There's More To It

Bio

Electronics Apprentice. A hands-on kinda guy...

From his childhood days when he loved working with small store-bought electronic kits to his work now as Electronics Apprentice at Codan Ltd, Jock thinks he’s got a great life. Being a technical person, he thought it would be interesting to eventually work on the bigger things. And now he does that. Codan Ltd is a defence contractor, which means Jock gets to service and repair communication equipment including satellite transceivers. He tests and checks electronic circuits, resistors, transistors, integrated circuits and capacitors, as well as solders connections and replaces faulty parts. He also works alongside engineers assisting in the development of prototype circuit boards and new electronic designs, some of which require him to use CAD software to create drawings and schematic diagrams. Jock finds his work really interesting and likes the analysis problem solving part of his work.

He has a lot of fun in his spare time too. He plays guitar and bass (enjoys lots of genres from acoustic to hardcore), goes camping, fishing, mountain-biking, leads a youth group and enjoys extreme sports including skateboarding and surfing.

Jock has an exciting and busy life now but he knows what it is like to go through tough times. He hit a bit of a brick wall last year which saw him take a deep breath and consider his future. Diagnosed with a challenging illness, Jock wasn’t used to being held back and even struggled with depression. Whilst this proved to be a really hard time for Jock, he wouldn’t give up. He re-evaluated his situation, gathered up the strength he did have and pushed on, despite the negatives he was facing.

Jock has experienced an excellent recovery, both physically and mentally and wants to share his message with other young people: ‘chase your dreams and never give up’. And his story proves that: he’s a finalist for the SA Apprentice of the Year (2010) and has been chosen from SA to be a part of Today’s Skills, Tomorrow’s Leaders a national leadership program, launched by the Governor-General of Australia in 2004.

Jock’s career path has worked really well for him, giving him real job satisfaction and he is even thinking about doing a degree in engineering. His story shows that no matter how talented you are, no one is guaranteed an easy journey. But when you are focused on the things that you enjoy and are good at, it sure does help when you hit tough times.