A good road tech. They are getting harder to find. If a younger tech is put on the road without the basic skills he will loose customers. 2 years in shop seems not much time, unless they have outside experience. Shop work seldom involves as much touble shooting. Most of it is big jobs that are too time consuming or need equipment not available on road. There is nothing that scares a customer than a tech working on the wrong end of the truck. I have seen it.
A little background. US Navy trained GSE. 7 years at a dealership. First 4 as shop tech. 24 years as tech for customer. Last 15 years as lead tech and backup supervisor. 24 techs, $50 million budget. Fortune 100 company. Last 7 years road tech for dealership.
When a tech comes in for warrenty and my guys knew more about the trudk than the dealer tech, I lost some respect for the dealer. I have seen the top of the class in auto tech college be nothing but a waste of time. The best techs have been farm raised!!! Learned very basics very young. Lefty- Loosey etc.
A road tech can not be foul mouthed. Watch language. What you say at customers will be your company image. What you do will be your company image. The way you work will be your comany image. Just because the guy at the dock will not see the bill doesn't mean he many not have some input as to who should be called on next breakdown. Work and Act like the customers top management is watching. Maintain an image you would expect of the person servicing your own car or truck.
I am the go to guy still. I don't hold back any knowledge.
I will teach the younger techs everything I know. I am basicly lazy. I figure the more they learn the more they can do on their own, the more I don't have to do. If I could get thru the day without getting my hand dirty, just answering the phone and teaching. Just dreaming I guess.