MK Innovates: Kiana has probably the best apprenticeship in the world at Carlsberg!

MK College student Kiana Kamalian, an engineering apprentice at Carlsberg, is backing the MK Innovates STEM social media festival launching in Milton Keynes next month

Budding engineer Kiana Kamalian doesn’t do things by halves…

She is already planning to train as a ‘master brewer’ at Carlsberg once her apprenticeship is complete.

The eager student spends two to three days a week at MK College and the rest learning on the job at Carlsberg’s Northampton factory.

On the spanners...MK College student Kiana Kamalian is an engineering apprentice at Carlsberg who is backing next month's MK Innovates social media STEM festival in Milton Keynes

And she is loving every minute, shadowing engineers to learn about their roles and responsibilities.

Kiana spoke to the MK Citizen ahead of the launch of MK Innovates - the online STEM career festival that runs from March 8-12.

“I find it so interesting and inspiring to be around all the experienced engineers and learn technical skills from them,” she said.

“Recently I was paired with one who showed me the area he was responsible for and explained his tasks and how he prioritises what needs doing.”

Excited to try out the tools - Carlsberg engineering apprentice Kiana Kamalian, an MK College student who is backing next month's MK Innovates social media STEM festival in Milton Keynes

Kiana was soon handed the tools to try out some of the tasks for herself.

“It was a great experience to use the engineering tools and learn at the same time,” she said.

Kiana, who moved to Milton Keynes from Iran in 2015, is no stranger to the world of heavy engineering.

“Both my parents were engineering managers at a copper mine for many years,” she said. “I remember as a child, when it was ‘bring your kid to work’ day, I’d spend the whole time with engineers walking around a huge factory full of technology and science.

“As a schoolgirl I was into fixing things with the least amount of resources – mostly glue and string!”

Engineering is still a very male dominated industry, but Kiana is hoping more young girls will take the plunge and train for an exciting and challenging career.

“I am a member of the apprentice Women Engineering Society board, where we are working hard to encourage, inspire and help more women around the world from all backgrounds to pursue a career in STEM subjects,” she said.

“I have a passion to help others and inspire, to not be afraid, to try anything. With a little bit of hard work and passion we can build anything.

“Before I started my apprenticeship I was expecting to be treated differently, but I’m so glad to say I’ve been proved wrong,” she said.

“I’ve been treated exactly the same as everyone else.”

Jason Ford, news editor at The Engineer, said: “Kiana’s story really does highlight everything that is positive about entering a STEM career via an apprenticeship.

"Done properly, this route to a career balances time in the classroom with time on the shopfloor, levelling out in a well-rounded head start for people entering STEM careers.

"I’ll show my age here, but does Kiana have the best apprenticeship in the world? Probably! Cheers Kiana, and good luck.”

Visit www.mkinnovates.co.uk #MKInnovates #BSW21 #InnovatingForTheFuture

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