When Saskatchewan technician Cole Readman walked into a truck shop in North Battleford, Sask. with a resume in hand in 2016, he thought he was applying for a heavy equipment mechanic job.

Only after the interview ended did he realize he was surrounded by semis.

“I looked into the shop, and I was like, ‘It’s a bunch of semi trucks,’” Readman recalled in an interview with trucknews.com. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’s not heavy equipment?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this is a truck and transport shop, we don’t do heavy equipment.’ I was like, ‘Well, it’s too late now, I guess we’re going for it.’”

Nearly a decade later, Readman is excelling in the career he says he “fell into by accident.”

Now a technician with Warner Leasing Company in Saskatoon, Sask., Readman recently finished third overall at the NationaLease Tech Challenge in Chicago, earning the distinction of top Canadian competitor and winning the competition’s lubricants station along the way.

The strong showing also earned him a spot in the TMC SuperTech competition this fall, widely considered one of North America’s premier technician contests.

Not bad for a guy who almost didn’t enter the competition at all.

“This was kind of a bit of a fluke,” Readman admitted of his entry into the NationaLease technician challenge.

His service manager at Warner, Brodie Hepp, had encouraged his technicians to participate after attending a NationaLease meeting last year and seeing how seriously the organization treated its technicians.

“I was kind of blown away at how in-depth and how well the technicians were treated,” Hepp said. “I was texting the guys back here saying, ‘We’re doing this next year.’”

Readman initially resisted.

“I was like, ‘I don’t think I’ve got time, man. It’s pretty busy in the bay,’” he said.

Eventually, his foreman convinced him to take the written test anyway. A few days later, Readman got a phone call informing him he had posted the top score in Canada.

From there, things escalated quickly. But even getting to Chicago for the competition proved to be a challenge.

Readman and Hepp arrived at the Saskatoon airport early on what should have been a straightforward trip through Calgary to Chicago. Instead, delays snowballed into cancellations, forcing the pair onto a last-minute reroute through Seattle.

The replacement itinerary took them from Saskatoon to Calgary, Calgary to Seattle, then overnight from Seattle into Chicago.

“We landed in Chicago at 6:30 in the morning, got to the hotel at 7:30 and his exam started at eight,” Hepp recalled.

Readman estimates he managed about an hour of sleep.

“The pressure of whether or not we were actually going to make it there on time kind of kept me up,” he said.

There was no time to settle in.

He walked into the hotel just as the breakfast and introductory session for competitors was wrapping up. Minutes later, contestants were heading to the competition floor.

“At that point, it’s go time,” Readman said.

The competition itself was structured around 10 timed stations covering different aspects of truck maintenance and diagnostics. Technicians rotated through stations focused on engines, brakes, tires, preventive maintenance, drivetrains, and advanced driver assistance systems.

At each stop, competitors had 25 minutes to diagnose problems, identify defects, or complete assigned tasks before moving to the next station.

“It was definitely very intense,” Readman said.

One of the first stations he encountered focused on advanced driver assistance systems, including lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control technology.

“You pull up, and the judge has his sheet, and the timer starts, and he yells ‘All start!’ and he gives you the complaint,” Readman said. “That’s it. You just have to do your best to figure out what was wrong.”

Other stations focused less on diagnostics and more on inspection skills. In one preventive maintenance exercise, competitors were tasked with identifying defects intentionally planted throughout a truck.

“I think the judge said he had placed 31 defects on that particular truck,” Readman recalled.

What stood out most to him, however, wasn’t necessarily the difficulty of the stations. It was the atmosphere surrounding the event. Despite substantial prize money and bragging rights being on the line, Readman said competitors were supportive.

“Everybody was very good-natured,” he said. “Even the techs that had been there seven or eight times were very friendly.”

That camaraderie extended beyond the competition floor itself. For Readman, one of the biggest benefits came from conversations with technicians from much larger leasing operations across North America.

“There’s a huge exchange of information that took place there,” he said. “Some of those guys there are huge leasing companies, so the stuff that they see is just totally different.”

The event also exposed areas where he says he needs to sharpen his own knowledge.

As technicians progress through their careers, many naturally specialize in specific systems or types of repairs. Readman now focuses heavily on diagnostics work at Warner Leasing Company, but the competition highlighted areas outside his daily routine that require attention.

“The competition really gave me a very specific list of things to come home and study up on,” he said.

That includes newer brake technologies, updated service procedures, and other systems he may not encounter regularly in his day-to-day work.

“If those things roll through the front door, I’m not kind of scrambling, wondering how to adjust it, how to work on it, what the spec’s are,” he explained.

Ironically, the station he thought might give him the most trouble ended up becoming one of his biggest successes. Readman captured top honors in the lubricants category despite considering it one of his weaker areas entering the competition.

“I thought lubricants would be one of my weak points,” he said. “I just thought, man, what do I know about lubricants?”

Hepp said the experience has already had a noticeable impact back at the dealership.

“You can definitely tell he’s got a different pep in his step,” he said. “He holds his head high, knowing that he did well and accomplished far better than what he had anticipated.”

Warner Industries invests heavily in technician development through Daimler Truck North America’s training programs, but Hepp views competitions like the NationaLease Tech Challenge as another important layer of professional growth.

“This tech challenge is another avenue that we won’t really spare an expense for,” he said. “There was never a question if he would be allowed to go.”

Readman is now turning his attention toward TMC SuperTech, which will take place later this year. This time, he’ll prepare differently.

Now that he understands how station-based competitions operate, he plans to spend the next several months studying TMC recommended practices, reviewing service literature, and brushing up on systems he doesn’t regularly work on.

“I have an actual curriculum now that I can kind of follow,” he said.

That preparation will include flash cards, technical manuals, and plenty of late-night studying.

“I know it’s a whole other level entirely,” he said of SuperTech. “We’ll see how it goes.”

One lasting impression from Chicago had little to do with the competition itself.

Readman said he was struck by the culture surrounding the NationaLease organization and the way technicians were treated throughout the event.

“It did not feel corporate,” he said of the event. “People were so nice, they were so down to earth.”