Christopher Larham
Job Before: Assistant Technical Officer
Job Now: Sterile Services Supervisor @ NHS Treliske Hospital
Why did you start the Traineeship?
I started the Traineeship in 2021 because I was no longer enjoying my role as an Assistant Technical Officer in the Sterile Services Department of Treliske Hospital. I had been doing the same job for thirteen years, and – although I had made many friends and enjoyed my work over the years – I felt that the time had come for me to move on. To be fair to my managers, they had been suggesting that I move up to a Supervisor role for a long time, but I lacked confidence in my problem-solving and people management skills.
What did you enjoy most about the Traineeship?
I enjoyed the fact that it is a self-paced course that can be completed while working full-time. You have to complete all aspects of the course within a year in order to secure the job guarantee, but there is the option to renew for a further year and retain the job guarantee if – like me – you prefer not to rush your studying, but rather work methodically and absorb it all. The tutor support for the end-of-course projects was great too, and the projects themselves were interesting and enjoyable.
What's your current role like?
Simultaneous with Paddy signing off my final project and passing me over to recruitment, a Supervisor job was advertised in my current workplace. After two years of thinking analytically and algorithmically in order to complete the Coding Traineeship, I had the confidence in my problem-solving skills to apply for the Supervisor job. I am now a month into my new role, and I am enjoying using the logical skills acquired during my study in order to supervise a team of decontamination technicians.