Roshaun Brown loves being the ‘Car Surgeon’

When Roshaun Brown was in the 10th grade at St Jago High School he had already mapped his route to become an automotive technician. The 24-year-old was determined to to follow his dreams, so much so that after leaving St Jago in 2013, he quickly enrolled in the motor vehicle repairs programme at the Jamaica-German Automotive School.

Today, the self-proclaimed 'car surgeon' is one of the 50 commercial technicians at Toyota Jamaica's service department.

"I work on trucks, forklifts as well as cars. I had a love for engines and the different technologies that make them work. Pertaining to heavy- duty vehicles, I was just impressed by the power and the size of everything when it comes on to trucks, so that drew me to the job," he grinned.

When THE STAR visited the 'surgeon' at Toyota Jamaica's Spanish Town Road offices, he was ready to tend to his first 'patient', a Toyota Rav-4 Hybrid. Tentatively, he prepared a diagnostic report for the vehicle as well as a PicoScope automotive oscilloscope to assess the pulse of the car. He then checked the engine properly, giving it a passing grade.

"I wear gloves because of the high voltage they (hybrids) normally push out. You can get up to 200 volts from just the high voltage battery that is packed in there. Because of the safety equipment and training we get here, it is not much of a risk to me. We are fully protected," the Old Harbour native said. He started the job on October 2, 2017 and says that he looks forward to coming to work each day, seduced by the technology and raw power of the vehicles.

"Plus, when I learn something new and we see other unique challenges, I normally attack it to the best of my ability, and when I'm finished and I've learnt something, that's the best part of the job," he explained. Even though he admitted the job can become strenuous due to long hours, he is committed to demystifying the archaic misconception about automotive technicians as 'grease monkeys', who do not need training to fix cars.

While Jamaica is heralding an influx of hybrid and electrical cars, Brown is predicting that there will be more computers to aid in motor vehicle repairs. He believes there will soon be a demand for master repairs technicians, and urged persons to keep abreast of the latest technology.

"More cars will be hybrid or fully electric vehicles, and because of how the world is going, we are trying to go in the same direction. When you think about global warming, that direction to electrical and hybrid vehicles help to not pollute as much as they do not push out toxic gases. Jamaica will follow in that trend," Brown shared.