TECHNICIAN TUESDAY: MIKE SMITH
For this week’s Technician Tuesday, we sat down with Technician Mike Smith at BMW of Buffalo to hear about his journey at West Herr. Mike started working at BMW 8 months ago but has been in the auto industry since 1998! His technician journey started at a small mom-and-pop shop in Lockport, and then he began working for Volkswagen, then went to one of our Toyota stores, and is now at BMW of Buffalo. Mike was also in the military for four years.
Mike’s experience as a technician is definitely impressive. He is ASE master certified, and is also a certified Toyota master diagnostic technician. When asked what made him want to work in the auto industry, Mike says he started working on cars in high school and loved it. He says, “I was just good at it so I stayed with it.” He’s been through various roles within the auto industry, and is now a flat-rate technician.
Mike prides West Herr’s leadership as the main reason he joined the team and also thanks Scott Jacobs for giving him the opportunity. His other mentors at West Herr include Scott Bieler, Jay Galligan, and all of his co-workers at BMW.
After a year and 8 months of being a part of West Herr, him and his coworkers have all become close friends. “Anyone at the shop, I’d invite them over my house any day of the week. It’s really that small tight-knit feeling that shows you are a part of a great community.” He also prides West Herr on matching employee’s personalities and making sure everyone is a great fit for their location.
Some of his favorite memories of working at West Herr is just laughing with his co-workers. Mike says, “Every day I come in here and laugh. If I can’t laugh, I’m not going to work there.” A fun fact about Mike is he’s a big prankster and loves to prank his co-workers and friends!
Outside of his career, Mike loves to spend time with his family and has a passion for travel. Mike has a wife and 3 kids, and they all just came back from a camping trip (in an RV, of course). Mike also has a long-legged beagle and says she is an extremely fast runner! His family is going to Tennessee soon, but he says his favorite place to go to is Florida. In the future, he says visiting Germany or Japan is definitely on his travel bucket list.
Mike has many goals for his career, which includes getting his master certification at BMW. The training for this would require him to go to a training facility, and he hopes to be able to go to the training facility in California. He says he’s “never been to California and would love to check it out.”
Mike is also a big music person! When asked what a tool that he can’t live without is, he said it would definitely be his radio. In his old work space, he used to have huge speakers set up. He explained how he definitely needs music to work every day.
To any technicians out there thinking about joining West Herr, Mike highly recommends it. “There is nothing like West Herr. West Herr will take care of you. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask me or Scott Jacobs.”
We are so proud of all that Mike Smith does and can’t wait to see more of what he accomplishes on #TeamWestHerr!
If you or someone you know is interested in applying to West Herr to join our awesome technician team, you can find more information over on our careers page.
0 comment(s) so far on TECHNICIAN TUESDAY: MIKE SMITH