Mentors. The golden asset of AlES

When mentoring shifts from being a “tradition” to a systematic part of a business or company, it makes it easier to tackle stuff like training young staff, boosting professionalism and responsibility among employees, and creating social mobility. It becomes a natural process with clear rules.

Mentoring is certainly only one of the cornerstones of systematic work with personnel, but it is particularly relevant in times of a shortage of highly qualified workers. If they are not available on the market, it is possible to train your own – an approach that has been practiced systematically at Almaty Electric Stations since the 1990s.

This is confirmed by AlES statistics: this year, 91 young workers under the age of 35 have worked or are working in the presence of mentors. A total of 110 specialists have the honorable and paid status of mentors in the company.

This has largely helped to retain staff and attract young people, as for many, working with a mentor is the first step in deciding whether to leave or stay.

A school with 90 years of history

Today, 3,087 people work at AlES, of whom 2,921 are production personnel. At the same time, 14% of the team are employees under the age of 30, while the backbone is formed by specialists aged 30-50, numbering 1,632 people, and the average age of the company’s employees is 43. This shows how balanced the generations are: there are young people who can learn from practical experience, there are veterans who can share their knowledge, and there is a highly qualified group of middle-aged people – a well-trained base of specialists. It’s not just a generational handover, it’s professional succession.

The mentoring school was established here at the very beginning of Almaty’s energy sector, in 1935, when the first thermal power plant (then called a central power station) was launched. Most of the first workers learned the basics on the job: there was simply nowhere to find ready-made specialists. Over the years, this developed into a system, and many of the first students later became mentors themselves.

Over the 90-year history of the Almaty energy complex, this tradition has continued uninterrupted. Moreover, it has formed a clear path for employees to advance their status: from apprentice to master, engineer, and even manager.

Nurlan Mukhamed-Rakhimov, Chairman of the Board of AlES JSC from 2012 to 2022, explained how the system worked. He also went through this school: “At first, I was an intern, and my mentor was shift supervisor Yuri Grigorievich Semenyuk. When I first arrived, my responsibilities included servicing auxiliary electrical equipment. That is, making the necessary switches, preparing workplaces for admission, both for installation and commissioning organizations.

After that, there was training and exams on safety and technical operation. Then there was job shadowing, and only after going through all these phases of “entering” the profession was I given permission to work independently. After all, it’s one thing to study at a university, but it’s another to work in a place where there are many organizational issues and you need to learn the layout of the equipment.

The working hierarchy

Today, the demand for skilled workers remains high: 44% of AlES personnel have higher education and hold engineering and management positions, but the majority of the labor-intensive work is done by skilled workers. However, it is customary in this profession that everyone goes through this vertical from the first step to the maximum of their professional growth: ordinary workers, graduates of technical colleges and universities. Energy is a profession where everyone needs to understand not only theory but also practice, not only with their mind but also with their hands.

“Mentors are usually assigned to each newcomer to the company. They are selected from among experienced, qualified employees,” says Zhibekqurmanali, head of the personnel training department at AlES JSC. “Each mentor has a special program for training young specialists. A separate program is developed for each person, with lecture materials and a journal kept by date. Newly hired employees spend a month with their mentor. After that, they take exams on safety and their specialty.

In addition, there are mentors for promotion. Up to the fourth grade, they pass a workshop qualification commission. For the fifth, sixth, and higher grades, they take exams at the central tariff qualification commission. Based on the results of the exams, a protocol is drawn up, on the basis of which the grade is assigned.

After the new recruits pass the exams, they receive a 30 percent salary increase, and those who have been promoted receive additional pay according to their grade. Then the workshop managers write a memo and submit all the documents (logbook, report, exam records) so that the mentors are paid extra for mentoring. Moreover, such bonuses are paid only in the main workshops – turbine and boiler rooms. In auxiliary workshops and services, there is no additional payment for mentoring, but there are mentors there too.

It is important to note that the company has established a Permanent Examination Commission (PEC), which conducts examinations. It consists of at least three specialists. In its work, the PEC is guided by industrial safety legislation, in accordance with the Civil Protection Act. Based on the results of the knowledge test, the commission makes one of two decisions: “pass” or “fail.”

The overall structure of personnel training also includes an institute of internal trainers, which prepares them to conduct training within AlES JSC, develops a range of training courses, coordinates the transfer of programs in the event of the departure of internal trainers, and thus contributes to the process of knowledge exchange. The tasks of internal trainers are: to present material and information to training participants in a high-quality and accessible manner; to conduct training events in a timely manner according to the schedule. Internal trainers can be appointed from among company employees who are experts in their professional field and possess the necessary competencies, skills, and abilities, as well as veteran energy workers. This approach allows us to maintain a high level of qualification among all personnel at Almaty Electric Stations JSC. This includes eight production assets, where every pair of hands and every mentor is a valuable asset.

