Is it a good career?
My son is 15 and fairly mid-stream academically. He takes his GCSEs next summer and the question is ‘What next?’. As with most lads of his age, he doesn’t really have a clue.
We’ve done the tour of our local 6th form colleges which are good, but he’s not certain (despite my misgivings) that he wants to continue with his academic studies.
We also took him to Northbrook College at Shoreham Airport where they run aircraft engineer courses and we were both very impressed with the facilities and enthusiasm of the staff. As I understand it, they recommend a 1 year NVQ course and then, if still interested, a further 3 year ‘licensed’ course which I think leads to a JAR-recognised qualification.
Any thoughts or recommendations? The guy that showed us around said that courses run by airlines such as BA and VS were massively over-subscribed and I doubt if my son would get high enough grades with his GCSEs to get to the head of a long queue – and from that I presume he would most likely need to find work in a GA environment.
The big plus I can see is that he would gain a formal qualification and have a ‘portable’ job. The downside would be an end to his ‘formal’ studies, which would narrow his options if he decided aircraft engineering wasn’t for him.
It’s a big decision to make, so any input from the people already in would be very welcome.
Cheers!