and Science subjects anymore. I was also incredibly shy in nature so did not stand out in interviews, nor the confidence to do them.

I ended up taking a three-year gap year between 2019 and 2022. During college, I worked at the Coop during the week and a Café at the weekends. When the Café went into liquidation, I continued to work at the Coop after college in order to continue funding my car. Having to deal with the chaos of the pandemic during those couple of years, they went by in a flash, almost like they didn’t exist. I had stopped applying altogether, thrown into my job at the Coop. In the third and final year when things had died down, I started to focus on my personal development. I took on the Role of Team Leader and I started applying for design apprenticeships, from interior design to kitchen companies. I had convinced myself that maybe Engineering wasn’t for me, I had told myself that if it was what I wanted for so long, that maybe that was all it was.

Over the five years working at the Coop, I had gotten really close with the team, a lot of my friends had kids that were not that different in age to me, one of which was like a second mother to me. It was her husband that gave me the push to go back to Engineering, we’ll call him ‘Chief’. He’d been with Rolls Royce for over 20 years and had nearly 40 years of experience in engineering so only a tiny bit biased… Chief’s currently a professor at Derby University and is someone that I highly respect and look up to. I am so grateful for him because otherwise I think I would have given up pursuing a career in engineering. Chief told me about a programme Rolls Royce was starting, called the Nuclear Skills Academy. I applied but didn’t even make it past the shortlisting due to the competitiveness, that or I just wasn’t good enough.

At that point if that wasn’t a sign to stop I don’t know what is, but for some reason – on a whim – I applied for a Level 4 Powertrain CAD Apprenticeship at Jaguar Land Rover.

‘Thank you for attending the recent Assessment Centre for the Jaguar Land Rover Apprenticeship Scheme. We thought that you performed very well. Unfortunately, we only have a limited number of spaces available on the scheme, so we are unable to offer you a place at this time.’

This was heartbreaking to hear. What was I supposed to do now? When my stepdad was telling me that he’d still be proud of me if I was to work in retail as a living, as long as I’m earning, he’s happy. I wanted nothing more than to make my dad proud, so I did one last browse on Rolls Royce’s website.

That’s when I found out about SMR, and they were taking applications! It was just an email at the bottom of a page, telling you to register interest. While I normally wouldn’t bother because 90% of the time they don’t get back to you, I thought it couldn’t get any worse right? I got an email the following week to fill in an application.

A couple of weeks later, I got an email to confirm that I wanted to progress with the application and the following day I had confirmation of an interview with RR SMR. That same day I got a call from Jaguar Land Rover with an offer as I was first on their reserve list, I had to say yes!

Having done an interview with RR SMR and still continuing with JLR’s onboarding, it felt like I was doing something shady. But my parents told me that nothing is confirmed until that contract is signed so I went to JLR for the induction week. That’s when I got the call, RR SMR is offering me a place! It was such a hard decision to make as I had made so many good friends in the span of 3 weeks at JLR and I was reluctant to leave. After summing up the pros and cons I signed the contract for RR SMR which takes us to today.

I guess the moral of the story is to not give up on your dreams and aspirations, and despite the evident word vomit while writing this, my passion was always to make a change to the world. As an apprentice, we represent the future, and we aim to bring change by preserving and transferring knowledge, in order to create a more sustainable future for generations to come. Something that everyone in the industry can say they have in common, whether it’s obvious or not.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and hats off to anyone that made it to the end!

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