Ed’s Comment

10 October 2014  

I will admit I have become a bit of a ‘Bake Off’ fan and I already love The Apprentice, both reality television shows that allow people to display their talents in real challenges without public participation.

These competitions serve not only to win ratings for the television channel that shows them but also to highlight the areas in which they work. Since The Great British Bake Off began there has been a surge in people wanting to learn how to craft interesting cakes and breads. The Apprentice inspires people to believe they can succeed in business. I won’t discuss The X Factor here, mainly because I don’t like it and also because it’s about what the public want rather than the judges. Yet it is true to say that competition inspires the best to do even better and everyone else to match them.

I’ve been a part of the aftermarket industry for nearly a year and in that time I’ve met some fantastic technicians who really try to go all-out to succeed in their profession. It also just so happens that there is a competition that allows them to do this and in a shameless plug, that is Top Technician, which recently launched with the first round quiz live online.

Yet looking at it from an impartial point of view, as an outsider looking in, this is another competition that can serve to bring people into the industry and help existing techs to aspire to greatness. There are no television crews poking cameras into faces (although I may get in the way occasionally) and there are no tasting or finger-pointing sessions, just technicians answering questions and being put through their paces. Speaking to last year’s finalists, all of them indicated they would want to enter again and go for the top prize – except winner Mike Harding who, due to the rules, cannot re-enter!

Competition drives an industry and in the public eye adds another dimension to the work that you and every other technician in the UK does. I can’t remember who won Bake Off or The Apprentice last year but I bet they tell everyone. Have a go, enter Top Technician and be the one to shout about how good you are.

http://www.toptechnician.co.uk/webcontent/entry-form/