James Fenton
“I never thought about going to university – I never thought I would be able to do it” said James Fenton. That was in 2002 – the year he started his degree in Motorcycle Design at Kingston University. Did he do it? Yes he did - gaining a First Class Honours degree. And that was despite having to take a year out following a bad road accident.

James had completed an engineering Apprenticeship with Leeds Training Trust while employed at BT Rolatruc, the materials handling specialists.

He hadn’t wanted to follow the same route as his friends who were staying on at school to study A-levels. His main passion in life was motorbikes but he didn’t think that his chosen career in engineering would lead to an involvement with his passion. While completing his Apprenticeship James studied for an HNC and this gave him the confidence to progress further.

“I went for an interview at Kingston with a folder full of work and my MA certificate. They couldn’t believe how much experience I had for my age”, he remembers.

“By working and gaining my MA first I had the benefit of practical experience and a sound financial footing to support me through my degree course.” James now works as a Graduate Support Solutions Engineer for Dytecna, a sub-contractor to the MoD.

“The job has me working in various project areas. My main role is as a Reliability Engineer, but I am also involved in the maintainability of equipment, carrying out ease of maintenance assessments and estimating how long maintenance jobs will take to complete. I also organise and delivering training to customers on a range of equipment. I still can’t believe some of the things I seem to be doing these days.

Dytecna are accredited to IiP and are very supportive of developing their staff. I’m part of the Graduate Development Programme and am currently looking to enrol on a Masters Degree to further my career within the company.”