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WHAT TRAINING DOES A FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER NEED?

The job title describes the activities, and is not regulated in the UK. Accordingly, there is no standardised training or prescribed training path to become a field service engineer.

However, the following training courses and degree programmes provide a good technical foundation and thus create the prerequisites for working in the field service:

Certification:

• Specialist in metal technology
• Precision mechanic
• Production mechanic
• Industrial mechanic
• Electronic technician or electrician
• Mechatronics technician
• Industrial technologist

Study programmes:

• Plant construction
• Computer engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Engineering
• IT/computer science
• Mechanical engineering
• Mechatronics
• Measuring and control technology
• Process engineering

Depending on the industry of the future employer, subject-specific training or courses of study can also qualify candidates for a job as a Field Service Engineer. In any case, careful training is necessary in order to become familiar with the machines and devices for which the service technician is responsible for installing, maintaining and repairing. Another is consideration of gas, water, and electricty that are found in the service settings.

A driver's license is critical. Depending on the size and nature of the company's products, a heavy goods category (or higher) driver's license is required.

GROWING FOCUS: MODERN SKILLS FOR A GREAT FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

In addition to specialist knowledge and manual skills, modern demands for exemplary soft skills play a major role in technical field service. Through the application process, companies should not only pay attention to technical understanding, practiced hand movements and appropriate professional training—they must also look at interpersonal and communication skills.

Flexibility
A Field Service Engineer travels a lot, every day. This requires flexibility and a true willingness to travel.

Installation and regular maintenance may usually be planned well in advance. Even in reactive repairs and emergency operations there is a regularity to on-call service.

During this time, technical service staff must be available if problems arise. They need an agreement to be paid accordingly for the time that they are on call (please seek your own legal advice). If important customers have serious business continuity problems, night shifts or weekend working may also be required.

Stress Tolerance
If important systems or machines stand still due to a defect, the affected customers are often very tense. As a field service engineer, technicians must be able to deal with such situations and keep a cool head under pressure.

They must not be intimidated by short-tempered personalities and instead mediate in a calming manner. With their excellent technical understanding and the ability to explain the complex processes in a way that everyday users can understand, they ensure that the situation is de-escalated.

Clear Approach
Field service technicians must comply with all important safety regulations even under time pressure and stress. In this way, they not only protect themselves at work, but also everyone who later uses the systems and machines.

False promises have no place with urgent and impatient customers. Instead, a qualified field service engineer must mediate and openly communicate what is technically possible (and what is not).


In addition to devices, modern field service engineers must be able to interact with a range of customers.


Empathy
Empathy makes it easier for field service engineers to work with customers. Through the ability to put themselves in the shoes of others, they not only see the technical side of the job, but also the needs, wishes and fears of their contact.

This helps them to mediate in conflicts and to prevent stressful or charged situations and misunderstandings from arising in the first place. As a representative of a company on site, service technicians ensure good customer relations. They are an important piece of the puzzle for long-term customer loyalty.

Profit protection
In order to be able to make decisions for their company on site, Field Service Engineers not only have to think technically, but also economically. For example, after analysing a fault, they must assess whether a repair should be carried out on site or whether the asset must be removed or replaced there and then.

These decisions should be based on a sound understanding of production chains and capacities. It must be possible to explain decisions in a comprehensible manner to both the customer and their line management.

Independence balanced with team work
The previous point already suggests it: field employees make their own decisions. They must therefore be able to work with authority, independently. In some cases, however, they can use remote help from office staff or use supporting software (see below).

If a major order requires the use of several specialists across a project (sometimes for weeks or months), however, the ability to work in a team is required. Especially when you travel together for a long time or work in a dangerous area where it is particularly important to be able to rely on each other.

WHAT ARE MODERN FIELD ENGINEER PERFORMANCE MEASURES?

In modern technical customer service, service quality and customer satisfaction scores are growing in parallel to cost efficiency and as few device failures as possible. These are in addition to industry standards of compliance and Service Level Agreements (SLA).

The work of service technicians should make a positive impact in customer satisfaction surveys. Once again, it should be recognised that field staff represent a company, before negative experiences make their way to public forums. With their performance and their appearance on site, they are influential brand ambassadors.

In technical customer service, there are a number of standard KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are used to assess efficiency. These include, for example, time to respond and first-time-fix rate. (Read more about them here KPI in field service.)

The performance of the field service depends not least on good general conditions. This means how well a company's Field Service Management workflows and set, and operate in real terms. This begins with the digital tools, locations, and equipment, and ends with transparent and lean processes. Above all, appropriate and professional route planning and scheduling ensures lower costs and better order processing, with greater productivity.

WHAT DOES A MODERN FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER EARN?

According to Glassdoor, the national average salary for a Field Service Engineer is £29,000 pa. This is on the rise, since a shortage of skilled workers and the move towards repairing, rather than replacing, is becoming increasingly noticeable.

In this light, the salary is changeable within certain industries, and the variety of equipment they're responsible for (multi-skilled). A Field Service Engineer has more responsibility when maintaining production plants and industrial machines than when repairing household appliances. This is also reflected in the level of remuneration.

With increasing professional activity and experience, a salary of up to £40,000 is achievable. With more professional experience, expanded specialist knowledge through further training and more responsibility, it can rise to up to £50,000.

Comparatively small industries that require niche and specialist knowledge also often attract rare specialists in their field with above-average remuneration. In addition to the industry, the size of the company and the location are among the salary factors. There are few differences between the B2B and B2C sectors.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT AS A FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

Depending on personal preference or the vacancies in the company, employees have different perspectives as Field Service Engineer:

Those who prefer to work with the customer and who don't mind the flexibility of the field service can take on more and more important customers over time. Valuable experience is reflected in a higher salary. In addition, experience can translate into the role of training and induction of the next generation.