Jason Brook - Graduate Engineer

Age: 23 years

Before May Gurney

I left Attleborough High School and Sixth Form in 2001 after completing my GCSEs and ‘A’ Levels. During my final year at sixth form I decided that civil engineering seemed like the career for me as it offers the chance of a varied and challenging future - so I applied for a place at Coventry University.

I took a year out to set myself up financially for university and to travel round Europe for a while. I started at Coventry in 2002 and graduated with a BEng (HONS) in Civil Engineering Construction in 2005.

During my second year at Coventry I applied to several East Anglian construction companies for summer placement work, and about the possibility of full time employment after uni. Living close to Norwich, May Gurney was an obvious company to approach.

May Gurney immediately came across as the right choice for me - I could see that my career would have the chance to blossom here. During summer 2004 I worked alongside a site engineer at the Cringleford Cluster scheme on the outskirts of Norwich.

At May Gurney

After successfully completing this summer placement and my degree I was delighted to be offered full-time employment as trainee engineer, and joined May Gurney Highway Services in summer 2005.

I was assigned to the Norfolk Strategic Partnership between May Gurney and Norfolk County Council. Since then I’ve had several varied roles including working with supervisors and quantity surveyors on surface dressing projects, programming civils assistance works to be carried out in accordance with traffic signal repairs, coordinating sub contractors, and working with site engineers.

As May Gurney is continuously growing there are great opportunities for young engineers like me to gain broad experience and achieve professional qualifications.

For example, through May Gurney I have recently signed up to the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) training agreement, which will enable me to obtain ‘Incorporated Engineer’ status over the next few years. During this time I am also hoping to progress to become a competent sub agent.

Away from work

Much of my spare time is taken up either playing or watching football – I play for my hometown team, Attleborough (well the reserves, actually). I also enjoy playing other sports with my mates, including badminton, snooker and pool.