We’re all looking for a roadmap to career success, and Centennial College’s School of Transportation programs provide a proven path. They’ve set countless students up for career success, thanks to a combination of practical experience, industry connections, and direct pathways into the industry.
A graduate from Motive Power - Truck and Coach in April 2023, Mark Tirbany was one such student who saw immediate career success, starting an apprenticeship with Penske Leasing. While at Centennial’s Ashtonbee Campus, Mark established himself as a student leader, acquiring a whopping six scholarships. Still, to hear him tell it, he didn’t do anything special. Instead, he credits the diverse people around him at Centennial College with getting him where he is today. So, here’s his own personal roadmap to success, and how the College helped him navigate to success.
Continuing a family tradition
"My pops was in the transportation services industry," Mark says. "So I was exposed to a lot of commercial trucks. From his younger years, he was a very big muscle car fan, and it stemmed from his father owning a 1967 Ford Mustang." Mark would embark on a similar career path.
"After high school, I was working for several of the big name companies in the industry. Tesla, Via Rail, GM, Ford, a lot of the big names," he says. "But nothing really career focused, and I never had any valued set of skills."
When COVID-19 hit, Mark – like many unskilled workers – found himself in a very precarious situation. He took the opportunity to return back to school, changing his area of specialty from cars to trucks, opting to take Centennial College’s Motive Power program.
"All I knew from the beginning was I like big cars, I like big trucks. I like things that pretty much went vroom,” he says, about his lane-switch into Truck and Coach. “So I said, okay, let me try to go to the diesel side of the industry, because I had lots of exposure on the automotive side."
He selected Centennial College after speaking to some of his contacts – the who’s who of the industry – who let him know of Centennial’s reputation.
The drive to succeed
"Centennial College's slogan is ‘See where Experience takes you,’ and that truly, truly resonates with all of the professors in this program," Mark says about his time at Centennial. "They have a very diverse background, from Original Equipment Manufacturing trainers in the field, to drag strip competitors, to restoration specialists, and some even being on TV and doing car shows. It was a diverse and amazing set of professors, all in the truck and coach program."
"There were a lot of old school professors who said, alright, today, books down, hands in the shop, boots on, safety glasses on, this is what we're doing," he recalls. "They gave us actual practical learning experiences that you would find in the shop. And then they’d throw us in, I wouldn't say head-first, but they gave us the theoretical knowledge that we need to apply to actual practical hands-on training inside the lab."
"Before I even hit an actual shop floor in the real world, in my current position at Penske," he says, "I was already very much confident in my ability to produce great work for the company, which is a great plus for everyone. The company wins, I win, the instructors win, the school wins, and everyone wins all around."
Leading the convoy
Learning wasn’t all Mark did while in school. A bit older than most of his fellow students, he became known as a student leader, who consistently volunteered for events. He formed a team, which shaped a study group that evolved into a tutoring and mentoring group.
"I learned that leadership doesn't have to be this grand position," he says. "Leadership just has to be one person showing initiative, taking charge and doing what's right. I just naturally ended up in a leadership role where I was tutoring the students, showing them my lived experience, getting all the students together as one unit."
Co-op clears the path
"So my co-op at Penske just sort of came through naturally," Mark says, discussing how he moved from student to Motive Power Technician, through a truck and coach apprentice job. "I ended up volunteering for the Centennial College co-op job fair, and before the fair even finished, I had several job offers, even in entry level management positions. This was the first time in my life I had job offers that I didn't even know existed coming towards me, coming through emails, and people calling me. Penske reached out to me, they said they would love to have me, they offered me a summer student co-op position, which was good for me."
"I wanted to start back from the beginning and go back to basics in this industry," he says. "This industry will humble you very quickly, there's no such thing as knowing it all. There's always something that you don't know, or there's always room for improvement. I went to Penske with the intention of starting from the very bottom, proving myself through the merit of my own work production, and gradually developing over time to a higher position."
"Penske is very much a fleet company," he says about his current role. "We deal with lots of repairs, ranging from clutches, transmissions, a lot of fleet work, body work, you name it. If there's something that can be done in an efficient manner, and an efficient amount of time, we at Penske do it, and I have such an amazing boss. He actually used to be a professor at Centennial College!"
"It's still crazy to me, I'm getting paid to do this."
Make your own map
Mark wants his fellow students to know that it’s impossible to follow in his exact footsteps, and that they should follow their own path when coming to Centennial College.
"What worked for me probably won't work for everyone else," he says, as advice. "They're not me. They're not Mark. They didn't go through the exact same experiences I have. Everyone's different. I encourage every student that comes to Centennial to find their niche, find their group, and don't be scared to network."
"I can't speak highly enough about the professors, the support staff, the faculty, and then the students in general," he concludes. "I don't see it as my success. I see it as the success of my whole Centennial College community, because to me, they are the reason I'm here."
By: Anthony Geremia