Techbuyer’s Very Own Tom Idle Nominated for Yorkshire’s Apprentice of the Year

Here in the office, we all know that Tom Idle, IT Support Technician is a valued member of our team. And luckily for the rest of the UK, now everyone else can know it too. Tom has been nominated as Insider’s Yorkshire Apprentice of the Year, which is an amazing achievement and a testament to his hard work at Techbuyer.

Before working with us, Tom was coming up to the end of his networking course at a local college, trying to decide whether he wanted to go to university. “It was a daunting decision at first,” Tom comments. “I had friends who were already at university and having a great time, and it’s the most common path to go down after sixth form or college. However, the more I thought about it the more I saw the financial downside of tuition fees and living away from home, and the real benefit of learning on the job. When I met Rich, our IT Director, and he offered me a position, it was perfect timing and everything came together for the best.”

Nearly three years on, Tom has passed level 3 of his apprenticeship, which is more or less equivalent to A-level. He is now on Level 4, studying network engineering for about 20% of his time each week and working in the office for the rest. From fixing computers, to running cables, to installing new set-ups, he has learnt a number of skills in depth. “Not only have I learnt to troubleshoot and fix problems, but I can also explain how I fixed it,” says Tom. “The hands-on approach of working for a company also means you immediately start putting the things you’ve studied into practice.”

Rich Kenny, who nominated Tom for Yorkshire’s Apprentice of the Year, commented that: “We were really impressed by Tom’s maturity and attitude from day one when he came on work experience. He’s a guy who is diligent, tries hard, communicates well and people genuinely love working with him. He should be proud of what he’s achieved at Techbuyer because there isn’t a single person in the business who he hasn’t helped in some way, shape or form.”

The IT team will be cheering Tom on at Insider’s Made in Yorkshire Awards on 5th March. If he wins in the region, he will then have the chance to become UK Apprentice of the Year. “It was really unexpected being nominated”, says Tom. “It feels really validating and great to know that the hard work is paying off. I’m looking forward to going to Leeds for the awards later this year!”


Techbuyer is a global specialist in the buying and selling of new and refurbished data centre equipment. We provide a variety of services including our Configure-to-Order service, secure data erasure, and refurbishment of redundant IT equipment.