Black History Month: Edmund Augustin
We have our penultimate interview this month with Edmund Augustin! He is 29 years old, and was born and raised in Forest Gate, East London. Both his parents were born in Saint Lucia, the Caribbean, but moved to England in their early adulthood. Heattended Bonaventure's Secondary School in Forest Gate, then started his electrical apprenticeship with Newham Council. After completing it, he went on to work in many different fields - all within the electrical industry: commercial maintenance, repairs and installation, building maintenance, underground, new build installations, rewiring, testing. You name it, he's done it! Currently, he's working with Fantastic Services and has been with them for 1 year, this month! In his spare time, he enjoys going to the gym and spending time with his family.
What's something people would be surprised to learn about you?
I have 3 children! Every time I tell this to people, they are shocked to hear it. My fiancee and I had our eldest daughter when we were both 19. We were both very young. She was at university back then, studying to be a teacher and I was still an apprentice. We were later blessed with our son, age 7 and our youngest daughter, age 3.
What is the most fulfilling part of your work?
It's the little things, like the joy in clients' eyes when I have fixed a problem. Also, interacting with different kind of people from all walks of life and working as a team to deliver the best service to the clients.
What are you currently working on?
I'm working on growing my business to start offering other trade services
What are some misconceptions people may have about your work?
I have noticed that most of the clients think the electrical services are really expensive and as a result are putting off small jobs. But when they actually have the work done,they always say it hasn't been as costly as they have thought it would've been.
What is the funniest thing that's happened while at work?
I was working in a voided property - doing a rewire. The property was a house split into a top floor flat and a ground floor flat. I went to the van to get some materials and ended up getting locked between the flat's main door and the building's main door. I couldn't find the keys for the flat. I thought I had left it inside. I had also left my phone inside and the downstairs neighbour was not in. I ended up sitting in the hallway for 5 hours until the neighbour came back from work with the spare keys in his hands. It turned out, I had left the keys in the front door lock.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would advise myself to be patient and just keep working hard. Eventually, the right opportunity will come to further your career.