‘I was shocked there were apprenticeships in accounting’

I finished school three or four years ago now. When I finished, I just knew I wasn’t ready for college. I didn’t know what exactly I wanted to do, and I feel like a lot of people that age are like that. They’re maybe pushed towards college, but I decided to just take a year out.

I went to Australia for a year and as I took myself away from thinking about what I wanted to do, I kind of came to the conclusion that I had an interest in finance and how business works in general. That led me to accounting and then I came across the Accounting Technician Ireland apprenticeship, which really ticked all the boxes for me.

It’s a two-year course, which is a huge benefit in comparison to a four-year degree. At the end, you can still go on and do your professional exams and get the exemptions from the exams. When I came across it, I just knew straight away that it was the path I wanted to take.

My friends and family were more than supportive. They didn’t want me to rush into anything. I feel like if I had wanted to take a year off and not do anything, they probably would have questioned it, but the fact that I wanted to do a bit of travelling they understood.

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I’ve an older brother and he’s a qualified manufacturing engineer now. But he finished the Leaving Cert and went straight to college and ended up dropping out because it wasn’t what he wanted to do back then. They had that sort of experience.

I feel like if I went to college straight after the Leaving Cert, I probably would have dropped out within a year. I felt like I was a completely different person back then. I know a lot of people in my year who went straight to college and ended up dropping out because they weren’t entirely sure what they wanted to do.

And also, I started working when I was 16, having part-time casual work. I love the working environment; I love going to work. I feel like it wasn’t that I wouldn’t enjoy full time study, because I do think I would enjoy that now, but I don’t think I would have been able to not work. It’s built into my being.

With the apprenticeship, you get your college fees paid for and the salary on top of that.

Exam exemptions

I’m in the middle of my exams at the minute. The two years’ experience is finished in January, but I’ll have my results in September.

At the minute, I’m more than likely going to start my Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) exams in February. There are 13 exams but with the exemptions – I have four – I’ll have nine ACCA exams and hopefully I’ll be fully qualified and then I’ll continue working in accounting. I’m really enjoying it.

I was shocked there were apprenticeships in accounting. It’s something you really need to look hard to find. It’s not well known at all. I know people who are studying accounting and finance in college and I was talking to them and they had never heard of it. When they did hear of it, they said they would have taken that option as well.

When you think of apprenticeship, you certainly don’t think of accounting or finance.

It’s just not that well known. The more people who hear about it, the more will take that route. If I’m ever looking for jobs in the future, you need experience. The apprenticeship gives you that. They don’t just want someone with a degree. You get direct experience with the apprenticeship. That’s what employers are looking for.

- Shauna Bowers