As some of you may know, back in September, I got an engineering apprenticeship with Goodrich Actuation Systems. Around November/December I got dermititis from the dirty coolant on the machines in the college, it started to clear up when using gloves/creams etc

I started my 6 week taster at Goodrich and it went itchy again, I asked my supervisor for gloves to avoid it getting worse and he made me an apointment with the occupational nurse, she said it was dermititis and if she was my parent she would keep me out and away from anything like that

Anyway, went for a meeting with my mum, waterside (training provider) and goodrich (sponsering company) who said they are trying their best to find an alternative but they may have to give me my notice to leave

Goodrich are looking into the risk of dermititis doing electrical engineering (doesnt sound too promising at the moment) failing that, somewhere in the I.T department but thats only small and they cant just "create jobs"

Waterside are looking for other companies who may want to take on an apprentice ellectrical engineer in a cleaner environment (with no coolant) or as an I.T technician

Failing that i will go to college....

Im not the happyest person at the moment

So is it the environment your working in that causes it or the actual machinery? Is the place your working unique in that you could find a job doing the same but in an environment that won't cause you problems?

Its the coolant which the machines use when cutting metal.... it is used in all manufacturing engineering companies that deal with metals.

They say the coolant vapours in the air could cause it but i think it is just concentrated contact with it (i.e dripping on my hands when working with them in the machine)

Im going to ask if i can tag along with the electrical engineer for a few weeks without gloves and see if that agrivates it, if not... ask them to consider that.

I will see them on monday so i will see what they say

Good luck, fingers crossed you will find a way around it.

Thanks, I think the way around it is a change of career

What about the modding side of computers? A lot of big PC manufacturers now are having to think about their design with pressure from Apple making such attractive hardware. I am positive there will be a big market for designers/engineers in that field albeit specialist.

now theres an idea! I will look into that... I didnt really wanted to go into the design side of things (or if i did, I would like to make the thing as well) which is why I was thinking of a PC Technician repairing/upgrading/servicing PC's

I thaught today about a sound engineer in a recording studio.... setting up and operating all the equipment and controls. Not sure how many jobs there are there though

Or, one of my previous ideas (prior to the apprenticeship) an electrician or electronics engineer

As you can see, I'm keeping my options open. Going to see connexions tomorrow.... they didnt help much last time but hey, they may do this time, you never know!

Best of luck, Mike. Having held a large number of jobs over the years, I know how it feels to find a position you want only for it to go wrong in some way.
Clearly you are no fool. You have your heart set on this job, but if it doesn't work out, well, it was just a stop on the way to something better.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I'm feeling a little better about it now because i know what my options are and how i can go about them. The main problem is what i'm going to do untill september because i will be earning no money and getting no EMA. I will have to get a full time job in a shop or something.

Not to lay the consolation on too thick, but I'm currently looking for a new job myself. I applied to two different firms, both within twenty minutes walk of my home, and in both cases I was the second-best candidate.