When technical schools shut down

Certainly, there was a period in the company’s history – in the 1990s – when mentoring could have come to an end. However, despite the paradox, the challenging situation itself became a catalyst for strengthening and developing the tradition: all schools and vocational colleges that trained skilled workers were abruptly closed. There was a severe shortage of certified workers, particularly electric welders with certification to weld pipelines. The remaining enterprises had no choice but to train workers on their own.

It was during those years that Tatyana Vasilyevna Vlasova, a leading engineer at the Metal and Welding Service (MWS) of the Eneroremont PRP, became a mentor. Today, she is a Level 2 metallurgist and a Level 3 welding production specialist with 30 years of experience, and she continues this work.

Although in 1998, when MWS was transferred from the head office of the Almaty energy complex to PRP Energoremont in order to optimize the service and bring it closer to actual production, Tatyana Vlasova was already a legendary figure. She was not only a high-level specialist, but also a scientist. She had the following achievements under her belt: the Department of Solid State Physics (specializing in X-ray structural analysis) at Tomsk State University; successful defense of a thesis on semiconductors; work at the Novosibirsk Research Institute of the Vostok Scientific and Production Association; a dissertation on “Ceramic platinum-ruthenium catalysts for internal combustion engines” at the Institute of Organic Catalysis and Electrochemistry at the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan.

“In the 1990s, our company urgently needed skilled workers in categories one through four, in accordance with the requirements of the Emergency Situations Ministry’s boiler inspection department. To this end, in March 1998, training courses were organized at SMiS,” says Tatyana Vlasova. “This was work outside of our main activities, and I understood its importance for us and for the entire energy sector in Almaty.

When we organized training courses to improve the qualifications of our workers, I immediately began to develop teaching methods and programs for metallurgy. I began teaching based on these methods and programs. In addition to my main specialty, I also had to study welding. In addition, in 1998, when there was an acute shortage of specialists, repair control was added to the service. This was a vital necessity due to the condition of the aging equipment at power plants. There was also a need to train these specialists.

She herself had been employed by the company as a 6th grade laboratory assistant a short time earlier in order to gain practical experience. Now she is grateful to her first mentors in the energy sector for her practical knowledge: Mikhail Nikolaevich Lobanov, Artur Dmitrievich Brzheztovsky, Viktor Ivanovich Karalkin, and many other experienced specialists.

This is probably why she immediately took her mentoring role very seriously, considering it her duty to help young workers master a new profession and teach them industrial discipline: compliance with assembly and joint welding technology, heat treatment technology, the ability to select electrodes in accordance with the operating parameters of a boiler or turbine, knowledge of steel markings, and much more.

“We were essentially recreating the mentoring school from scratch, and there were many difficulties. For example, the ability of a master mentor to impart knowledge to people who have had little or no secondary education or who have significant gaps in their knowledge,” she recalls. ”But that’s why we need mentors, so that they are not afraid to pass on their experience and knowledge to the younger generation, helping young workers to fill in the gaps in their knowledge and master new professions.”

Those who train the masters

It is difficult to calculate how many newcomers Tatyana Vlasova has trained as professionals over her 27 years of mentoring, how many she has taught the craft. This is especially true considering that SMiS conducts annual recertification of all electric welders and gas cutters in the company. In addition, heat treatment specialists and operators are regularly trained… But in total, the number of students over her three decades is close to 4,500.

“Without a teacher, without a master, it is difficult to become a specialist in your field,” concludes Tatyana Vlasova. “And we are proud that our company has not lost this tradition of passing on knowledge, skills, and experience to young employees and has maintained it for many decades. But mentoring is not only beneficial for novice specialists: communication is a multifaceted process that enriches everyone, both students and mentors, because we also have something to learn from young people…”

One of the company’s young mentors is Edik Omarov, a production training master at the Metal and Welding Service. He started working at PRP Energoremont in 2013 as a third-class electric welder and trained as a certified electric welder the following year. Among his mentors was one of Kazakhstan’s most famous welders, Tatyana Konstantinovna Mikhno. He then studied under Kanat Amangazinovich Musakhanov and Akkadyr Joldybaev.

Edik’s example is not unique; this is how the mentoring school works at AlES, where specialists are guided to the heights of mastery in their profession. Edik Omarov, gaining experience from his seniors and participating in competitions, reached the 6th grade. Now he himself trains his young colleagues.

