Case Study: Christopher Robinson

Christopher works as an electronics technician with the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source centre for research.

Tinkering and learning on the job

From a young age, he has been tinkering with different objects learning more about how they work and how they are put together. Christopher finished his A-Levels before he decided to apply for an apprenticeship with STFC. He really enjoyed the practical side of things at school and found that an apprenticeship meant he could carry on developing his hand-on skills and learn from projects.

At STFC I gained invaluable knowledge due to our fantastic apprenticeship scheme

Doing an apprenticeship also meant that he was being paid at the same time he gained qualifications on the job. Another highlight of his apprenticeship was the opportunity to travel abroad:

I was offered the chance to travel to Geneva in Switzerland for 7 weeks to work at CERN, an opportunity that saw me develop and gain many useful skills and personal achievements at the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world!

Electronics Technician

Christopher loves his job. According to him being an electronics technician means that he is imaginative when he designs and builds electronics circuits which are used in parts of the particle accelerators at ISIS. Christopher is also self-motivated and enjoys the variety of work he does:

Because of the nature of it no two jobs are the same. Each job requires a unique method in order to complete it.

He is also patient as he finds faults and repairs equipment when it fails.

Christopher also enjoys that his work pattern is flexible. This means that there is an opportunity to do some overtime to earn more money, change his working days or simply being on call.

Using knowledge and expertise to help others

Recently, Christopher was really proud  to be able to get involved in an important project:

“I have recently been heavily involved in the ventilator challenge at Penlon, repairing and testing ventilators for the Covid-19 outbreak.”

Project Restoration

Christopher is so passionated about engineering that during his free time he find engineering related activities to do. He is currently working on a vintage motorcycle and is very excited about the final product.