I guess if you're a little bit unsure about what to do, look at the apprenticeship and that VET course as the foundation of a new skill.
My name is Braden Hellmuth, and I’m the Director at Farm Concepts. I started Farm Concepts about two and a half years ago, after working in agriculture for around 15 years.
Farm Concepts is based in Bundaberg in Queensland, and we work to support farmers to adopt innovation and technology to make their business more profitable and sustainable.
I have a Bachelors Degree in Science from the University of Queensland, and I also have a Certificate III in Engineering - Diesel Fitting, and a Certificate IV in Fluid Power. After I finished my degree, I came back to work in agriculture and through that process, wanting to learn more skills.
University taught me a lot, but there was another aspect that was a bit more practical that I felt like I was lacking. I just wanted to learn. There was just kind of a thirst for more knowledge, constant improvement.
There’s a theoretical side and then there’s the actual, 'This is real. I have this problem.'
It’s physical, it’s tangible. It’s always a challenge. There's no manual. There's no map. We just start and use the skills that we've got across multiple facets of our life to solve that problem.
The opportunities that I got from VET was the ability to explore and support other people.
I got the opportunity to travel internationally. I got to go and look at machinery that we were looking to purchase.
This is the foundation, and your pathway is going to be unique. I think a lot of that is driven around your own goals and your own aspirations as well. If you want it and you’ve got the drive, then you can achieve anything.
