There is much discussion out in the media about the need or shortage of well-trained Wind Technicians. Equally important is the demand for experienced, well-trained Wind Technical Training Instructors if we plan to provide a solution to the problem.
Without a professionally trained or experienced Instructor, you get an inferior product. It’s a big reason why I believe we are seeing Techs coming out training classes these days that struggle to use their Multimeter, are unaware of how current flows in a circuit, struggle to follow circuits in their schematics, don’t know which cabinets they are allowed into while energized, are unfamiliar with what a circuit breaker does. The list goes on unfortunately.
This is not a Wind Technician problem. A Wind Technician will be as knowledgeable as the instructor that trained them. If ideas, thoughts, concepts, skills, theories are being transferred from Instructor to student with details, creativity, and analogies in a way the student can paint the same canvas in their head as the instructor via some sort of medium, then the learning process has taken place. If not, then the learning outcome for the student will be unclear.
How do prepare yourself to become an expert in the field of Wind Technical Training? You will find different answers to that question across the industry.
The path I choose is unconventional or “Old School” and much different from what you will find today across the wind technical training industry.
· 30+ years of trades experience (Electrical, mechanical, hydraulics, plumbing, welding, fabricating, machining, general contracting, heavy equipment operator)
· 17 years technical writing and teaching experience in and outside of the Wind industry
· Formal training in communication, public speaking, Adult Teaching Strategies, Foundations of Leadership, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Leading in Crisis, Working in Teams
· >4500 hrs of professional teaching development alongside some of the best Navy Nukes in the business
· +15,000 hrs of classroom teaching time as a Wind Training Instructor
· Thousands of hours performing remote troubleshooting with Technicians
· Thousands of hours in a wind turbine (working, product design and development, maintenance)
· Trained >3900 Wind Techs with 0 injuries
Developing well-trained, experienced technical training experts is a key piece of the puzzle to providing the solution to the problem we are facing in the wind industry today. There are not many of us that have stuck around for 17 years and still love the technical training role. Perhaps I’m cut from a different cloth because I still love what I do.
Solar Academy Fellow at Solar States
1moALL CAP!!! THEY WIL NOT HELP YOU GET A POSITION AFTER THE ACADEMY. THEY LIST 6/7 apprenticeships but only 2 accept people from the program!!! BAD BAD BAD COMPANY!!! I will NOT recommend