Samsung
2023 MX Repair Competition
Every year, Samsung Electronics America (SEA) hosts a competition which pits fifteen of the nation's highest graded technicians against each other in a competition within SEA's headquarters. This can be for various departments, such as the Home Appliance division, to their Mobile Experience division, covering devices like smartphones and watches. In 2023, I was lucky enough to be among the fifteen finalists Samsung has chosen for this year's event. After the travel to Samsung's Legacy headquarters in Plano, Texas, I had only a night's rest before the competition started, with no clue on what to expect on the following day. When that day came, I met the other finalists who flew in from all over the country; some within Samsung's own repair facilities, and some with business partners via uBreakiFix. While most of us were first-time contestants, there were a number of returning finalists from years past who were already sharing new repair experiences, how the industry has shifted, and new challenges the sector faces. Meeting with people who also possess the technical knowledge and passion in your daily work environment is already an important experience, but it doesn't compare to entering the building of the company behind it all, where it seems like its own society of enthusiasts for technology and preservation alike, seeing people from all walks of the world collaborate for a common purpose which benefits users around the globe.
Given the existence of Samsung Town in South Korea, it only makes sense that their subsidiary headquarters also aim to emulate this exact feeling.
The day started pretty early. We were told to expect a specific process of events, which had implications that the repairs we would be doing would be for real customers. For example, we were specifically told we would be graded for our customer service skills, as well as physical repair competence. But, in reality, it really seemed somewhat improvised on-the-spot. We were able to eat a small lunch in the general building behind the legacy Samsung headquarters while waiting for everyone to arrive. We were filled in on what to expect and were given a tour of the headquarters at this time, which was really magical. This tour alone showcased the positivity shown by employees who seemed to have a genuine affinity for their work and work culture, and created my personal life goal to work in this building at one point.
We were given pretty expansive freedom, with one finalist allowed to travel inside of an ID-only area without an actual ID. There were beautiful paintings and murals throughout the area. Eventually, we all reconciled at the general building to start the competition. I was the first to walk into the competition room, as shown in this video!
Things went slightly downhill at this point.
Due to severe staffing issues, my primary tasks at work for the months leading up to this event were reduced to merely handling customer tickets, intake, diagnostics, and general maintenance of the store, with nearly all repairs being handed off to the senior employee working that day. This was done to ensure maximum efficiency; due to my absolute unwillingness to talk at length with customers, intake diagnostics and check-in can happen in as little as two minutes, and the phone can be worked on within five minutes of entering the store. As I was still the newest employee two years into the job, seniority defined who took on the repairs. There were times I would not see the repair room for more than five minutes at a time, despite being hired specifically as a technician - not customer service. The problem arises as, a few months prior, Samsung introduced a new method of phone repair that significantly differs from the general process I was trained on. Because I was kept away from repairs due to customer volume and understaffing, I have gone months without any hands-on experience with this new repair process, which involves replacing only the actual OLED panel instead of swapping the entire frame with the panel preinstalled.
This was the repair we were being tested on. Tools I have never touched before, but am expected to use without issue in a national competition.
Completely fuck everything related to my job and the people who organise it. This is all underscored by my own pleading to my manager, as soon as I was hired, to learn the correct process for repairs, not the quickest or easiest. As far as I can tell, this was ignored. There were multiple instances, within this event and outside of it, where my training did not match the correct process. For example, I was completely unaware of the correct way to test water resistance until I was at Samsung itself. These cumulative issues actively make me angry, especially given that I specifically pled to prevent these within my first week of employment at this place.
I also misunderstood the instructions by the competition host. I had the option to perform disassembly and testing in an asynchronous manner, but was inclined to do everything one-by-one, inherently opening up the risk for errors along the way. I ended up using the tools correctly, despite being my first time using them! However, I ended up damaging the display panel due to my inexperience - I did not realise the display had a non-removable cable connected to the motherboard (since I never disassembled this model in-store), so I slightly tore the screen cable.
Ever since, my trust in my coworkers has somewhat dwindled, and I am now paying more attention to the documentation provided by the OEM rather than my direct coworkers. I hope there will be a next time, in order for me to perform at my most optimal environment. It was still very fun, and an unforgettable life experience. I just wish the circumstances leading up to it were different.
While I didn't receive the crowning placement, the competition went relatively smoothly and was finished in about two hours. We were also granted access to tour the rest of the Samsung Legacy HQ building afterward as well while the results were being tallied.
We learned about each judge and staff, including meeting the head of the mobile experience department of Samsung's legacy headquarters. They thanked us for our performance, and shortly after, we walked out of the building for the last time. The day ended with a celebratory night out with Samsung MX management and other finalists. Information about this event can be found on the Samsung Newsroom website. I won a Galaxy Watch6 for my placement, whilst the top 5 all won the latest Samsung phones: Galaxy Fold5 for first, and the Galaxy Flip5 for the other top places. 5-10 earned watches and a Samsung backpack full of collectibles.
MX Repair Comp. is a yearly event. You bet I will be returning for more!