From Poland to Aberdeen – one apprentice’s journey
When Mateusz Kaczanowski first arrived in Aberdeen 11-years ago he couldn’t speak a word of English. Now he is an 18-year-old apprentice engineer helping build a new primary school and community hub in the city.
Known as Matty to his work colleagues, it is a journey that has taken him from his home city of Wroclaw in south-west Poland to a construction site in Torry in Aberdeen’s south side.
It took him a year to learn English in primary school and as a pupil at Bridge of Don Academy, he had offers to study civil engineering from several universities until he heard a careers talk by Mike Bruce, the managing director of Morrison Construction North East.
Matty explained: “Mike came into school and talked about all the job opportunities in construction such as engineering and joinery. I already had offers to go to university but I was interested and got a work experience place at the new school Morrison were building at Countesswells. After that, I applied to Mike for a job.”
Following an interview, he was offered a trainee post and quickly decided that was the route for him rather than several years studying at university. Since then he has loved every minute of his training.
Matty admitted: “It has been pretty good since starting. I started off not knowing anything and just followed people round the site to see what was happening, especially the site agents. I have done some painting, I have done a suspended ceiling and other trade tasks to learn more about them.”
He added: “I like this process because it is not about constant studying for exams at university. Torry is a pretty good project to be working on. Everyone is helpful and friendly.”
As part of his training Matty attends the North of Scotland College centre in Altens, Aberdeen, for one-day a week for a two-year Higher National Certificate course in the Built Environment.
He will spend his first year at the Greyhope Primary School and Community Hub site in Torry before spending his second year working full time alongside current engineer Ryan Strowger on all the Morrison North East project sites.
Ryan has already been working with Matty at Torry on operating and checking the accuracy of lasers used for recording site levels. He has also worked with Ryan on plotting other potential project sites using Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and Computer Aided Design (CAD).
For Matty, the whole process has offered him a clear career pathway and he is enjoying the opportunity to work alongside a range of construction trades.
He said: “All the trades have got something different to like about them. Joinery is the most interesting one as it has so many different elements to it.”
Matty added: “To become an actual qualified engineer should take about four-five years. By that time, the current engineer here should be moving into management and I would hope to take over from him. Then later, I would like to move into management as well. It is really something to look forward to.”
Keith Machray, pre-construction director for Morrison Construction North East said: “Matty has shown good potential with a great work ethic and a keenness to learn. He follows in the footsteps of a long line of Morrison apprentices who have developed through the ranks and progressed to roles such assistant site managers, site managers, quantity surveyors, senior quantity surveyors and our current construction manager.”
He added: “Our managing director Mike Bruce was Morrison’s first apprentice in Aberdeen back in 1986 and it is a well-established path that gives our young and upcoming team members the confidence that they have every opportunity to get to where they want to go with their career at Morrison Construction.”