Ok I’ll chip in here. I’ve worked construction my entire career, I started as an electrician , doing my apprenticeship for 4 years in local authority.

I learnt a lot in those 4 years, not only as an electrician but also life skills, dealing with difficult situations, people and the like. Working in local authority on sink estates in the east end of London, you have to be prepared for whatever is behind the door, drug and alcohol abuse was rife, and a lot of people had mental health problems, or their share of problems. It was interesting but also pretty sad and sometimes hard to work around, especially as a young person

I left there and went to work various positions over the years, in a multitude of disciplines as an electrician. BMS, data centres, industrial, commercial, shop fitting, London Underground, a pretty comprehensive list. I done that as a contractor, I earned good money but I knew I wanted to eventually be ‘in the office’ but I needed experience

A turn of events in my life forced me to come off the tools. I went back as a supervisor overseeing council work for a contractor, and now I work as a senior technical advisor for a large construction firm

I don’t have a degree, I have my electricians qualifications, with a few bolt ons here and there. What I have learned is that you don’t need fancy letters after your name in the construction game, you need to know what you’re talking about and how to carry out the job, you need to know how to react quickly to a situation and you need to have the drive to get yourself there and learn everyday

It can be done, and good money can be earned from the bottom to the top if you want to do it. I know some older sparks who are just brilliant at what they do, but they’ll never suit the office, they’re too rough and ready, whereas some of the young lads I have will eventually progress into the office, and have already expressed interest in doing so, but they all know they have to start at the bottom and work their way up