I studied the Basic Draughting course (MDDOP) at the African Academy in 2007. During this time, I promised myself and the African Academy that I will be one of the best students that African Academy will place in the working world of Draughting. At the end of the year, African Academy arranged interviews for students. I went to Hitachi in Woodmead for my first interview, but was not successful.
My second interview was with ELB Engineering in Sandton. This was successful and I commenced employment with ELB on 14 January 2008. My first duties were printing, scanning & folding drawings for the Drawing Office. This continued for many months. At a later stage, the Drawing Office Manager was satisfied with the work I was doing and started giving me drawings to back up for draughtspersons on various projects. In 2009, the office was positive that I would make a great employee and for the first time they let me work on a project. I was sent to site with a Senior Draughtsperson to learn what was expected
from a Draughtsperson on site.
In 2010 my big break came when I was one of the 8 Draughtspersons that was chosen to work on the Eskom “Medupi” project. At the end of 2013 to my surprise, I was awarded the Exceptional Service award for 2013. It was for the first time I saw all my hard work and effort coming to fruition. There is always something new to learn in Draughting. I am still young but one day I want to give my knowledge I learnt from my elders in the drawing office, to the new and upcoming Draughtspersons.
In conclusion I would like to say thank you to the African Academy for the trust and patience they had with me. They supported me all the way. I will always keep African Academy’s name high and proud, to show every Draughtspersons in the work place and the country, that the African Academy only provides the best Draughtspersons in the country.
Yours and truly
Hermanus
