Service / Maintenance Engineer

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Examples of positions

Service Engineer, Field Engineer, Maintenance Engineer 

Change in future demand for this occupational group: one up

Trends in demand for this occupational group:

The Czech Republic offers good conditions for the establishment of service centres for Central Europe or even for Europe as a whole. The number of skilled service engineers will grow. Demand for them will grow as well as a result, among other things, of expanding operations of manufacturing companies where follow-up, after-sales services will account for an increasing portion of activities. This concerns primarily more sophisticated and investment-intensive products where “full-service” (i.e. regular maintenance, elimination of defects and, possibly, installation of new versions within a monthly flat fee) will more and more often constitute part of the delivered package. As regards consumer electronics and computer technology, above-the-standard services (purchased in addition to the product) will also form an important instrument by means of which customers will be attracted to a particular brand and contribute to shaping its image.

Skill needs required:

Detecting and diagnosing a problem is the most important capacity service engineers must have. For this purpose they must be familiar with the equipment and have the capacity to read technical documentation and to search for information. Manual dexterity is an additional requirement.

There are three types of repair: at a service centre, in the field (at the customer ’s place ) and at a distance via electronic channels (the internet, a private network, etc.) – i.e. providing guidance to the users who are then able to eliminate the defect themselves. Each of these approaches places demands on service workers in terms of additional specific skills.

In the following years the occupation of a field service engineer will decrease in importance to the largest degree as compared to the other occupations in this group. Service centres collect broken products from large catchment areas and companies may require their employees to specialise in a specific type of product or defect. Service centres have modern diagnostic technologies and repair equipment. Service engineers must be able to operate this equipment and to use information databases.

Technical support workers who respond to users ’ technical problems (i.e. repair electrical equipment at a distance) are normally people with a wide scope of knowledge and communication skills who can identify a problem based on a lay description of symptoms. Understanding the human factor and dealing with people often constitute a key to the solution. At for international “HOT LINE” centres, engineers working there must have excellent language skills. Repairs will increasingly consist in elimination of a software-related problem. Faults in electrical installation and mechanical defects will occur less often. 

Summary of present and future requirements:

	ICT	Sales, marketing, law		Processes, management, organization		Soft skills
Current relevancy of skills
Future relevancy of skills

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