My role
I am a Service Technician at the East Point site on Prince Edward Island in Canada. We have 10 Vestas V90 3.0 MW Mark V turbines at our site. On Prince Edward Island, Vestas maintains about 90 turbines for two customers including the V90, V80 and V47 platforms.
My career path
I became interested in working for Vestas after seeing the turbine components being unloaded and stored at the local harbour during construction of our wind farm. I contacted some friends who had joined the company and began the application process myself. I grew up on a farm and paid my way through university working in the construction industry, so I have many years of mechanical experience. Prior to working for Vestas, I spent 10 years as a high school teacher teaching economics, law, politics and computer programming. I taught my daughter through to her high school graduation, at which point I decided to make a career change and join Vestas. I enjoy working hands-on with the turbines in a service role, but in the future I intend to combine my turbine experience with my education and professional experience to transition into a management or other leadership role within Vestas.
My network
My first job with Vestas was as a travelling resource technician. I spent two years travelling all around North America to various Vestas wind farms to help out with specialized CIM work, main component exchanges or to supplement short-staffed sites. This experience was fantastic as it allowed me to meet so many great people, many of whom I remain in contact with both as friends and as colleagues helping each other to solve problems. Vestas has a great internal network which allows people to communicate, share ideas and do our best work to keep our turbines running for the benefit of our customers. In a large company like Vestas, networking is important; I am amazed at the level of communication among Vestas employees regardless of rank or role within the company.
Locally, our site is staffed by a site manager, a lead technician, an office coordinator, a tools/inventory coordinator and a health and safety representative. This is in addition to the 15 technicians who work on the turbines on a daily basis. We have a strong support structure here at Vestas that allows us to succeed, and work towards common goals.
My Vestas
Vestas has become an integral part of my life. I wear my Vestas clothing with pride and also proudly give family and friends souvenirs from Vestas. Working in green energy is another source of pride, and is an excellent topic for conversation. Many of the people that I have met through Vestas have become friends of mine and my family. In fact, I had colleagues from Kansas and Virginia in the USA travel to Canada last summer to take part in my wedding.
My life
Outside Vestas, I like to keep active. Being Canadian, I play hockey in the winter and also snowboard whenever I can. In the summer, I spend a lot of time at the fantastic beaches here on Prince Edward Island and I also play soccer and ride my mountain bike.
My family is very important to me and they have all supported my career change to work for Vestas. I am happily married to my wife Angela, and we have a newborn baby boy. I also have a 19 year old daughter who is attending university in Montreal, Quebec. We live in an old house and the renovations seem to be never-ending, but we really enjoy it.
