Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Ian. He has a very important job as an IT Security Manager. You can think of him as a digital security guard!

What Does He Do? Ian is in charge of keeping chemical plants safe from people who try to break into computers, known as hackers. He works at a company called Venator.

Every day, Ian leads a team of people who act like computer detectives. Here is what they do:

• They watch the computer systems to spot anything that looks wrong or strange.

• They look for gaps in the computer’s armour (protections) to fix them.

• They learn about new tricks that hackers might use so they can stop them before they happen.

How Did He Get This Job? Ian worked hard to become an expert. After he left school, he went to college and did an apprenticeship (where you learn while you work) in computer support.

Before he worked at the chemical plant, he had a job with the NHS (the National Health Service). While he was there, he took more tests to learn about computer networks and security. Even now, he keeps taking courses to learn more.

Ian says the best thing about his job is the challenge of keeping the big chemical plant safe and secure from cyber attacks. He also really likes the excellent people he gets to work with every day.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Kiera! She works as a stores and procurement apprentice, which is a big name for a very busy and exciting job.

Here is what Kiera does every day:

• Helping People: She works in a “store” (which is like a big warehouse or supply room) and hands out things that workers need, like safety gear (called PPE).

• Organising Deliveries: When big lorries arrive with packages for the site, Kira is the one who takes in the deliveries and makes sure everything goes to the right place.

• Staying Busy: She is always on the move, running up and down stairs and talking on the phone to suppliers (the people who sell things to her company).

Kiera says the best part of her job is that she gets to talk to lots of different people every single day. Her job is never boring because she deals with all sorts of things. One day she might be ordering stationery, like pens and paper, and the next day she might be talking to someone about giant cranes!

She chose this job because every day is different, which makes it much more exciting than working in an office doing maths all day.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Bradley! He has a very important job looking after money at a company called AV Dawson.

Here is what his day looks like:

• He is an Apprentice: This means Bradley is learning how to do his job while he works there.

• Bradley has always loved working with numbers. He even thought about being an engineer once, but he decided that working with the “maths” side of things was better for him.

• When other people sell things to his company, they send a note called an invoice to say how much it costs. Bradley looks at these notes and makes sure the people get paid every week.

• He sits at a desk on the second floor with two big screens. One screen is for his emails, and the other is full of numbers and special programs to help him do his work.

Bradley says his company is like a big family. Everyone is very kind, and they really care about the people who work there, which makes him feel very happy to be at his desk every day.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Daniel, who has a very exciting job as a plant electrician at a company called AV Dawson. Being an electrician means he works with electricity to make sure everything has power and works safely.

Daniel is like a real-life helper for big machines. Here are some of the cool things he does:

• Fixing Giant Cranes: He works in special rooms full of buttons and wires called panel rooms to make sure the big cranes are working properly.

• Lighting the Way: He puts up bright LED lights so that everyone can see what they are doing.

• Variety: He works on everything from big industrial machines to things you might find in a normal house.

To get this job, Daniel went to college to get special qualifications. He also did an apprenticeship, which is a clever way to learn a job by practicing it while you study. He says that at his work, every day is different, so he never gets bored. Because AV Dawson is a family business, he feels very lucky because they look after him very well.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Harry, who has a very exciting job as a plant electrician at a place called AV Dawson! His main job is to look after all the electrical parts of the big machines and the buildings around him.

Think of Harry like a machine detective. When a giant machine stops working, he has to find out what is wrong with its “brain” or its wires—this is called fault finding. He also does things you might see around your own home or school, like fitting lights and putting in power sockets so that things can be plugged in and turned on.

Before he started this job, Harry studied and trained to understand how electronics and electricity work. He got his job through people he knew at the company, but he had to learn all the special skills first.

The best part about Harry’s job is that every single day is a new adventure. He says he is never doing the same thing twice, which means there are always new challenges to solve. He is always busy making sure everything stays powered up and running smoothly!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Have you ever wondered who helps move all the big things that come into the country on massive ships? Meet Aaron, who is a port operative apprentice! This means he is learning a very important job at a busy port where ships arrive from all over the world.

Aaron works with huge overhead cranes to move heavy pieces of steel around and put them into big metal boxes called containers. One of his most important jobs is being a ‘banksman’. This means he is the person who watches very carefully to make sure the steel goes into the containers safely so that nobody gets hurt.

To get this cool job, Aaron saw an advert at a job centre and went to a special college course for a week. He even got a safety pass to show he knew how to stay safe at work, and after an interview, he got the job!

Aaron says he really enjoys his work because every day is different. He gets to see different ships coming in and he is always doing something new.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Lea, who works as a trainee architect (her official title is a “part one architectural assistant”) for a company called Logic Architecture. On a normal day, she helps the other architects draw plans and design new spaces, like rooms or buildings.

