Career Heroes - Lauren Carey

Tell us more about you

I went to St. Louis Grammar School in Ballymena. After this, I studied at Northern Regional College and I’m now studying at Belfast Metropolitan College. I enjoy spending time with my boyfriend, friends, and family. I love to take my dogs to local dams, forest parks, and beaches for walks.

What kind of work do you do?

I’m based in the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) Roads Consultancy Services in Ballymena, in the Minor Works Team, which has involved designing Active Travel Schemes including cycleway and footway schemes to promote more active travel. I use design software such as AutoCAD and AutoCAD Civils 3D to design each scheme.

The environment I work in depends on the work at hand. For example, when designing a scheme, I’m mainly office-based to complete the design, including gathering site information, cost estimating, and organisation, with site visits to pick up any additional information I require.

On the other hand, when the scheme has started on site, I’d frequently spend less time in the office. It’s important for me to be on site to ensure the work is completed as per my design and to address any complications that may arise.

My work and schemes are mainly independent but it is essential that this is also reviewed and discussed on a team level to ensure that any challenges can be overcome or that revisions can be made to my initial design.

Collaboration is key to get the best outcomes on my schemes, as my colleagues can share their personal experiences and lessons learnt from their own careers to help me avoid making mistakes in my own work. Having an experienced team around me is essential for my own development and learning.

How did you become a Technical Officer?

I dropped Maths at AS Level due to the fact that I got a B in it, and it was my lowest grade. At this stage I was unsure of what career path I was going to take so I didn’t fully realise the consequences that this would have. If I hadn’t dropped this subject, I could have went straight from my A Levels to Ulster University without having to undertake a Foundation Degree.

As part of my Level 3 Apprenticeship with DfI (Department for Infrastructure) I was required to study Level 3 Construction and the Built Environment (Civil Engineering), which was a two-year part-time course.

If you could do-over, What would you do differently?

I would not have dropped Maths at AS Level so I could go straight to university. Though I also think if you complete your A Levels and you’re interested in an apprenticeship, a Higher Level Apprenticeship is a great route.