Blade repair technician and trainer
His profession is his love at first sight. And it still stays his passion. He seems to enjoy his work. But at the same time, he shows great respect for it. In addition, he openly shares with the course participants his own professional advice and can easily inspire them with his enthusiasm for work. Introducing Olegs Pilats, a blade repair technician and the IQTC trainer for the GWO Blade Repair course. Learn about his initial steps in the wind sector and get ready to be influenced.
Meeting
“What a job! A real man’s job!” – that’s what I thought when I first saw the guys hanging on the blade of wind turbine and repairing it. It was in Denmark. At the time (in 2013), I was working as a molar, painting bridges. But this “meeting” impressed me so much that I decided for sure that I wanted to do the same, and I would do this.
Studying
Back then, I knew absolutely nothing about working on wind turbines. I joined LinkedIn and started asking guys who already had some experience how to get to wind turbines, what I need to have, and where to learn. I gathered a lot of information. They explained to me that I required an IRATA certificate (Rope access technician) and a so-called Blade Ticket, because it was before GWO established and started to distribute its standards.
I found a training centre in Lithuania that was implementing IRATA training at the time – there were none in Latvia. And I went to Denmark to receive my Siemens Blade B (Basic Blade Repair) certification. My training lasted for fifteen working days, or three weeks. Quite unexpectedly, I hardly understood the majority of what they were saying to me, and what this information was for. I had never truly encountered these materials or the associated technology previously. And the language barrier was also affecting me. It felt like too much knowledge at the time. Nothing made sense to me. All of it took a lot of work on my part to learn.
However, I was able to grasp what was required, got the certificate, and was prepared for employment.
Hunting
I was glued to the computer for the next two days. I sent more than 100 CVs to employers worldwide—yes, I didn’t set a limit. I received about ten responses, one of them was from a company in Germany. Ultimately, I chose to accept their offer. I wasn’t concerned about money at the moment; what really motivated me was the chance to expand my education, acquire real-world experience, and learn as much as I could about the industry from the inside out. The ability to communicate in a common language with manager was also helpful in my integration into the field.
Strengthening
Thus, I started my career in wind energy directly with blade repair in Germany. I spent three years working there. I joined the company as a student and worked my way up to senior technician.
Since 2018, I have been engaged with Bladefence. I’ve already finished six seasons. I’ll be in the industry for ten (!) seasons overall starting in the upcoming one.
I adore what I do for a living. It’s non-boring, which I appreciate. Today I’m in Finland, tomorrow I can be in Canada. Each repair presents a unique set of challenges. Different levels of damage and variations in the working environment and internal worker conditions. The way things happen is never entirely predictable. The labour process is affected differently depending on whether you are working in the mountains, by the sea, or in the fields. A lot also depends on the individuals working with you on the project: their level of experience and readiness for teamwork.
I therefore keep working with wind turbine blades. I believe there is potential for improvement in this case. I enjoy my job and the company I work for, accordingly for the time being, I have no plans to make any changes.
To be continued... teaching teamwork professional growth
Follow the new blog posts starting from January 2024
- About how he started passing on his expertise to others;
- About accuracy, focus, and professional growth;
- About teamwork and individual responsibility;
- About the physics, chemistry, and mathematics in blade repair;
besides many other topics we have discussed with Olegs.
