Contracting and agricultural machinery education

Contracting and agricultural machinery education is about servicing and repairing the large machines that build our society and cultivate our fields — excavators, tractors, combine harvesters and other heavy equipment. You become a mechanic for the machines that neither agriculture nor the construction and engineering industry can do without.

You find faults, perform service, and repair machines that are often large and complex. The work combines mechanics, hydraulics, and electronics, and you alternate between the workshop and call-outs where a machine has broken down in the middle of a task. It requires that you can think technically and find practical solutions on site.

• 01You work with impressive machines and advanced hydraulics.
• 02You learn troubleshooting on engine, hydraulics, transmission, and electronics.
• 03You get paid during your training, because you are apprenticed.
• 04You get alternating days between workshop and tasks in the field or on site.
• 05Your work keeps agriculture and construction projects running, especially during busy seasons.
• 06Skilled machine mechanics are sought after across the country.

You typically start with a basic course at a vocational school and continue with an alternation between school and practical training as an apprentice with a machinery dealer or specialised workshop. You can start after primary school or come to the trade later in life.

As fully trained you can specialise in certain machine brands or systems become a workshop foreman or service manager and with experience possibly start for yourself. The trade also opens to moving further into related technical areas.

“When the large machine starts again and the work can continue – then you know you made a difference.”