Michelle Grandon

Location: Lancaster
Business Unit: Openreach
Joined: September 2004

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At the moment, I'm a Service Technician. That basically means I'm one of those people you see working up the telegraph poles, although most of the time I'm going to people's houses, fixing their lines, sorting out problems, that kind of thing.

I still can't really believe I'm an engineer. When I left school, all I wanted was to work with horses so I went to work as a groom. But there wasn't any way of moving up, and I really wanted to start a career. When I heard about the BT Apprenticeship from their website, I liked the idea of still being able to do something outdoors and a bit physical, but something with prospects too. So I applied, and here I am.

It was quite weird at first - at the yard there were loads of girls. In my team now there are three of us, and about 50 guys. But it's never been a problem. And it's a real confidence boost to see how well customers react when they get a girl walking through the door to fix their phones.

What's cool is that I've got quite good at the job, too. I've just been nominated for the Dyson Female Apprentice Engineer of the Year award, I'm coaching other people and doing their NVQ assessments. To tell you the truth, I'd never have got into coaching if I hadn't had the chance to try my hand at it here. But it's now the thing I enjoy most. So when I start my job at the end of the Apprenticeship next year, with a bit of luck it'll be a coaching one!