Josh Forrest is our 2024 top apprentice!
After two days of intense competition, Hamilton’s Josh Forrest has been crowned Terra Cat’s top apprentice for 2024. The 22-year-old edged two talented contestants – Vinnie Lucas from Dunedin and Mitch Riley from Wellington – to confirm his spot at Caterpillar's Dealer Top Apprentice Competition in Melbourne in February next year. “I’m a bit lost for words, really,” Josh said shortly after being announced as the winner. “The challenges were pretty tough and the two other techs were really knowledgeable and good guys.” “I gained a lot of knowledge over the two days, and one of the biggest things I learned was focusing on communicating with the assessors. Communication is key and I learnt how important it is to treat the assessors as I would a customer.” Over the two days the contestants had to hold a 10-minute presentation to a small audience on a specified subject, then undertake three practical challenges for the “skills Olympics”. These challenges included building a hydraulic hose, an after-failure analysis of an 836K landfill compactor and finding solutions for the customer, and a fuel supply issue that was causing a C16 engine to run rough.
“I think the presentation was the toughest part,” laughs Josh. “It’s pretty daunting to speak for 10-plus minutes in front of people, but I still really enjoyed the experience.” Technical training lead, Dylan Cairns, says this year’s competition was the closest he’d been part of. “The skillsets of the technicians that come through DTAP improves every year, and the skills gap gets closer and closer. This year there were only two points separating first from third – that’s how close it was.” For Josh, the focus now shifts to Melbourne where he’ll go up against Caterpillar’s best apprentices internationally. “It’s pretty wild to think I’m going to represent Terra over there on the world stage. I’m going to be asking a lot of questions and learning as much as I possibly can for it, get some more training and be as prepared as possible for it.” Josh wrapped up his apprenticeship in July 2024 and is now a heavy diesel field service tech at the Hamilton branch, mainly focused on servicing, diagnostics and repairs.
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