JachimTo keep up with the growing demand for service technicians, the RV Technical Institute recently added a new instructor to the team: Chris Jachim.
Jachim has spent the past decade in the RV industry as a service technician. He has had a lifelong interest in the trades, first starting as an electrician in high school. However, he did not learn about the RV industry until much later in his career, when he was encouraged by a neighbor to apply at a nearby RV dealership. After securing a position as a service technician, Jachim immediately began learning by doing,” his new employer said.
“I was happy to take on some of the more difficult jobs,” Jachim said. “I was working with master technicians, so if I didn’t know how to fix something, I would ask them questions and then take care of it.”
Jachim now spends most of his days either instructing in the RVTI classroom or building in the institute’s on-campus workshop.
“If the trainers aren’t in class, we’re in the shop, where we’re either making new workstations for students or double-checking that the stations we’ve already prepared are ready for the next class,” said Jachim. “The stations offer students hands-on opportunities to practice fixing an RV themselves.”
While Chris often makes updates and improvements to the stations, part of his role is also ensuring that “what’s supposed to be incorrect at the station is still incorrect,” so the next group of students have an opportunity to repair the problem.
The job allows him to blend his skills as a repairment with his enjoyment of teaching, he said.
“It’s good to have technician skills so you can give good examples and stories in the classroom,” he said. “It engages the students and helps with communication.”
