‘I’m not just an apprentice. I’m a go-getter’ - how a degree apprenticeship can open career doors
A student case study with Amaya Sophia Ahmed
Average read time: 7 mins
06 July 2026
At 19, Amaya Sophia Ahmed already has the presence of someone who has decided not to wait politely outside the door. She is a Level 6 degree apprentice at Colliers International, studying Real Estate Management with the University of the Built Environment, and the co-founder of HerEstate Network, a fast-growing community created to help young women access opportunities in male-dominated industries.
She did not grow up with a neat, childhood dream of becoming a surveyor. Her first ambitions were broader, louder and more public-facing.
“I really wanted to do broadcasting,” she said. “I wanted to talk to people. And the other side of it is I really wanted to be a politician because I wanted to help people. I wanted to create tangible change and be in those rooms where change is being made.”
"I’d been working and studying from 14 up to 18, so it became natural to want to work, earn and learn all at the same time."
Discovering degree apprenticeships
The built environment was not the original plan, but the desire behind it remained the same. Amaya wanted a career where she could be close to people, close to decisions and close to change. A careers platform at school suggested she might thrive in a client-facing role. Work experience then opened the door to real estate, and with it, the discovery of degree apprenticeships.
For Amaya, the model immediately made sense. She had been working since the age of 14, balancing study with employment long before she left sixth form.
“I never wanted to go to university in the traditional way,” she said. “The sitting down, attending lectures and just writing things down, rather than physically doing it, didn’t feel like me. I’d been working and studying from 14 up to 18, so it became natural to want to work, earn and learn all at the same time.”
That does not mean the route was easy. Amaya is frank about how difficult it can be for young people to access meaningful experience, especially in an industry where connections still carry weight.
"Amaya and our broader apprentice cohort on schemes such as the one run by University of the Built Environment have been an absolute revelation for Colliers, injecting a fresh perspective and a remarkable level of original thinking into our day-to-day operations.”
- Phil Gardner, Colliers
“Reaching out to companies for work experience is not as easy as it sounds,” she said. “Eighty per cent of companies require you to have work experience, but only 28% of them actually provide work experience. In what world does that make sense?”
Rather than waiting to be found, she started finding people. She attended events, connected with professionals on LinkedIn and followed up with emails asking for opportunities.
“You have to do a lot of outreach in this world if you want to get anything done,” she said. “I wouldn’t be standing here getting interviewed right now if I didn’t do any of those emails, which is pretty crazy to think about. Everything’s a stepping stone.”
One of those stepping stones led to a degree apprenticeship with Colliers. And while apprenticeships are often discussed in terms of what they offer young people, employers are increasingly recognising the value of bringing fresh talent and new perspectives into their organisations.
Phil Gardner, Colliers’ chief growth and transformation officer – UK, said:
“Amaya and our broader apprentice cohort on schemes such as the one run by University of the Built Environment have been an absolute revelation for Colliers, injecting a fresh perspective and a remarkable level of original thinking into our day-to-day operations.
“Amaya consistently challenges the status quo, bringing innovative ideas and an infectious energy to every aspect of her work. The unique insights she and her peers provide both internally and through various forums externally underscore just how invaluable the apprenticeship route is for cultivating top-tier industry talent and driving our business forward."
Interactive, multiplatform study
At Colliers, Amaya spends four days a week in the office and uses Friday as her dedicated study day. The structure gives her the rhythm of professional life, while the University’s online learning model gives her the flexibility to study around work.
“The best thing is that I don’t have to physically go into university,” she said. “Being in the office four days a week is draining, especially when you have to go into London all the time. The online side makes it so much more enjoyable.”
For prospective students who imagine online learning as lonely or static, Amaya’s experience offers a different picture. She describes the University’s virtual learning environment as organised, varied and easy to navigate, with videos, reading, interactive tasks, presentations and discussion spaces that allow students to learn in different ways.
