Liam Hindley, 19, is currently studying his Level 3 IT BTEC qualification at Solihull College & University Centre. As part of his qualification, with the help of his tutors, Liam is responsible for sourcing relevant work experience where he can use his newly found skills and adapt them to use in a real working environment.
As a lifelong Birmingham City fan and season ticket holder, Liam thought his dreams had come true when the club offered him a week long placement at St Andrews.
Liam, who has learnt a number of skills whilst studying at College, was asked to work in the ticket office for the first half of his work experience as he learnt how to use the newly installed ticketing software, Venue Master. After never using the software before Liam had to be taught from scratch and he was able to pick it up extremely quickly.
Aamir Javaid, Ticketing Manager at the club said “Liam has been brilliant. He has learnt a lot whilst being here and he has completed tasks that I never thought someone on work experience would be able to do.”
After learning about the software used Liam was able to spend the latter part of his work experience at the club shop as he was responsible for ticketing items and completing regular stock checks. Liam commented “I’ve never had a job before so as well as learning new skills I’ve also learnt how to work with people. It’s been a really positive and helpful experience and I would love to come back. This work experience opportunity has given me ideas about what I would like to do in the future.”
Liam, who from the age of 7 has had a fascination with computers, hopes to continue his education and progress on to a higher education course at the College, potentially focusing on software or games design. Liam comments “It’s said that everyone who has autism has one thing they are fascinated by and I realised when I was diagnosed with autism that for me, it is computers. My family always ask me how to fix things or how to do something on their computer.”
Liam has also enjoyed a tour of the stadium, which he has boasted about to his peers, and even had the chance to sit in the director’s chair in the stands.
After impressing on his weeks work placement at the club, Liam has expressed his interest in working for the club in the future.
Find out more about Solihull College & University Centre’s Computing & Emerging Technologies courses.
