I recently had the opportunity to speak with Michael Medalla, Manager of the Toyota USA Foundation. The Toyota Foundation recently joined TechForce Foundation® as a supporting member, so it was the perfect opportunity to get Toyota’s perspective on the skills gap we are facing as a country, and how our new partnership could contribute to help solving that issue.
I have been able to do many great things in life because I am a technician. I pursued a profession which played to my innate abilities and passion, and because I’m a tech, I have had a long, successful and impactful career. That career opened up many new career opportunities but at heart, I am still a tech.
If you have been around the transportation industry for any length of time, the phrase “technician shortage” has to be a familiar one. Other than a brief respite during the Great Recession from 2008 into 2009, this has been the most talked about issue in the industry, bar none. And “talked about” is a generous term. A more apt description might be “talked to death.”