“Everything is really easy to digest for people who don’t want to read loads at a time,” she said. “Sometimes you get videos to watch, sometimes you read, sometimes it’s an interactive task or you create a presentation. It’s so different that you’re not bored or feeling like you’re stuck in a box.”
That phrase matters. For Amaya, school could sometimes feel rigid. By contrast, online degree apprenticeship study has given her greater independence.
“There’s so much more freedom to it,” she said. “No one is down my neck saying, ‘You haven’t done this, you haven’t done that.’ I can do things in my own time as long as I get them done by the deadline.”
Support, however, is never far away. As a degree apprentice, Amaya has both a workplace line manager and an apprentice officer through the University. She also speaks warmly about the welfare team and the ease of booking support when needed.
“Even though you’re not physically there, you’re always supported,” she said. “There are places on the VLE where you can book meetings and get as much support as you need. If you need advice or mentorship, there are people who will always be there to help you. You can really tell these are people who care.”
The online platform also gives her access to other apprentices across the country. Through shared discussion tools such as Padlet, she can read other students’ thoughts, compare experiences and learn about roles across the built environment.
“It’s interesting to hear about all the different jobs,” she said. “I came straight from sixth form, so I don’t know everything about the built environment yet. I know I want to be a chartered surveyor, but what do I want to specialise in? Commercial real estate is so broad.”
We’re building for people
That breadth has been one of the surprises of the course. Some modules have felt immediately aligned to her interests, particularly Professional Business Practice, which explores entrepreneurship, business structures, communication, legislation and networks.
“It’s really up my street,” she said. “I learn about how companies run businesses, external and internal networks, legislation and laws I need to know as I run my own business. It’s useful for client information too. It’s so interesting.”
Other areas, such as construction technology, have been less personally exciting, but Amaya sees the value in them.
“It’s important that people know how broad the built environment is,” she said. “At the University of the Built Environment, you don’t just cover one element. You’re looking at every single thing.”
Sustainability, she admits, was a topic she initially associated with worthy but uninspiring corporate sessions. The module changed that.
“People talk about sustainability and drag it out as if it’s ‘sustainability again’,” she said. “But the way the University set it out, it wasn’t boring at all. I was learning how important it is and how much it links to the built environment.”
For Amaya, this is where the industry becomes more than property, buildings and transactions.
“We are not building for buildings,” she said. “We are building for people, and we are building on our planet. We need to think about how we’re building, who we’re building for and all these different elements. The built environment is not just about building. It’s about living.”
That sense of purpose also drives HerEstate Network, which Amaya co-founded with Elizabeth Joseph-Adigun after the two kept finding themselves at the same networking events, often as the only young women of colour in the room.
“We were just talking to each other and saying, wouldn’t it be amazing if we could create our own community so other girls could come to these events and not feel left out or excluded?” she said. “Then we thought, wait a second, why don’t we?”
Launched in October 2025, the network has already grown to more than 1,000 young members. Its work includes insight days, work experience events, webinars, confidence-building forums, financial literacy sessions and stress management support. Although its roots are in real estate, its mission now reaches across male-dominated industries.
“We want to build the bridge between aspiring talent and the real working world,” Amaya said. “I know first-hand how hard it is to source these opportunities, work experience and degree apprenticeships. We wanted to create a community where girls can come and have those opportunities there.”
Her own confidence has not come from luck. It has been built through action, persistence and a refusal to shrink herself because of her age.
“I’m not just an apprentice,” she said. “I’m a go-getter. I’m a trailblazer. I’m someone who actually wants to make change, and I will not just sit and wait for someone else to make that happen for me.”
For anyone considering a degree apprenticeship, her advice is characteristically direct.
“Use your initiative and use your voice,” she said. “A lot of people think that because they’re young, their voice doesn’t really account to anything. But be audacious and be bold. I am living proof of it.”
She added: “People are shocked when they hear that I’m 19, but it’s confidence. Be confident in yourself, use your initiative and definitely get on LinkedIn.”
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