After Completing Your Training - What to Expect

Of course you want a job that will challenge and continually grow your skills. This is what you can do to help foster your growth as a technician:

• Demonstrate that you are responsible, reliable and safe to be around. There is no substitute for a good work ethic. Show up on time, do your best work and be professional in what you do, how you do it and how you treat others.
• Demonstrate that you are eager to learn and are adaptable and trainable. Your schooling only introduces you to the craft. The job site is where your growth as a tech is dependent on applying what you have learned while simultaneously adopting the tools, techniques and approaches to repair from those who are more experienced than you. You may not always agree with what you are told. Find ways of explaining and discussing your experiences and approaches professionally.
• Ask for feedback and be receptive to it. For the first three to six months your work should be rigorously inspected often by an experienced technician so you can rapidly learn what is expected of your work and how best to meet those expectations. Do not be surprised if every instrument is inspected and commented upon for some time.
• Contribute what you have learned in school. Just because you are entering the craft doesn't mean you don't know anything. You most likely can contribute to the growth of those techs around you while they are helping you grow. Learning is always a two-way street - you demonstrate value by contributing to the continous improvement of the repair shop's services. Find ways of contributing that raises the stock of all around you.
• Grow your problem-solving skills alongside your mechanical skills. A technician's skills are only as good as the thought process behind them. There are always many approaches to a single task. Appreciating different approaches means you can address specific problems with equally specific, unique techniques. Among the techs who choose not to develop their problem-solving skills, most are unemployed.
• Never stop learning. Those who are the best in the craft have made the most mistakes. It takes courage to admit our mistakes and to learn from them, especially when fresh out of school It's the price paid for being good at anything. It also ensures steady increases in your income.