Words of wisdom – Part 2

After many years of service with our team, Pat MacLeod, Senior Service Technician, will be set to retire! We have all valued his great knowledge and so before he leaves us to enjoy more time hillwalking and travelling, we thought we would ask him a few questions about having a successful career in the IT Support and Print Management world.

Looking back on your time at Aspen Solutions, what are you most proud of achieving?
With my final days working for Aspen I’m beginning to realise that probably what I’m most proud of achieving is the relationship I’ve built up with the customers.
As I’m saying goodbye to many long term customers they have been telling me how much they appreciated the service they got over the years.
Another achievement which I’m very proud of is preventing Vincent from clearing out my workshop cupboard in the time I’ve been with Aspen. I kept expecting to come back from holiday to find my cupboard cleared of my accumulated “used good parts”. You’re welcome to it now Vincent!

How has the industry changed since you first started, and what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned along the way?
There have been many changes since I started in the industry.
The modern devices don’t require so much dismantling and repair of parts as most parts are replaced as units now. E-maintenance has been a great boon to the engineer, allowing the job to be checked for life of parts and jams/errors prior to attending the call.
In the copier industry, you have to be a bit of a detective.
Modern devices have a lot of built in diagnostics but you still have to be able to gather all the information and conclude what is causing the issues.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that no matter how good you think you are, you are not beyond making mistakes!

What advice would you give to someone just starting their career in this field?
There doesn’t seem to be as many younger people joining the industry now but it still presents a good career for those that do.
A lot of people in the industry are trained up primarily as fitters as opposed to Field Service Engineers which usually means that they attend  calls and fit parts without delving too much in to diagnosing faults.
In a way Aspen are lucky in that they have a workshop where a trainee can get a better understanding of the workings of the machine by dismantling it more.
My advice would be don’t be afraid to strip a machine down to work on it and there’s always a manual on hand to refer to.
Gather all the evidence from jam codes, error codes , diagnostics and observation and study them to find an answer to the fault.


What’s a memorable moment or funny story from your years working at Aspen Solutions?
There have been many memorable moments while working with Aspen.
Obviously COP 26 was one but most recently was when Vincent gave Sean, Vince and myself his season tickets in September 2024 to allow us to experience Champions League Football at Parkhead where Celtic played Bratislava. Amazing atmosphere!
We found out later that Vincent had got his holiday dates mixed up and could have attended the game but were grateful that he never took the tickets back!
I remember in the early years with Aspen, myself and Vince were installing a device in an undertakers.
While pushing the device into its position we noticed a set of Jump Leads on a shelf which raised a chuckle because we thought they were maybe for double checking before the lid was put on the coffin!
Vince joked with the undertaker that he could measure me up for a coffin and the guy rattled off my height, width and weight correctly without even a tape measure! I’ve always tried to avoid “Return To Fits” at this customer.
 
Now that you’re retiring, what are you most looking forward to in the next chapter of your life?
Mainly I’m looking forward to a more leisurely pace of life. I’m looking forward to getting a bit more hillwalking done. During my time as a service engineer I’ve visited a lot of places which I’ll maybe return to visit as a “tourist” and see a bit more.
I’m sure there are a few more hobbies to take part in or renew.

We thank Pat for being an incredible member of our team and wish him many years of happiness ahead!