What is a Preventive Maintenance Technician?

A maintenance technician mainly focuses their time on making repairs to equipment and property structures. When the HVAC unit stops working on the hottest day of the year, the maintenance technicians are the ones who will be called on to save the day.

Generally, maintenance technicians only need a high school diploma to get by in their career, although higher positions in the maintenance technician field may require a two-year program of some sort.

You know how we said that maintenance technicians may be called upon in emergency situations? Well, that may mean you'll be working outside of your normal hours. For the most part, you'll work a normal, full-time schedule. But emergencies may get you out of bed or interrupt your weekend. Just be prepared for those emergencies.

As a service technician, you'll be coming home with a lot of grease on your hands. Unless, of course, you wash your hands before leaving work. Guess where all that grease comes from. Vehicles! That's right, you'll be inspecting and repairing cars, left and right.

Generally, you'll be working in a well-ventilated, well-lit garage of some sort. You'll need to be familiar with automotive issues in a car's computer system, such as figuring out why the check engine light is on. And you'll probably need to know how to change a tire or change the oil. But we're not telling you how to do your job.

Instead of getting your training from us, you should complete a program from a postsecondary institution. Again, not telling you what to do but rather what employers like to see. Once you have the job, you may need to go a step further by becoming certified.

If you want to combine your practical abilities with technical knowledge in a material building or automated logistic business, the role of maintenance engineer might be quite fulfilling for you. Being a maintenance engineer, generally, your core duty is to ensure the industrial machinery and equipment runs smoothly and reliably. Your typical duties may include designing, developing, or troubleshooting equipment, assigning work orders to staff, and performing preventive and maintenance work within company specifications.

The majority of maintenance engineers work in construction or production facilities. However, they may find work in hospitals, universities, public schools, companies, local or federal government.

As a maintenance engineer, your working environment may also be diverse. Sometime of the day, you may work onsite at construction sites and other work in an office or warehouse. Typically you may work 40 hours a week. Shifts or on-call may come in some cases to complete the deadlines or handle maintenance issues.

There are several routes to get into the maintenance engineer career. If you're a graduate, typically, you may need a bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, or a relevant engineering discipline. However, if you're a school leaver, you may still enter the profession with an apprenticeship in manufacturing or mechanical engineering. To be successful, you must have extensive knowledge of industrial equipment, troubleshooting, and repair equipment.

By handling the equipment maintenance, you may earn an average annual salary of $61,000 along with health benefits packages, vacation and sick leave, and pension plans. What's more, with few years of experience you may move to the areas of technical sales or maintenance team management.