Luke Moody will have the jump on his fellow competitors when he competes at the 2016 WorldSkills Australia National Competition in Melbourne next month.
The 21 year old started his apprenticeship at Peak Gold Mines in 2013 after finishing his HSC at St Gregory’s in Campbelltown.
He is now technically a 4th year apprentice however, after finishing his TAFE, he was able to gain an early completion and is now working as a licensed electrician at the mine.
Moody said it was one of his TAFE teachers who prompted him to enter the Worldskills competition.
“He was confident that I would do well judging off what he had seen from me in the classroom. Good hand skills and a willingness to learn went a long way to being chosen,” he said.
After winning a gold medal at the Worldskills Macquarie regional competition in Orange last year, Moody then qualified to compete at National level and is now one of 19 apprentices, trainees and students from the region who are preparing to compete at Australia’s largest trades and skills competition.
Moody will be competing in Electrical Control with 12 others from around Australia.
“The main project will be to wire up an electrical control circuit to simulate a loading/unloading baggage handling conveyor.
“There are also a few other modules such as a Circuit Design, Fault Finding and PLC programming that they will be testing us on,” Mr Moody told The Cobar Weekly.
In preparation for the competition, Mr Moody has been travelling to Dubbo TAFE to train on his days off.
“It takes up a fair bit of my time, but I’m hoping that it will be worth it in the end.
“I have also had some one-on-one training from Jim Delboux when he was back in Cobar on Uni holidays. Jim won gold in this event and has been great to learn from. Jim completed his apprenticeship with CSA and after competing in the Worldskills International competition last year in Brazil, is now studying Electrical Engineering in Newcastle.
“Everyone has been very supportive of me so far, and I can’t praise Peak and my supervisors enough.
“They have given me every opportunity that I have needed to train and attend information camps, all while I have a full time role.
“The main benefit that you gain from competing in the competition is further knowledge and understanding in your chosen field.”
If he wins the gold medal in Melbourne, Mr Moody will compete in the International competition in Abu Dhabi in 2017.
