Oli Hay began his apprenticeship at Tetra Tech in 2021 joining the Next Gen Talent Programme and gaining valuable industry experience while studying.
Over four years, he has completed the various stages of his apprenticeship, earned a First-Class Honours degree in Project Management, gained APM Project Management qualifications and become a NEC4 ECC accredited Project Manager.
Now a full time, valued member of the Project Management team, Oli can focus on applying his qualifications to advance his career.
We caught up with him to discuss his journey so far and get some advice for others considering apprenticeships.
Oli, what would you say to someone considering an apprenticeship?
If you’re weighing up an apprenticeship, I’d say go for it. A degree apprenticeship lets you study for a full degree without taking on the usual student loans, and you also get to apply what you learn every day in a real workplace. I learned more quickly because I could immediately practice new concepts and build a professional network. It’s a practical route into a qualification and a career for roles where this route is available.
What attracted you to Tetra Tech and our Next Gen Talent Programme?
I was drawn to work in Project Management, and I knew I wanted to work somewhere which offered interesting projects for me to get involved with.
I have worked on a range of schemes across various sectors from residential to government sectors.
Tetra Tech has projects in the UK but also around the world which really opens up opportunities to work with different teams in other countries, as well as the potential opportunity to go out to site and see the world as part of your role.
What was it that kept you motivated whilst completing your apprenticeship?
What kept me going was seeing my day‑to‑day work show up in my degree – it made everything click. Being able to use real projects as examples in my studies gave me an edge, and made the learning feel useful instead of just theoretical.
On top of that, the team at Tetra Tech are genuinely behind you; people check in, give feedback, and help you succeed, which makes a huge difference
• What advice would you give to someone who is at the start of their career in Project Management?
I would recommend spending as much time as possible learning from people across the wider business, after all project management is about bringing the project together.
The better I understand the people and their jobs that fit into the projects I am working on the easier my role becomes. There are lots of systems, processes and visualisations that are part of my projects and being able to understand these and, the importance of each one can really help determine your understanding of a project. Being able to do a deep dive in to this really helps me feel more informed in project conversations and able to ask the right questions and ultimately be able to make better decisions.
What has been your proudest achievement of your career so far?
It is definitely achieving a First-Class degree alongside working. It wasn’t an easy task, there were many long evenings and weekends of studying and writing assignments, but to complete it at this level with the highest grade really meant a lot to me and it felt great to know that all the hard work paid off. I am really looking forward to seeing where the next few years will take me!
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