Jamie Island and other technicians reflect on an Australian competition that tested their skills and pushed them to their limits. The video captures the intensity of the challenge, the camaraderie between competitors, and the moment the winner is announced.
It's great.
It's absolutely satisfying to see that I've got the recognition and also to prove to myself that I am up there.
With all the best.
Certainly out of my comfort zone, something I've never done before.
To be nominated again is really cool. Really hope I win this year.
But.
We want to test the techs for their abilities around using tools and then also the diagnostics process. And there's a third space which is actually customer service area. So the three components really make up the tech of the year.
This afternoon we're running the techs through their practical assessment, really testing the fundamentals of their diagnostic training and their ability.
The testing's definitely been a challenge. Obviously there's definitely 35 of us from a couple thousand and so they're trying to find the best of us. So it's all been a huge challenge and I imagine it's been the same for everyone.
It's definitely more challenging than last year.
Even if I don't win or anything like that, I've learned a fair bit and I'll take a bit back with me as well.
I love what I do and then to be at this level it's just, yeah, it's humbling but it's exciting and it's so nerve wracking, obviously.
Yeah, everybody's pretty tight lipped about sort of how they're going in the different events.
Yeah, the techs are absolutely fantastic. They've been approaching this with great attitudes, being methodical about how they've approached it. They've been hitting some really interesting, I guess, stumbling blocks along the way and under pressure, coming out with some really great outcomes and doing extremely well.
Coming from the field, as a tech myself, I'm really impressed with their skills and their knowledge. Testing's been great, a bit challenging, so hopefully I've done well and we'll see what happens tomorrow.
Bought new suits and everything. I normally don't wear suits, I normally wear high vis.
Oh, very excited, very excited. Can't wait to see what they have planned for us tonight. The whole presentation and excited to see who wins.
Oh yeah, I'm feeling really good. It's just been a great experience, really and I'm really excited to see how it goes. And this place is just beautiful. It's the best hotel I've ever been in.
I'm very excited but really nervous too. It's been a big week and yeah, there's been lots of support from home. It's been great. They all believe in me bit more than I do in myself. Probably, but, yeah, hopefully do the proud. This experience is unbelievable.
And when I get back to the dealership, I would like to promote these guys to be here for next year.
Please join me in congratulating our winner of the Ag Technician of the Year for Australia, Jamie Island. I think young Jamie would be very proud. It's one of those you can't even put into words. So I'm so privileged, humbled, excited. Yeah.
Oh, I'm very happy, to be honest. I can't believe it. Yeah, I'm just on cloud nine at the moment. It feels great. Yeah, my dad's gonna be really proud of me. He's gonna be really happy. I'll probably, yeah, give him a call right after this and let him know.
Don't have the words. It's amazing. Just feel so proud. All the other techs like stiff competition and, you know, pretty honoured to come out on top. Yeah, no, really happy. Good to be recognised amongst all the other real goodges. So, yeah, overwhelmed, actually. Yeah, delighted. But, yeah, still very surprised. Wasn't expecting to win, so quite happy.
So many motions going through me right now. Yeah, Completely blown away. Yeah. Very, very appreciative of what's happened. Yeah. So, yeah, I still can't believe it's happen. Just to show that us girls can do it.
