Technical Manager (facilities)
All Star Lanes

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My name is Ruslan.

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I’m working at All Star Lanes.

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I’m a technical manager. We’re based in Westfield,

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White City.

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All Star Lanes is a bowling alley.

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Not only a bowling alley – we

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are a restaurant, bar,

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karaoke.

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We always do the private events.

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My job is actually to take care of all the bowling equipment,

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facilities, and just keep the building managed well.

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I can fix

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any issue with the bowling machine.

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It doesn’t matter which one – it’s gonna be electrical stuff,

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or mechanical stuff, or

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simple bowl jam, so I can fix everything.

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It’s very interesting,

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it’s almost never boring.

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I always can find out something, which

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I even don’t know sometimes, and I find out.

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And always when you

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find out something new for you, you feel you have a win.

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So a little bit I have to be facilities and also a bit like handyman.

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My skills is

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like, basically electrical skills,

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technical skills and plumbing skills.

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School was

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for me, let’s say, sometimes boring.

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After school I go to the transport college.

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Transport college is like

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train manufacturing.

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I have to fix the train and I have to fix the wagon.

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And after that, we get the practical as well.

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So I worked with the big manufacturer for more than three years.

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My profession was actually

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train mechanical engineer.

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In this time in Latvia,

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it was a very bad economic situation and a lot of people lose their jobs.

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So a lot of manufacturers were closed in Latvia,

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even, especially my manufacturer where I worked before.

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So at that time I had already a young family

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and I start to think about, okay, maybe I need to go somewhere. For this reason, I

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go to

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London and try to find myself.

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And slowly, slowly –

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I’ve been to one venue,

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this was near Heathrow Airport.
It was called Airport Bowl.

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I find a job.

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I was in Latvia and one of my friends,

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he says, ‘look, you can go there and they are looking for a technician.’

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I said, ‘Why not?

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Okay, if I can fix a big train,

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why can’t I sort out an issue without experience

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in the bowling alley with the pinspotter?’
I read the manual and

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pick up the skills very quick.

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After that, one of the managers who is working at All Star Lanes,

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he hears something about me.

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He’s looking for a technician and he gives me an offer.

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It was a bad time

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when I arrived in the UK, very very beginning.

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It was difficult, you know,

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my language was not really well at all.

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So it was difficult.

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If you want to do something, if you want to achieve something,

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you have to work hard. Always try.

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Never postpone –

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‘Oh, I can do this tomorrow.’ No, no.

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Try today, right now.

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You will feel after that how you win.

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It’s going to be a little win, but you win.

 

“If you want to achieve something, you have to work hard.” Ruslan likes fixing things. He grew up in Latvia and trained as a mechanical engineer before moving to the UK to find work. He now looks after the equipment and the building at a bowling alley.

More information about Engineering technicians

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ÂŁ39,520
average salary

The UK average salary is ÂŁ29,813

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35
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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87%  male 
13%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Engineering technicians perform a variety of technical support functions to assist engineers with the design, development, operation, installation and maintenance of engineering systems and constructions.
Qualifications
Entrants to training usually posses GCSEs/S grades. Vocational training consists either of full-time study for a BTEC/SQA award followed by two years on-the-job training, or an apprenticeship leading to an NVQ/SVQ at Level 3 or 4. An NVQ/SVQ in Aircraft Engineering Maintenance at Level 3 plus further professional qualifications are required to become a licensed aircraft engineer.
Tasks
  • Plans and prepares work and test schedules based on specifications and drawings;
  • Sets up equipment, undertakes tests, takes readings, performs calculations and records and interprets data;
  • Prepares estimates of materials, equipment and labour required for engineering projects;
  • Diagnoses and detects faults and implements procedures to maintain efficient operation of systems and equipment;
  • Inspects completed aircraft maintenance work to certify that it meets standards and the aircraft is ready for operation;
  • Visits and advises clients on the use and servicing of mechanical and chemical engineering products and services.
Employment by region
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Top 10 industries for this job
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Head offices, etc 13165
Specialised construction 10083
Public admin. & defence 6667
Machinery, etc 5163
Metal products 4947
Other trans. equipment 4873
Architectural & related 4413
Warehousing, etc 3809
Repair & installation 3656
Wholesale trade 3404
Employment status
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