Gateway Placement 2024 - Ethan Des Fountain

By Ethan Des Fountain | Posted: Monday July 1, 2024

One of the opportunities that I decided to take up this year was the Gateway programme. I am essentially gaining work experience for a day every week when you normally have school.

I was already interested in going into the electrical sector and I saw this as an opportunity to see whether this was something I was truly interested in for the future. I managed to get a placement with a company by the name of Pace Electrical who specialise in all things electrical.

An average day would involve arriving at the workshop at 7:50am and going out to a range of places all over Dunedin such as sawmills, quarries, and other industrial worksites and then arriving back at the workshop to go home at 4:30 pm.

Whilst on some of these sites, I’m limited by what I am allowed to do. I am then delegated difficult tasks such as carrying my supervisor's tool bag for him! Putting up light fixtures, making up different types of cables, and installing various electrical components are some of the few things I’ve been trusted by my employer to do.

If you are a student looking to get into electrical or any trade for that matter, I would highly recommend taking the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and get involved with the Gateway programme.