Introducing Nicolas Godel, WorldSkills Chief Expert in Mechatronics

Meet Nicolas Godel, a 53-year-old WorldSkills Chief Expert from Fribourg, Switzerland. Actively engaged in vocational training through various organizations in his country, he has served as an Expert in Mechatronics for national competitions since 2002, and at WorldSkills São Paulo 2015 and Abu Dhabi 2017. As an International Chief Expert for the WorldSkills Competition, Nicolas participated in WorldSkills Kazan 2019 and the Special Edition 2022. Now preparing for WorldSkills Lyon 2024, he shared his insights with us. 

Can you tell us about your career path and what led you to become Chief Expert at WorldSkills? 

After completing an apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic at a vocational school, I began working in 1991 for a machine manufacturing company in the packaging sector as a specialist external fitter in the electrical sector. Thanks to numerous projects for international customers, I was able to develop my technical skills and independence, manage projects and improve my language skills in English and German. In 1999, I was given the opportunity to join the company’s training department as an automation trainer. There I came into contact with the world of vocational training, and became involved as an expert in the canton’s automation final apprenticeship examinations. Through my contact with the Swissmem skills association, I took my first steps as a national Expert at the Swiss competitions and discovered the WorldSkills spirit.  

Fascinated by this movement and the opportunities for young Swiss people to demonstrate their skills at an international level, I became increasingly involved in developing the selection of Mechatronics Competitors at the national level.  In 2007, Festo Switzerland offered me the position of Didactic Sales Manager for Switzerland. In 2014, I took over the position of Expert in Mechatronics. My first participation in WorldSkills Sao Paolo 2015 further developed my enthusiasm and motivation for WorldSkills and I made myself available as a Chief Expert after Abu Dhabi to help develop the Mechatronics competition. 

As a Chief Expert, what are your main responsibilities and how do you contribute to the preparation of WorldSkills Lyon 2024? 

I’m responsible for the smooth running of the Competition with the experts, and for accompanying them through each day from preparation to the end of the Competition. I also ensure that the evaluation process of the Competitors’ test project is carried out professionally, efficiently and fairly with the Experts. It’s important to me that Competitors complete their tasks in a professional and positive atmosphere. At the end, every Competitor can say that he or she has been properly evaluated.Together with the Skill Competition Manager, I develop improvements after each Competition. At the Special Edition in 2022, for example, we introduced a new digital platform with a function for transmitting test project documents and with a question and answer function for Competitors.

For this 2024 edition in Lyon, we are focusing on preparing Experts for the assessment with a new structured training programme ahead of the Competition. 

What have been your most memorable experiences at WorldSkills, and what moments have particularly inspired or impacted you? 

My first participation in WorldSkills Sao Paolo 2015 was truly an unforgettable experience: discovering this movement with its many facets, the different nationalities and cultures, sharing friendly moments with Expert colleagues and of course the final result of my two Swiss Mechatronics Competitors and their silver medal. In every WorldSkills Competition, you experience different situations, because these are moments when the human being is at the centre. Each participant has his or her own culture and mentality, and comes to the Competition with different expectations. As a Chief Expert, you’re called upon to address a variety of questions, and you try to answer them with a satisfactory solution, without forgetting the objectives of the competition. 

WorldSkills Kazan 2019 was also very intense in the Mechatronics skill, with several challenges such as managing Competitors’ questions related to the test project during Competition time and the commitment of the interpreters. After this Competition, I spent a long time thinking about new ways of improving the situation. That’s how I came up with the concept of a digital platform for document transmission and the Q&A process. 

How do you perceive the evolution of skills and professions over the years, and what do you consider to be the key skills for future professionals? 

The evolution of skills follows the developments of our globalized and economic world. Some fields have to integrate new technologies and digitalization rapidly. As the younger generations are confronted with an ever-changing world; social, methodological and personal skills are becoming increasingly important, and are the key to the future. They need to be developed and applied during training. 

What impact do you think WorldSkills Competitions have on young Competitors? 

Competitors benefit enormously from being part of WorldSkills. If I look at the experiences I’ve had with my Mechatronics Competitors in Switzerland, from their selection to the Competition, they gain in personal maturity, they discover new environments during their national or international travels, they quickly develop new skills in favor of the Competition, they test their limits. 

For these young people, it’s an unforgettable experience that gives them a strong impetus in the working world, and every day.