“Mentoring is my conscious choice. For me, teaching young people my profession means helping them develop their professional skills and helping them grow,” says Edik Zharkhimbekovich. “It is very important for a mentor to be able to find an approach to each student. For me, as a mentor, it is very important that they gain as much knowledge as possible and become good specialists.”

Andrey Vasilyevich Vodopyanov, shift supervisor of the ZTC maintenance group, has been working in the energy sector for 37 years. Having gone from trainee to mentor, he has already trained more than 30 young energy specialists.

“Mentoring is an opportunity to pass on your experience and knowledge to young people. But it is also hard work and requires you to learn new things yourself,” says Andrey Vasilyevich. “Mentoring is a necessity for the company – our industry is complex, it is classified as hazardous, and highly qualified personnel are required and personnel who are familiar with the specific production where they work. And this knowledge, and therefore a kind of guarantee for the enterprise, is provided by the mentor. Mentoring is also important for newcomers, as they have the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice under the careful supervision of a mentor. This means they have the chance to become the specialist that the station needs.”

Mentoring at AlES is not a mere formality; it is serious work, often carried out in parallel with one’s main job. It requires considerable mental and physical strength, knowledge, and skill. The path of mentoring is not without its difficulties, as Bakytzhan Yermekbaev, master of the production section of the electrical workshop at the B.Orazbayev CHPP-1, readily admits. He has devoted a quarter of a century to mentoring, training around 20 specialists during that time.

“The most difficult part of this work is conveying to young employees the importance and value of my many years of knowledge and practical experience. It is understandable that young people often come up with new ideas and methods. And that’s great! But sometimes they may not be ready to accept traditional approaches or advice based on many years of practice,“ says the mentor. ”And convincing them that some things have been proven over time and can greatly simplify their path is not an easy task.

But I am always proud of my students’ successes. I especially remember Alexander Alekseevich Klimov. He became not only a successful specialist, but also the current head of our electrical workshop, and at some point he himself became my mentor. “The student surpassed the teacher” is not just a phrase, but a reality. I am glad that I was able to play a role in his successful career.

Theory meets practice

In addition to the group of mentors, which is replenished every year with young specialists, there is another level of specialist training here – the Personnel Training Department of AlES JSC. We reported on its work in KP in October 2024. A practice with elements of dual education has been launched and is now in operation. AlES holds two training courses annually: “Turbine Equipment Operator” and “Boiler Equipment Operator.”

One of the first universities to actively begin training specialists using the dual education system was NAO “AUES named after G.Daukeev.” Since 2018, 166 students have already completed their industrial training at the B.Orazbayev CHPP-1 and the personnel training department of AlES JSC. Many of them represent the company’s young workforce.

Training in the workshops was not only conducted in real time, but also focused on solving real problems, including those related to repair work in preparation for the upcoming heating season. Although it was a training internship, the entire training process and all activities were not “demonstrative” but rather based on current tasks. And although it was a training internship, the entire training process and all activities were not “demonstrative” but were determined by current tasks.

For example, the course for boiler equipment operators included topics such as industrial safety rules; operating modes and performance indicators of boilers; taking measurements from parts and applying dimensions to a sketch; reading diagrams of auxiliary equipment for steam and hot water boilers.

Several classes were devoted to materials science, and a large block of classes was devoted to the topic of “Water treatment and water-chemical regime.” Students studied methods of combating oxygen corrosion, thermal, vacuum, and other methods of deaeration. The program also included a block on “Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering,” another topic on the classification of fuel types, the classification of boiler units, and many other highly specialized topics. The students went through the entire production process, including occupational safety issues, and successfully passed their exams.

The course for turbine operators was no less challenging. Classes began with the topic of emergency prevention and response, and personnel actions in emergency situations. The trainees also studied the technological cycle of a thermal power plant, practiced reading drawings and diagrams, and made their own drawings and sketches. They learned how to activate protective interlock devices and alarms, and how to stop and shut down pumps and electric motors. At the end of the course, all turbine operator trainees also successfully passed their exams.

Meanwhile, the power engineers took a close look at those with whom they may soon have to work and on whom they can rely in any situation. Today, blue-collar professions are on par with engineering professions in terms of technical and qualification requirements. Training is also becoming more complex. Such joint projects between manufacturers and universities allow the industry and the country to develop the highly qualified working-class elite. This is precisely the goal of the entire personnel management system at AlES JSC.

Airy ZHAN, Almaty
Kazakhstan Pravda newspaper, July 31, 2025