Kieran Beattie
A Moray man who decided to go back to the classroom after becoming a fully-qualified electrician graduated with distinction yesterday.
Johnathan Beveridge left Elgin Academy at the end of fifth year, and became an apprentice electrician with the family firm before fully qualifying.
But the 24-year-old decided to further his career and enrolled at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, where he yesterday picked up a masters of engineering in mechanical and offshore engineering.
Mr Beveridge said: “It was only once I had completed my apprenticeship and got a trade behind me that I decided that I wanted to pursue an engineering degree at university in order to further my career prospects.
“There were a number of different universities that were of initial interest to myself, however RGU stood out from the crowd due to its close ties with companies operating within the energy sector and also the unique opportunities of scholarships and funding that are available in connection with the engineering courses.”
Although he found the transition from full-time work back into full-time education tricky initially, Mr Beveridge soon settled into the academic life.
He said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience at RGU and met some great people in the process.
“I soon found my feet and managed to adapt to the completely different lifestyle and completely different type of work that university had to offer.
“Moving to Aberdeen was a huge change from what I had been used to in Elgin, however I found that living in university halls in my first year of study was an excellent way to settle in to the city and meet new friends.”
Thanks to his years of hard work, Mr Beveridge is now leaving university with a graduate engineering position with energy firm SSE in Aberdeen.
He added: “I am looking forward to the variety of challenges and opportunities that my new role with SSE has to offer in my future engineering career.”