Because she is still training, she doesn’t make the big decisions herself yet, but she treats her job like a fun exercise where she learns all the secret technical details of how a building is put together. Lea almost chose a very different job- she nearly became a dentist!. However, once she saw the architecture drawings her friend was making, she thought they were amazing and knew right away that she wanted to design buildings instead.

When Lea was in school in Romania, she did not even take art classes. Instead, she studied Maths, Science, and the Romanian language. To follow her dream, she spent all her free time outside of school training to be an architect.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Ryu, who has a very cool job as an apprentice lab technician. This means he is learning how to be a scientist while he is actually doing the work.

Here is what Ryu does and how he got there:

• Making New Things: Ryu works with “new materials”. He looks for ways to replace plastic or make parts for buildings that are extra light but also very strong.

• Life in the Lab: He spends most of his time (about two-thirds of the week) in a science lab doing experiments. The rest of his time is spent in an office, where he writes down what happened in the lab and has meetings with his team to plan what to do next.

• Learning by Doing: After Ryu finished Sixth Form (where you go after you turn 16), he decided he didn’t want to just sit in a classroom and study. He preferred “learning on the job,” so he started an apprenticeship where he can work and learn at the same time.

• Lots of Variety: Because Ryu works on many different projects at once, his week is always full of different tasks. This keeps his job very exciting and interesting!

Ryu’s job is a bit like being a professional Lego builder. Instead of just reading the instruction manual to learn how bricks work, he is in the workshop actually snapping new types of pieces together to see if they can build a stronger tower than anyone has ever seen before.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Jessica! She is a student at a university who is spending time working in a real science lab to learn how to be an expert.

Jessica works with a team that looks at the “materials” (the stuff things are made of) to build and test batteries. Her main job is to try to make batteries that are even better and stronger than the ones we have right now.

Here is how she became a scientist:

• She started young: When she was in secondary school (the big school you go to after primary school), she realised she really loved her science classes.

• She stayed curious: She started reading science magazines and papers because she found them so exciting.

• She took action: Because she enjoyed it so much, she decided that this was exactly what she wanted to do for a job.

Jessica says that working in a lab is great because every day is different, which means it is never boring.

Think of Jessica’s job like being a master LEGO builder. Instead of just following the instructions that come in the box, she is trying to find new ways to put the bricks together to make a battery that lasts longer and works better than any of the ones we’ve seen before!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Dr Glenn, a scientist who works at a place called CPI. His job is like being a real-life inventor because he spends his day in a lab doing practical experiments with all sorts of things like liquids, colourful inks, and materials like cotton.

Here is what Dr Glenn does every day to help the planet:

• Making “Green” Plastics: Most plastic is made from oil, which can be bad for the Earth. Dr Glenn works with companies to find natural materials from plants and even animals. He tries to turn these into biodegradable plastics, which are special because they can break down naturally instead of sticking around as rubbish forever.

• Super Batteries: He doesn’t just work on plastics; he also helps make lithium-ion batteries. These are the kind of batteries that power things like tablets, phones, and electric cars.

• Sharing Ideas: Once he finishes his experiments, he goes to his office to write reports and make presentations to tell other people what he has discovered.

Dr Glenn loved science when he was at school, just like you! He liked it so much that he stayed at university for eight years to study chemistry before starting his job. He says that because he gets to work with so many different people and on so many different projects, there is “never a dull day”.

An Analogy to Help You Understand: Think of Dr Glenn as a master chef for the planet. Instead of using flour and sugar to make a cake, he uses “ingredients” from nature to bake new types of plastic that are much kinder to our world.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Mark works at a very famous theatre called The Globe. His job title is the Technical and Buildings Manager.

What does he actually do? Mark has two main jobs to make sure the plays are fun and safe for everyone:

1. He helps put on the show: Mark and his team look after the technical stuff. This means they control the lights to make the stage look pretty and interesting, and they run the sound desk so you can hear everything perfectly. They even help actors with quick costume changes and sort out their food.

2. He looks after the building: The Globe is a really big place! Mark works with a maintenance supervisor to make sure the building is safe for the audience and that everything is working properly. He jokes that if anything is broken, it is basically his fault.

How did he get this job? When Mark was a teenager, he loved acting and went to university to learn how to be an actor. But while he was there, he started enjoying the work that happens backstage (behind the scenes).

His very first job was at a theatre in York, where he was a “follow spot operator.” This means he controlled the big spotlight that follows the actors around the stage. He did this for a show with a famous man named Ken Dodd. He realised he could have a great job in theatre without actually being the one standing in the spotlight.

What is the best part of his job? Mark loves that no two days are the same. Every show is different, so there are always new challenges and wonderful new people to meet.