Reinis Parpucis

Reinis always knew he would be an engineer.

He said, “Engineering was my passion at school, I loved metal work, working with the lathes and milling. When I left school I studied PEO at NESCol’s Fraserburgh Campus followed by my NC in Mechanical Manufacture. Then I started to think about apprenticeships. I wanted to take this route as I knew I would get the chance to gain valuable work experience and get paid at the same time, and as MAs are funded by Skills Development Scotland it meant I could avoid a student loan. ”

Reinis secured a job with the Science Team at the Marine Scotland Directorate of the Scottish Government working at the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, initially as a workshop assistant. The organisation’s marine scientists undertake various projects in support of Scottish Government’s role in protecting the marine environment and fish stocks.

After a few years he was offered an apprenticeship position within the engineering department. The engineers support the Marine scientists designing and building various specialist items for recording subsea data, including deep sea camera housings, electronic housings and acoustic buoy release systems. As part of his job he occasionally has the opportunity to be part of the deck crew, when the Marine research vessel “Scotia” sails on one of her data gathering trips in the northern waters of the North Sea.

Reinis successfully completed the vocational SVQ Level 3 competency award to go alongside his College qualifications to gain his Modern Apprenticeship.

He said: “ I have recently been offered a full time position as a Mechanical Engineer and I am delighted. I enjoy problem solving so the job is ideal. I am part of a small team and every day I get to use a lot of different engineering techniques. I also get the chance to go out to sea and experience how the tools and equipment we manufacture work in action, so it’s interesting being part of the sea going scientific field work.”