1st March 2019
24 year old Matt Holland enjoyed school but didn?t thrive there.
Matt explains: “I enjoyed school, but I was not a very good student, exams didn’t suit me, and I sometimes got in trouble due to my ADHD. Teachers said that I would never amount to anything.”
When Matt left school he went to Sixth Form College and did an IT BTEC. Afterwards he wanted to go into IT and managed to get a job in an IT firm. But Matt didn’t enjoy it as much as he thought he would.
One day he spotted an advert to be an apprentice at Barking & Dagenham College: “I thought I might like it so applied and got it. Then I found I really enjoyed it and nearly 5 years later I’m still here, having worked my way up to doing a higher level Apprenticeship in HR.
“I always wanted to do a higher apprenticeship, as that what I need to progress my career to supervisory level and then on towards management later on.
“The best thing about my apprenticeship is that I get to study, learn on the job and get paid.
“I have no debt, but I know people my age who have a £27K debt and a degree that they are not utilising.
“I’d say to other young people, that university isn’t always the way to go, with an apprenticeship you have no debt and lots of work experience. It’s the best of both worlds.”
