Matthew Bottomley is the MTA Institute Apprentice of the Month for May 2024.
The 20-year-old is in the third year of his light vehicle apprenticeship and works at the Westpoint Autos Hillcrest dealership, located just south
of Brisbane.
According to both his employer and MTA Institute trainer Jens Puder, Matthew has proven to be an outstanding apprentice. He reached the final of the Technician Guild skills competition as a second-year apprentice in 2023 and, in a dealership that has a number of brands offering the latest technological advances, Matthew’s skills in diagnostics have proven very valuable. He is diagnosing complex issues in engine management systems, A/C systems, ADAS systems, electric vehicles and more.
“Matthew is not just a very good apprentice, he is an outstanding technician,” said Jens. “Not even the sky is the limit for this guy, and he is just at the beginning of an exceptional career.”
While he is kicking goals now as a light vehicle apprentice, a career in the automotive industry was not actually something Matthew had given much thought to until relatively recently.
“I wasn’t really interested in cars until I got to the later years of high school,” he said. “I did always like working with my hands though, and so I did do some work experience here at Westpoint Autos Hillcrest.”
That work experience was a turning point. Matthew enjoyed it immensely and approached his manager about getting a job with Westpoint.
“He said, ‘We’d love to have you, when can you start?’ and I pretty much started the first working day available,” said Matthew.
From that point on, Matthew flourished, building an impressive set of skills very swiftly – including high-voltage, battery-electric vehicle skills – no doubt in part due to his exposure to the wide range of makes and models that come through the Westpoint Autos workshop.
“We get anything and everything here and I have been able to do some EV training through the different brands,” said Matthew. “I’ve done a course over a few days with Hyundai for de-energising and repowering, and done some with other brands too, but Hyundai is probably the main one I have worked on.
“And I am comfortable working on them,” he added. “Because I am not a qualified tech I am not ‘qualified’ to work on them, so I still need to be supervised, but I am relatively confident working on them now.”
Of all the work he now does with Westpoint Autos, it is diagnostics that have proved to be of most interest to Matthew. In an industry where technology is always changing, it’s a terrific skill to have.
“I definitely favour diagnostics,” he said. “They are many different systems and even the smallest thing can cause all sorts of problems. I do enjoy trying to work out what is going on, and there is a lot of satisfaction in finding the problem and working out why it is doing what it is doing.”
With about a year or so to go before he is scheduled to complete his apprenticeship, Matthew said he had given a bit of thought to where his career might be headed. For Matthew, if involves sticking with Westpoint Autos and putting his hand up for even more training.
“I haven’t thought about having my own business, but I have definitely looked at Master Tech training,” he said. “We have six or seven brands here, and I am hoping to work towards being a Master Tech for all the brands I can. So there’s plenty of training for me down the track.”
The MTA Institute Apprentice of the Month is proudly sponsored by Spirit Super.
18 June 2024
