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LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

You can get an early start on a career in machinery maintenance and repair by enrolling in vocational education programs offered through your local school district. Vocational courses and others that will help give you a head start include: • Welding • Precision metalworking • Auto repair • Small engine repair • Electrical • Drafting • Computer technology

• Repairing and replacing faulty parts and other components. • Performing machinery tests and initial runs to affirm that all is well again. • Adjusting equipment as needed to ensure top performance. • Doing general preventive maintenance to prevent shutdowns. Many local community colleges provide certification programs that help students enter careers in machinery maintenance and repair. Some unions also provide certification programs. Many of the programs last only a few months and just require you to pass their training courses. A certification program is not a degree program. Instead, it is an advanced vocational program. You complete certain training classes that usually use a simple pass-or-fail system. When you successfully finish one training course, you go on to the next one. If you do not pass a section with the minimum score

THE LIFE OF A MACHINERY MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SPECIALIST 9