Sam Boleat

Have you worked at JE since you left full-time education?

Yes. JE was part of the ‘Power Academy’ bursary scheme and after a short amount of work experience, I was offered participation providing I studied at select universities and courses. During university, I spent most of my time in Jersey doing further work experience with JE and in my final year I was offered a job as a graduate engineer.

What was your first role at JE?

My first role I suppose was doing my work experience at 15. It was mainly shadowing the engineers but it sparked the huge interest I have in engineering now and certainly lead me to where I am.

What made you go for that role?

The reason I ended up doing work experience at JE in the first place was after a visit to the station. My friend saw an advertisement for the bursary scheme along with a tour around the station and of course a free buffet and we were sold.

John Duquemin took us around the station and I was fascinated by it. Soon after, I thought it might be an idea to ask if I could do some work experience to see what else is involved and to my surprise, they were more than happy for me to get involved and I haven’t looked back since.

How have your skills developed during your time with JE?

I have learnt a huge amount from the time I have spent with JE.

I have been lucky to have been on many courses and forums and have undertaken various exams in order to ensure I am fully qualified for the role. I have also met and worked with some influential, smart and helpful people who have given me the support to develop and shaped my career progression greatly.

Experience is very important in development and I have gained a fair amount from my 8 years full time at the company. In that time, I have seen my fair share of unusual instances, problems and of course my own mistakes which I had to learn from.

As a result, you gain greater foresight, see better solutions or are able to make things more efficient. As well as the engineering side, my professional people skills have developed and I am certainly more confident than I was and as a result I am able to lead and manage far more effectively.

How has JE supported your career decisions?

I have been very lucky that my career has progressed the way it has with JE. They ensured I could learn about the practical side of engineering whilst studying the theoretical side and then gave me the platform to develop my experience.

I have progressively been given more responsibility throughout my time in the company and been given projects outside the normal scope which
has meant learning new things and expanding my knowledge.

This wouldn’t have been possible, however, if it weren’t for the support I received from the people around me in this process. We are lucky to have staff who want to improve and progress and also want to enable and support others to do the same.

Finally, what advice would you give someone just starting out in their chosen career?

My main advice is to jump in and be a bit of a ‘yes man’. The more you can involve yourself in at the start, the more you will learn in a shorter amount of time.