“It was a brilliant way to learn. It’s a pathway I would definitely recommend.”

Helen Ali can vouch from first-hand experience what a perfect springboard for a career an apprenticeship can be.

 Helen is Head of Vehicle Architecture at Tata Motors Design Tech Centre, based at the National Automotive Innovation Centre at Warwick University. Her childhood passion for engineering, sparked by her dad who worked at Rolls Royce, has evolved into an impressive career which brought 17 years at Jaguar Land Rover and spells with NIO and Polestar before she joined TMDTC in 2023.

That passion has blossomed into a creative and successful future – and it benefited from the perfect nurturing environment during a four-year apprenticeship at JLR.

“My dad was an engineer at Rolls Royce,” said Helen. “When I was 14, I went to a ‘Take your Daughter to work day’ with him and it all flowed from there. I was always interested in making things, though not necessarily cars.”

“I didn’t enjoy A-Levels but during my first year I was told the only way I would get into engineering was the university route, but after speaking to our onsite careers advisor, he recommended an apprenticeship as an alternative route. I applied for three and was accepted by Jaguar Cars.”

“It was a brilliant way to learn. It’s a pathway I would definitely recommend.”

Helen’s apprenticeship consisted of a year at college, then placements in Paint Shop maintenance, Instrumentation, Body In White and Trim & Final Prototype build before a final placement in Virtual Manufacturing Engineering.

The breadth of the apprenticeship left her ideally equipped for an engineering career.

“I did a full year at college and then 1 day per week with work placements which were mainly on the workshop floor – it was a Technical Apprenticeship but was very hands on. Then the last year I went into virtual manufacturing and worked with the process engineers on the Virtual Builds. It really prepared me for the hands on side of things because I had experience of doing the hands on work so had an appreciation of how things go together.

“Working with lots of different people from different levels and backgrounds was also valuable because now I am happy presenting at a high level or working with team in the workshop. It was a brilliant grounding and I was earning as well! I went on to do my 3 years degree part-time in the evenings, so I came out with no student debt and years of experience. The contacts I made during this time were priceless and that gave me a really good network of people which led to my future opportunities.”

Helen could not endorse apprenticeships more fervently – and just as strongly recommends that young people trying to work out their career direction seriously consider engineering. It is a world of opportunity for all with many different aspects – and that very much includes women.

“Engineering is so full of opportunities and they are absolutely open and achievable for women as well as men,” she said. “Historically, it is a male-dominated sector but there is no reason at all now why a woman who is willing to work hard cannot build a really rewarding career.”