We would like to introduce you to one of our first apprentices who has the honour of not only being our #007 but also sharing the famous name Scott Dixon. To be fair I should mention that the well-known professional racing driver was only 11 in 1991 when our Scott Dixon began his plumbing apprenticeship, and not yet a global celebrity, but James Bond was very well known, being the longest continually running film series of all time and grossing over US$7.04 billion. Our #007 Scott chuckled and said yes, he was teased relentlessly, every day, in good jest as #007, banter being part-n-parcel of a plumbers’ day.
Our Scott Dixon left school to start a job only to find the world changing unpredictably and the building industry crashing just six weeks later with apprentices the first to be let go. After transitory jobs rolling ice creams for Danish Delight in QE2 square and pushing trollies around for supermarkets, Dixon took up a friend’s suggestion to join the newly minted Apprenticeship Training Trust and become a plumbing apprentice.
The Apprenticeship Training Trust’s first chairman, Barrie Wilkie (left), and Scott Dixon #007 in 1992
Dixon said “the industry was a complete mess, plumbers weren’t able to hire apprentices full time, so ATT arranged my time brilliantly where I spent two days with one plumber and then the next few days at another company, following the work wherever it may be. This was fantastic for me because I was able to pick up training and techniques from about 20 different plumbers. After the first year things had settled a bit and I was lucky enough to be taken on full time by Auckland Gas Company which then became Enerco Gas. I was able to complete my apprenticeship at the one company employed as an installer gasfitter specialist. I also achieved my specialist Advanced Trade Certificate in Gas.
“Some of the highlights of my apprenticeship were working with a wide range of highly supportive plumbers, they’re hard-working and genuine guys who I learnt a lot from. I even represented New Zealand internationally while I was with ATT at the 1993 International Vocational Training Organisation Competition (wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldSkills). I had won the regional and national events in New Zealand, I’d never even left the country, before travelling with the squad to Taiwan for the finals, which was incredibly exciting and eye-opening.
“In 1998 I set up my own business, Magnum Plumbing and Gas Ltd, which was a huge learning curve. I suddenly had to figure out business planning, quoting, accounting, HR, GST, PAYE, tax, terminal tax and so much more. Luckily I had an entrepreneurial uncle who was able to help me through the first years.
“After 16 years in the industry I was feeling restless and looking for a change. A friend who was a policeman took me out one night and I decided that was the new direction for me. After my police training I joined Counties Manukau and I’ve been ‘on the beat’ ever since. I’ve also been lucky enough to travel to the USA for some specialist police training courses and I’ve won a national award for Excellence in Policing with the Sir Woolf Fisher Trust Police Fellowship award, and I’m now a Senior Sergeant, still with Counties Manukau.
“When I think back over my career I am thankful to the original ATT chairman, Barrie Wilkie, who gave me an opportunity when I was 17 and the building industry had taken a nose dive. Without Barrie's confidence in me, my life could have taken a very different pathway. I highly recommend apprenticeships as tradies will always be needed. Plus you pick up so many skills along the way, watching and learning put me on the right track. I’m a practical, hands-on person and although I might not have the fast cars, guns and gadgets of James Bond 007, I have certainly made good use of the opportunities that we are so lucky to have open to us in New Zealand.”