Maintenance specialist: training, continuing education, further training, schools, self-test

You become a maintenance specialist by completing a preparatory course for the professional examination. In seven modules, building services or production facilities are checked, maintained and repaired. You learn how to prevent wear and tear and how to maintain value and ensure the longest possible service life. If you meet the requirements for the maintenance specialist examination, you can take the professional examination following the preparatory course.

Continuing education, further training as a maintenance specialist with a federal certificate is designed as part-time training. This gives you the opportunity to continue working and apply what you have learned directly in your day-to-day work. In practice, however, it has been shown that full-time employment during continuing education, further training is hardly feasible, as the teaching units often take place on a weekday. Some training providers in Switzerland offer alternative models, such as evening courses combined with lessons on Saturdays. Even with these variants, the time commitment should be assessed realistically, as around eight hours of self-study per week must be planned in addition to the classroom teaching - especially during the intensive examination phase. Continuing education, further training as a maintenance specialist therefore requires good time management and a clear prioritization between work, learning and leisure. It is advisable to ask the respective training providers or schools directly about the specific time models and to carefully examine your personal situation. This will ensure that the continuing education, further training can be completed successfully and without being overloaded.

In principle, you do not need a specific apprenticeship qualification for the professional examination for maintenance specialists. Access to the federal examination is possible in two ways: with and without a basic technical apprenticeship with an EFZ, i.e. a federal certificate of competence.

If you have completed a basic technical apprenticeship with an EFZ, you must provide proof of an additional two years of technical professional experience in the field of maintenance following your apprenticeship.

If you have another basic education, you have six years of technical work experience, two of which are in maintenance.

If you have a foreign qualification, SERI (State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation) will decide on admission to the federal examination for maintenance specialists with a federal certificate.

Training as a maintenance specialist with a federal certificate usually takes between one and one and a half years. The exact duration depends on the respective course model and the training provider. Some schools offer more compact full-time variants for training as a maintenance specialist, while others offer part-time programs with lessons on weekdays, evenings or weekends. In the case of part-time variants, the learning time is spread over a longer period to make it easier to combine with work. In addition to classroom teaching, a certain amount of self-study and exam preparation is to be expected, which can influence the actual total duration on an individual basis. The Maintenance Specialist course concludes with a Federal Professional Examination, which officially confirms the specialist and management skills acquired. Interested parties should contact the relevant training institutes in Switzerland at an early stage to find out about the start of the course, duration and learning effort in order to find the right model for their personal situation.

The average maintenance specialist salary in Switzerland is around CHF 75,140 gross per year. With 13 monthly salaries, this corresponds to a monthly income of around CHF 5,780.

However, salaries can vary significantly depending on the industry, region, experience and size of the company. The range generally extends from CHF 55,850 to CHF 93,000 gross per year.

Factors influencing the salary of a maintenance specialist:

• Professional experience and continuing education, further training
• Size and location of the company
• Area of application (e.g. industry, building technology, mechanical engineering)
• Responsibility (e.g. team leadership, shift work)

Tip: Additional qualifications such as a degree in maintenance management or continuing education, further training in technology and process optimization can further increase your income.

Yes, you may be excluded from the professional examination for maintenance specialists if you do not comply with the rules. For example, if you knowingly and deliberately provide false information about the admission requirements or try to deceive the examination board in other ways.
Furthermore, you will be excluded from the final examination if, for example, you use unauthorized aids, grossly violate the examination discipline or try to deceive the experts.

The following modules are required for the maintenance specialist examination:

• System operation
• Maintenance
• Security
• Documentation
• Communication
• Logistics / Organization / Procurement / Disposal
• Cost and performance control

The professional examination for maintenance specialists with a federal certificate can be repeated up to twice if you fail. However, you do not have to repeat the entire final examination, but only the parts of the examination in which you were unsatisfactory (worse than a grade of 4.0).

Continuing education, further training in maintenance opens up a wide range of fields of activity in the industrial, building services and infrastructure sectors. Maintenance specialists make a decisive contribution to ensuring that systems, machines and technical equipment can be operated safely, efficiently and economically. The main activities of a maintenance specialist include

• Ensuring efficient and cost-optimized operating processes: planning, implementation and optimization of maintenance strategies to increase plant efficiency.
• Independent execution of maintenance work: Carrying out maintenance, repair and inspection work on technical equipment and systems.
• Monitoring and evaluation based on control plans: analysis of operating data, assessment of the system status and introduction of targeted improvement measures.
• Compliance with legal requirements: Compliance with relevant regulations as a maintenance specialist in the areas of environmental protection, occupational safety and contract law.
• Development of practical solutions: Development of sustainable strategies for the maintenance and modernization of technical systems.
• Cooperation with technical specialists: coordination and exchange of information for complex technical tasks.
• Contribution to operational safety and cost-effectiveness: downtimes are minimized and technical availability is increased thanks to in-depth expertise.

Continuing education, further training as a maintenance specialist thus provides comprehensive skills for taking on responsible tasks in the field of maintenance and technology and ensuring the long-term functionality of systems.