Peter Slape is the MTA Institute Apprentice of the Month for March 2024.
The 39-year-old recently completed his Cert III in Automotive Electrical Technology at Cairns Auto Spark & Mechanical. And he did so quickly, with his hard work and aptitude seeing him finish in a little over three years.
This may be partly due to the fact that Peter has been a ‘car nut’ since he was at school and had already clocked up more than 15 years in the industry by the time he started his apprenticeship.
“For 13 years I worked for a vehicle wholesaler, so I used to do a lot of buying of cars and attending auctions and so on,” said Peter. “I would have easily fixed 200 to 300 power windows before I worked here and did lots of other basic stuff like stereos and so on.
“When my old boss wrapped things up, my current employer, who also owns a car dealership, said there was a job with him if I wanted. So, I went over to his caryard doing similar work, reconditioning used cars and getting them roadworthy and so on. One day he asked how I’d feel about doing an apprenticeship. I had always thought it would be good if I could do a trade before I turn 40, and I started in October of 2020.”
Working at Cairns Auto Spark and Mechanical means Peter gets to work on all manner of jobs, though he does have his favourites.
“If it fits in out driveway, we will work on it,” he said. “We’ve worked on skid-steer bobcats, trucks, buses, motorhomes and we do a lot of air conditioning. We also do a lot of dual-battery systems as well as custom canopies, fridges, stoves, and solar panels, and we work with customers on full fit-out quotes. It has been a really great place to learn.
“We’ve got three workshops and an outside hoist area,” he said. “One workshop is all mechanical jobs; another is a smaller airconditioned workshop where we do longer jobs; and then there’s the main workshop. We are primarily auto electrical so there’s me and another qualified auto electrician plus two apprentices, and we have a mechanic and an apprentice mechanic as well.
“I do enjoy the fit-out work,” he added. “For a couple of days, you don’t worry about anything else – you’ve just got a canopy, putting in switches and lights and running cables – and when you’re finished and it’s nice and neat, you can stand back and be proud of your work. That’s a great feeling.”
Peter did his entire apprenticeship with the MTA Institute, and
it has, he said, been a great experience, especially working with his last trainer, Antony Joslin.
“There were things we might get stuck on, and we would say, ‘Antony will be here tomorrow, let’s pick his brain’, and he wouldn’t just throw the answer at you but run through it and get hands on,” said Peter. “All the trainers really knew their stuff. They had excellent knowledge and we always looked forward to seeing them because they made things easy to understand.”
After recently becoming a father for the first time and already promoted to workshop supervisor, the last few months have been very busy for Peter, both personally and professionally. His efforts made him stand out during his apprenticeship as does his enthusiasm for the job. As his trainer Antony said, “. . .
the results he has been achieving with training and work have been outstanding and worthy of recognition . . . he is an inspiration to younger trainees.”
Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (April 2024)
10 April 2024
Apprentice of the Month is proudly supported by Spirit Super.
