STEP BY STEP TO SENIOR TECH: ISUZU STAR BRAD HICKEY ON A CAREER IN SERVICE

There’s a lot on the table to make the role of a service technician rewarding, exciting, and stacked with opportunities—from international skills competitions to the HVIA National Apprentice Challenge, and service technician guilds that provide ongoing training and cash incentives.

And with new technology like electric trucks soon to become an everyday reality, the automotive service sector is an exciting place to be.

We caught up with Brad Hickey, a senior service technician working in the Isuzu network at Double R Tamworth.

With 23 years under his tool belt as a service technician and 20 of those working on Isuzu trucks, he is well-known for his technical skills and mentoring the next generation of service stars. You may also recognise him as the winner of Isuzu's National Technical Skills Competition in 2022.

Progressing from a qualified tech to senior service technician, Brad was one of the first people in Australia to complete an Isuzu Master Technician course and receive the prestigious title of Isuzu Master Technician.

He has a chat with us about what it takes to progress a career in service and some of the opportunities available.

Thanks for chatting with us Brad. What inspired you to begin your career in truck servicing? 

The interest came naturally from helping my dad fix our cars in the garage at home. I also studied vehicle maintenance in high school and found that I had a knack for it. I grew up in quite a modest household, very working class, not a lot of spare money but everyone was happy. I'm one of four kids, mum and dad worked hard to provide us with everything that they could. It was a good place to be. 

My first career step was when I decided to start a TAFE course, a Certificate of Occupational Studies in Automotive Mechanics while waiting for apprenticeships to become available. Times were tough back in the early 90s and it there was a lot of competition to get a limited spot.

By the time I started one at Trueway Transport in Newcastle in 1996, I was in my second year of TAFE and ahead of my fellow apprentices.

Did you have any mentors or role models in the industry when you were an apprentice?

The type of apprenticeship I had in the mid-90s is quite different from what apprentices have now. I was an apprentice for four years working for a private trucking company and worked the permanent night shift.

My boss Neil Thompson at Trueway Transport was the defining character during my apprenticeship—at the time I was working with him about every single day and night of my life.

Over four years, when a few people are working together in the middle of the night, you either form a good bond or it's not going to be a very good four years. 

Once you became fully qualified, what did you do to take further steps towards becoming a senior service technician?

The defining moment for me in my career was when I came to started to work at Peel Valley Machinery here in Tamworth in 2008, which became Double R in 2022.

That was a big year for change when it came to emissions here in Australia. A lot of the technicians at the time felt cautious about emissions changes and what that would mean for the technology we work with, but I chose to do the opposite. I spoke to Gary (who is still the service manager at Double R), and I let him know that I'll learn as much as I can because I didn’t want to get left behind in the industry.

If you change with technology and keep up to date, your job is always going to be interesting and you're always going to be in-demand as a service technician.  

Explain to us what a senior service technician does in their day-to-day role? 

When I come in first thing I go around and greet everyone individually, ask how they're going. Then I go into the service office and greet the people in there, so my manager and our service advisor. Between the three of us, we figure out how to attack the day.

We plan the jobs and assign them to the staff. Eighty per cent of my day is diagnosing problems with trucks, but the other 20 per cent is spent working with the team and keeping the day on track, plus offering guidance and educating the younger technicians. We also fit in a morning cuppa, lunch, and afternoon tea into the day.

I really get a kick out of mentoring and teaching—when I spend time with a younger person, and I can see that light bulb moment where they start to understand why we do things a certain way, you know they have turned a corner with their learning.

What advice do you have for young people wanting to enter the industry or service techs wanting to take their career to the next level?

• My biggest piece of advice is stick it out. You might have a bad day or even a bad week at the start but if you give it a little time (such as six months), you will really know whether you can do this.
• Don't be scared to ask questions. The more questions you ask, the more you get and you're just going to learn. Don't ask the same person all the time, get a couple of different opinions.
• Stay up to date with technology so you don't get stuck behind doing the old school nuts and bolts mechanical work.
• Keep learning and you'll find yourself in an important job role, maybe less physical, but still on the tools doing what you love.

The industry is changing with electric vehicles coming in, what do you see on the horizon?

I'm very much ready and pacing myself for another new change.

As a senior service technician working with others who work on Isuzu trucks, part of staying at the top of our game is getting prepared for future change and challenges.

What are some of the most memorable events in your career?

I love participating in Isuzu’s tech guild competitions each year, it's something I look forward to and I get a kick out of doing well at.

The big icing on the cake was last year when I won the Isuzu National Technical Skills Competition for Australia—doesn't get much better than that!

You can't put into words how you’re feeling at the time because you're so tired, you're so wound up and you don't expect your name to be called out, and then when you hear it it's like “Wow, how good is this?” So that was a huge highlight in my career.

I am looking forward to Japan later this year and representing Australia in the world competition. It's reassuring to part of the Isuzu network where there is this fantastic level of support, whether it’s technical or the opportunities that come up like competitions or the Master Technician course.

What was your experience like participating in Isuzu's Master Technician course?

I was lucky enough to be in the first round of entrants to graduate from Isuzu's Master Technician course. Finishing it was delayed due to pandemic restrictions, as the group as a whole had to study together on site in Melbourne over a working week, with the course containing three parts. I began in 2018 and completed the course in 2022.

It was a bit of an experiment, we learnt so much from Isuzu, but Isuzu was also learning from us, our reactions, what worked well and what could be improved.

I was in the group with some really clever people. We were sitting down at dinner after the first night and we looked at each other and going... this is tough! It was inspiring that everyone did well. When I finished it last year finally, that was a proud moment for me.

Part of being a Master Technician after graduating is staying up to date with your tech guild articles—this is another program that Isuzu runs that you study from home. At the end of the year, if you do well on the exam, you get a cash prize. It’s a great incentive to keep going with your study and exams. 

Thanks Brad!

Looking for more info to kick start your career in the trucking industry? Read on to see what incentives OEM's have available for service techs.