Why Dubbo student shunned university for life as a tradie

Academically, he had always been near the top of his class.

"I did have a lot people saying I shouldn't have done that," the former Narromine High School student said.

"Everyone always wanted me to be the school captain and go off to university.

"I never wanted a bar of it."

Living on a property 45 minutes west of Dubbo with little to no internet, home-schooling during 2020 was just as hard as you can imagine.

In 2021, he took up an apprenticeship with Luke Cross Engineering in Dubbo and currently attends Tafe in Orange.

It seems like the decision to leave school early has paid off, with Mr Devlin set to take part in a national vocational skills competition in August, having won the regional Macquarie title.

But getting to this point wasn't easy.

"When the regional event was on, I struggled to get to it because I was flooded in," he said.

"It was a bit of a pain to get here."

Although a trip to France to compete in the international WorldSkills event in on the cards should he be successful, the 18-year-old mechanical engineering student has a different way of looking at things.

"Everybody wants to win and be the best, but you have to be realistic because there might be someone that's a bit better than you," he said.

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"Just to go and compete, even if you come last, you're one of the 15 best out of everybody who tried in the country."

Over three days, the national competition will assess Mr Devlin's expertise across his practical skills on the lathe machine, planning skills by creating a job plan, and analytical skills by calculating speeds and feeds.

But just because the third year apprentice is content with how far he has come, doesn't mean there isn't more to show to those who doubted him at the start.

"To win and be the best would be the best slice of humble pie for those people and probably be a very big confidence boost for myself," he said.

"You don't have to go with the flow and you can still be just as good."

The WorldSkills Australia 2023 National Championships will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from August 17-19.

Mr Devlin won't be the only Orange Tafe student competing either, with Jackson Gersbach (construction steel work), Matthew Vardanega (fitting) and Harrison Field (welding) also hoping to come away with gold medals.

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