WorldSkills Australia Nationals – Brisbane 2010 – Construction Steel Work

Michael is is from TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute. His brother Shane was a competitor in the International Worldskills Competition in Calgary last year. Michael travelled over to Canada to support his brother and knows how challenging the international competition will be (but also this gives him an advantage because he’s seen it all before).

His brother is now training him to compete at the Nationals (and hopefully internationals).  Michael says it’s challenging working with your brother because you always think you’re right or better than each other. Shane thinks that Michael is more prepared than Shane was for the International competition.

Michael has been doing the trade for 4 years.  He likes the people he works with and finds the trade a challenge. In particular, he enjoys the harder jobs, it gives him more incentive to make it work (to see a drawing and then put it into action).

To be a success, Michael says that your attitude is fundamental.  You must have pride in your work, it’s one thing to know how things work, but you need to care about how your work looks. There are 14 competitors in category (which is quite a large number for this trade.

Michael won Gold at the presentation Ceremony, Worldskills 2010. I'm sure his brother & trainer Shane is very proud and they can now officially say they are as good as each other.