ASE Veteran Master Tech

[shehan]

Check out the article on my older brother.
(can you guess who does the work to my truck?? - if only the dealership had a DYNO!!)

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Lifelong Ambition and Local Business Form Successful Partnership

Thomas “Mac” Sheehan always wanted to work on cars. Jerry’s Automotive Group in Leesburg needed a master service technician.
Monroe Technology Center and Northern Virginia Community College gave Sheehan the knowledge to match his ambition.
Jerry’s gave him a place to apply that knowledge and ambition. The result is a perfect business partnership.

Sheehan grew up in Lucketts and graduated from Loudoun County High School. At Monroe, he studied under legendary teacher Everett “Peanut” Sutphin before beginning work at Jerry’s in September 1993. Jerry’s enrolled him in a Ford service program at Northern Virginia Community College.
“They hired me to go through their college program—eight weeks here, eight weeks there,” Sheehan said. He added that other Monroe students have followed this path through Jerry’s. “They have a good base; we then send them to a Ford-specialized program and it works out well.”

Sheehan is an example about just how well things can work out.
He earned his first Master Certification from Ford in 1997, becoming the youngest (at age 24) to attain this benchmark. Sheehan duplicated this feat the following two years to earn the designation of Senior Master (again, he was the youngest in Ford history to achieve this). Sheehan now holds the designation of Veteran Master Service Technician after 10 years at the top of his field.

“Mac sets the bar for hard work and dedication to his profession,” said Jerry’s Vice President Stephen Cohen. “It is my honor to have him come here and work with us every day. God knows he could get a job anywhere of his choosing and make that organization that much better because of his presence.

“If it were possible to clone him I would do it in minute.” Sheehan also acknowledges that he could work anywhere, but prefers to stay where he knows his customers.

“I live in the town I work in. I think that speaks to the quality of work that I’m doing. (Customers) just don’t drop their keys off at the desk; they’ll come out to the shop and talk. They know I’m going to work on their car.”
Jerry’s has continued its partnership with Monroe by supplying the automotive program with the “latest and greatest” Ford vehicles to work on. Sheehan said this is necessary to make sure students have the latest technology to train on. If you’re working on a car that’s a year old, you’re working on old technology.

Jerry’s partnership pays dividends down the road from its perspective.
“It’s difficult to start with somebody who doesn’t have any type of Ford background,” said Sheehan. “If you hire somebody who doesn’t have any Ford background or experience, it’s hard for them to work on their own. Somebody always has to be watching what they’re doing.”
Hiring technicians has become more difficult because of the complex technology involved in today’s vehicles, Sheehan added. At one time many mechanics went into the field because it was the only career option open to them. That’s changed…

“You have to find somebody who wants to do it,” said Sheehan. “I could do anything I wanted to do and this is what I wanted to do.”

And although he’s called a technician, Sheehan will let you know that his work is not all technical. “Most people don’t say mechanic anymore; usually it’s technician. My hands are still dirty. It’s not all computers. It’s still nuts and bolts.”

[N2BOOST]

Cool article glad to see somebody else enjoys doing this..