Jamaica’s First Worldskills Gold Winner Brandon Brown Proves Persistence, Hard Work Pay Off

From doubting he would pass a single Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subject to becoming Jamaica’s first WorldSkills gold medallist, Brandon Brown’s inspiring journey proves that persistence, curiosity, and determination can forge a new path when original goals seem unattainable.

The 23-year-old, who competed in Optoelectronic Technology at WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Education, majoring in Electrical Technology, at the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica.

Brandon’s journey to the international stage was far from straightforward.

He recalled that during the COVID-19 pandemic, his father, a forklift operator, lost his job, affecting the family’s finances and Brandon’s ability to consistently attend classes at Meadowbrook High School.

By 2021, as he prepared for the CSEC examinations, Brandon had become so uncertain about his prospects that he told his parents not to pay his examination fees.

His parents refused to let his doubts determine his future.

They paid for him to sit eight subjects and offered him simple but powerful words of encouragement: “Just go there and do your best.”

“I went and somehow I got three subjects and I’m happy, very happy that I got those three subjects,” he told JIS News, adding that the subjects he passed were Information Technology, Mechanical Technology and Economics.

Before the pandemic, Brandon had planned to sit both CSEC and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), with the intention of matriculating into UTech’s software engineering programme.

But, with only three CSEC passes, that goal was unlikely to be realised.

“I got really depressed… so, I was trying to find other routes or a different path and that’s how I began researching and I spoke to family and friends and they suggested that I should go to HEART and do something in the engineering field,” he said.

That advice led Brandon to the National Tool and Engineering Institute (NTEI) where he had the option of continuing in mechanical technology or making the switch to electrical.

He chose electrical and there were two factors that helped make the decision easier. Brandon was not particularly fond of the grease and mess associated with mechanical work and he had always enjoyed watching electricians at work.

There was also a more nostalgic influence, as one of his favourite childhood superheroes was Static, from the television series Static Shock.

“I started out doing electrical installation at HEART. I did up to my diploma. When I finished my diploma, I got a job offer from a company called Kiss Bakery,” he shared.

There, he worked with a manager who took him under his wing, giving him other opportunities to work at a rum factory and an automated chicken farm.

Brandon was gaining valuable experience but the demanding schedule came at a cost. He was working seven days a week while wanting to continue his education.

He either had to stop working or find a job that would allow him to balance his studies.

Brandon met with a past instructor at HEART who told him that the NTEI had a vacancy for an electrical installation demonstrator.

“I basically forced myself in, because they were telling me that I should wait [to hear from the hiring team] and I was like, no, I don’t want to wait,” he recounted.

Fearful that the opportunity would somehow bypass him, Brandon went to NTEI and began doing voluntary work.

He pointed out that his strong work ethic is rooted in the principles his parents instilled in him, sharing that any work he does reflects his values and character.

“When I went to the lab and I realised the lab wasn’t up to my standard, I started to clean, even though I wasn’t permitted. When my to-be supervisor, Mr. Stoner, saw it, he was like, whoa! He couldn’t believe it was the same lab,” Brandon shared.

After six months, he was hired and even then, he went beyond what his job description required of him.

Tasked with assisting the instructor and maintaining the lab, he often helped to teach students. “That’s where I found my love,” he told JIS News.

His focus shifted from pursuing engineering to combining his technical interests with education, prompting him to begin studying electrical technology education at UTech.

At NTEI, his curiosity continued to drive him.

He sat in on classes in electronics, renewable energy and robotics and completed short courses in programmable logic controllers (PLC) and photovoltaics.

Despite exploring several areas of the electrical field, he still had not found a specialisation that truly resonated with him.

At age 21, a chance encounter with robotics instructor Ms. Thompson changed the course of his journey.

During a conversation about two young men she was training, she saw his potential and decided to make a call to one of her colleagues, and that connection introduced him to the field of optoelectronic technology.

“I realised that I really liked that field and I wanted to specialise in Opto,” he said, adding that he was subsequently signed up for the National Skills Competition.

“It was supposed to be somebody else, but I took the place because they saw me all over the place, eager to learn. So, they were like, you are the fit,” he said.

Brandon won gold, earning him the opportunity to compete at the international level.

Preparing for WorldSkills Shanghai became a two-year undertaking, under the guidance of his experts, Dravid Dixon and Martin Plummer.

Mr. Plummer provided sound theoretical and practical support while Mr. Dixon, who was Jamaica’s competitor at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, prepared him from an experiential standpoint.

“He (Mr. Dixon) was very pivotal to my success because he was the one who showed me all his mistakes, showed me what I should do, what I should not do, the shortcuts to getting things done efficiently and it came to a point where I felt confident,” Brandon told JIS News.

There was a break in his confidence when he was advised less than three months before the competition that he would not be tested on one of the major modules for which he had been preparing.

“They put in something that I wasn’t fully accustomed with, which was Arduino. I should be able to write it efficiently and also know how to troubleshoot these issues,” he said.

For two months, he was engrossed in learning Arduino from the beginner to intermediate levels, noting that artificial intelligence (AI) proved to be a great study partner.

“I could just ask AI to give me problems and I would just try to troubleshoot as fast as possible. YouTube was my third teacher, because whenever my experts weren’t around, because they had responsibilities other than WorldSkills, I would use YouTube with AI,” he said, pointing to the importance of self-directed learning in his preparation.

A month before WorldSkills Shanghai, Brandon received demo modules.

His assessment was sobering and he soon realised that he was not adequately prepared for what was ahead.

“So, I went to China for a little training with my expert, Dravid, and we went through those demo tests. From there, I thought that I had it until the first day,” he said.

He engaged in conversations with fellow competitors from Japan, Korea and China, who all revealed that before they even got to high school, they were selected to train for the competition.

“Also, because Japan and Korea are nearer to the source, they were able to order the new materials and practise… China is the source, so he got first preference to getting access to the new technologies that were offered. So, basically, I had to learn what they learned in two years, within two weeks,” he explained.

The pressure was evident when competition began, with Brandon admitting that he was nervous and struggled to find his rhythm on the first day.

He quickly caught up with his competitors and worked with precision and skill for the remaining three days.

His expert, Dravid Dixon, was the first person he called to share the news of the historic win.

Meanwhile, his family were watching the livestream of the closing ceremony when his gold medal win was announced and within minutes, his phone was flooded with messages.

“My goal is to become an instructor and also finish my degree. I want to immediately start my master’s because my long-term goal at this moment is to become a principal and also to get my PhD in electrical engineering,” he told JIS News.