From a young age, Ruben has had a keen interest in vocational skills which led to him taking on an apprenticeship in the family run business, working alongside his father as a Plumbing apprentice.
Ruben said;
“Conventional education wasn’t my strongest area”
Supporting his development in the field of plumbing, Ruben studies at Coleg y Cymoedd. Through his studies, and encouragement from his college tutor to put his skills to the test, Ruben began his competition journey at Skills Competition Wales, a series of local competitions for learners, apprentices and trainees in Wales.
As a competitive individual, Ruben set his sights on Gold but fell short of the winning title in 2020 and achieved third place taking home a Bronze medal. The knockback challenged him further and made him hungrier for success.
Despite COVID putting Ruben’s journey on hold, his competitive nature saw him bounce back in 2022, returning to the competition arena , taking gold at the UK National competitions and also winning the HIP Magazine Learner of the Year 2022.
Going from strength to strength, his success secured him a place in Squad UK to battle it out to represent the UK at EuroSkills Gdansk 2023 and WorldSkills Lyon 2024.
After being selected for EuroSkills, and a gruelling 3 days of competition, Ruben brought back a bronze medal, placing third in the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in Europe.
Ruben was over the moon with the result and said;
“It felt unbelievable to have the bronze medal. I didn’t go to Gdańsk to win a medal – taking part was key for me – so holding the medal in my hand felt absolutely brilliant. WorldSkills Lyon 2024 is my next challenge. Bring it on.”
Taking his learnings from EuroSkills back to his training and development programme, Ruben has been selected to represent the UK at the Skills Olympics in Lyon in September.
WorldSkills Lyon will host over 65+ countries and see over 1,400 learners take to the world stage to compete in their chosen skill. To keep an eye on all the action follow us @iseinwales.
As an Inspiring Skills Ambassador, Ruben has supported various events and project initiatives, sharing his learnings and best practice across the education and training sector.
He is a true advocate for competitions, and his message to those considering this path is;
“I think skills competitions are an amazing opportunity to show your potential in a practical way; it helps to give everyone an even playing field for success.”
Why not take the plunge in to competitions yourself, with Skills Competition Wales 2025 preparation underway, find out more here;
https://inspiringskills.gov.wales/competitions