Stereotyping is lazy and often inaccurate. That’s certainly the case in the modern coach or bus workshop. Once, engineers needed to be physically strong, as ‘brute force’ was a key requirement.
Thanks to legislation and better practices, heavy lifting tasks are now aided, while modern workshops are clean, tidy, dry and usually warm. Indeed the best ones are good places that good people want to work in. And, the pay’s pretty good too.
With the increasing complexity of vehicles one key requirement of modern engineers is their ability to solve problems.
Not only does this get the vehicle back out on the road, but it can also save money.
It’s not hard to spend lots of money randomly replacing components, when a good engineer will figure out exactly what the repair involves in a shorter time and at less expense.
Now in its eighth year, the Institute of Road Transport Engineers’ (IRTE) Skills Challenge marks the pinnacle of achievement.
Once again staged at the S&B Automotive Academy, Bristol, a new record of 32 teams with 92 contestants came together over five days of competition.
While technical task-based skills are important, it’s problem solving – such as figuring out what’s wrong with an air-braking system – that really sorts out the top people.
Make no mistake; there are young people who want a more interesting and challenging career than is generally assumed. Engineering does that and operators are well placed to take advantage of their hunger to solve problems.
