Hi Graham! To kick things off, please could you tell me a bit about how you got started in the wind industry and why you chose this career?
I’ve always wanted to work with my hands, and I’ve always wanted to be a technician of some kind. I was in the motor trade for nineteen years overall, but unfortunately that trade didn’t offer good enough opportunities for progression that I wanted. I had friends who worked in wind, and they suggested that I bring the transferrable skills and experience I’d developed in my career as a Mechanic into the wind industry.
When I first applied to Boston Energy, I was fortunate enough to be accepted and from there the first project I was placed on was as an Entry Level Technician on a Pre-Assembly site in Hull. Pre-Assembly is a good place to start as it gives you a good basic understanding and insight into everything, such as the practices, health and safety rules, how the turbines are constructed and allows you to gain confidence using the tools.
Once I was finished there I went to Sweden as part of an installation team, which meant I’d gone from constructing the towers to installing and commissioning them, which is the next stage in a turbine’s lifecycle.
After this, I joined my first Service campaign; so I’d gone from building, installing and now servicing the wind turbines, allowing me to build on my experience and knowledge massively. I started out at Greater Gabbard and was there for five years before I was upskilled from Basic Technician to Competent Technician. From there, I progressed onto Maintenance Technician and Service Team Lead, which meant I was supervising a team of technicians as we conducted service on the offshore wind turbines. I was also recently upskilled again to become a Troubleshooter.
Did you find taking your career to the next level each time you upskilled was a big jump?
As I had sort of followed the lifecycle of a wind turbine in my first few projects, I had a good basic understanding of everything by the time I moved up from Competent Technician to Maintenance Technician. I suppose it was a jump up as when you’re a Competent Technician you’re allowed to perform certain tasks unsupervised but that’s it, whereas as a Maintenance Technician and Shift Lead, you’re responsible for other people and supervising them. There definitely is a big step up in responsibility as you’re now coordinating a team and making decisions for other people, but it was something I wanted to do, I wanted to progress and was happy to do it, so the increase in responsibility was something I embraced.
Do you have any stand out moments in your career that you would like to share?
I think definitely in Sweden and seeing just how big the projects actually are – not just in terms of size of the turbines but the sheer amount of people and machinery involved. You’ve got a big team of people, big equipment, and I remember being quite blown away and excited at the scale of the tasks and of the job itself, and just how everything comes together – coming from the motor trade it was unlike anything I was used to.
You’ve got the teams on the ground prepping all of the components on the floor ensuring they’re ready to be lifted. Then you have the Heavy Lift teams who are operating the cranes and machinery, then the people in the towers getting them ready for installation. Once the tower sections are lifted there are teams ready to bolt it all together.
It’s also the places you are able to work, for me it started closer to home but since then I had the opportunity to go overseas and offshore, but I was definitely blown away by some of the locations I’ve been able to work at throughout my career with Boston Energy.
Could you tell us a bit more about how Boston Energy has supported your career progression?
Having the support from my line managers and project coordinators who have helped me find opportunities to progress the way I wanted to was a key element of my progression. For example, after my first project I had a few options of where I could have gone next, but I knew I wanted to go offshore, so the team supported that and helped me find an opportunity offshore for a new entrant technician.
As well as wanting to work offshore, I knew I wanted to progress, and so I made the team in the office aware of that and they were fully supportive in finding the opportunities for me. Each time I progressed onto the next level of my career, from Competent Technician to Maintenance Technician and then onto Troubleshooter, Boston Energy funded my training, so not only have they supported me through the process, they’ve invested in my development as well, and it’s nice to know they’ve got that trust in you and want to see you progress just as much as you do.
You’ve been with Boston Energy for the entirety of your wind energy career, do you have any special memories during this time you would like to share?
I think when you’re working away from home for long periods of time, you do form bonds with the people you work with and I’ve met people who are not just colleagues now but also close friends outside of work, so when our shifts align, we are able to meet and catch up. I think for me what’s special about working in the wind industry is meeting the people along the way, as they are what help you get through working away from home as you’re all there for each other.
What’s your favourite thing about working in the wind industry?
It would definitely be the different locations you are able to work in – your workplace is never the same. It could be working in Northern Sweden on one project and then 40 miles offshore, surrounded by sea the next. The freedom that you get from that and working outdoors, one day could be glorious sunshine and the next day windy and raining but it doesn’t matter because you just want to get on and go get things done.
It’s an adventurous environment as there’s a lot to take into consideration – it’s certainly not boring!
Do you have any more career aspirations you’d like to achieve?
I’m quite happy as a Troubleshooter for now, but ask me again in two years and who knows? My goal was always to become a Troubleshooter, so in all honesty I’ve not thought about the next step from here, I came into the wind industry with a goal of progressing to where I am currently so I’m quite happy to just enjoy it for now.
Would you recommend Boston Energy to other technicians and why?
I would recommend Boston Energy to other technicians as they’re a well-established company with good relationships with their customers, which means there are lots of opportunities for their technicians to work on a variety of different projects in and outside of the UK. They’re also very supportive in terms of helping you progress the way you want to.
My journey in the wind industry has only ever been with Boston Energy; they gave me the opportunity to get started which I am extremely grateful for. Everyone in the office I’ve worked with has always been helpful and supportive and the opportunities are there for people to get into the industry. It’s great for young people to come in and carve out a career, but if you do come from a job with transferable skills the opportunities are there to progress too.
