Hello, my friend is interested in becoming an automotive mechanic or technician! What is the best way to do this? They are working at an entry-level job now and starting out with no experience.

The ideal degree we can find is a 2-year Automotive Technician associate’s degree, that is offered in person at a few different community colleges in our state. However, these schools are located a bit too far away and this program is not offered at the local community college.

The only degree they can get without moving is an online Penn Foster degree.

What do you think about this degree? Any thoughts or advice? My friend is planning on getting ASE certified.

Once they start working, they are afraid without proper background, they may be stuck doing only basic work. Basically, they also don’t want to be stuck doing only oil changes or only earning minimum wage. Will they be taken seriously in this career? They are interested in probably working at a dealership.

Do you think they will be paid less with this degree, or do people only care about ASE certifications and other certifications?

  • RickMN@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The key to making money in this industry is being good at diagnostics. That requires a deep understanding of electrical, electronics, computers, physics and chemistry. If you can’t diagnose, you’ll get comebacks that you have to fix on your own time and you’ll make garbage money. The shop will stop giving you good jobs and you’ll be a lube tech all your life. You could make more at Target.

    So school is important. Some dealers are offering apprenticeships and some of those programs include schooling. But others are nothing more than starting as a lube tech and then sweeping floors and doing grunt work. So if they choose an apprentice program, make sure they ask what training is included.

    I started as an apprentice and worked for a really small shop and got good training. But once computers came along I went back to school and didn’t realize how much I didn’t know. So I’m a big fan of auto tech programs.

  • waynep712222@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    school is always the best…

    not always the cheapest…

    there is a lot of learning how each component works with every other component so when you open the hood you understand what everything does…

    i went to trade school for a full 40 week training. but i had several years of reading everything i could get my hands on and fixing my family collection of cars and trucks…

    save a copy of this test sequence… https://i.imgur.com/SnzhDh0.jpg. learn to perform it till you don’t need to look at the page any more… every car gets it before you start diagnosis and after your done … this is not the only place you will be using a voltage drop test…

    when you can afford it… these are like 25 bucks… https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-Test-Leads-CAT-II-1000V-4WPZ9

    start reading articles in https://www.underhoodservice.com/. you will learn a lot… the more you read the more you will remember so when you run into that issue you will recall how to diagnose it…

  • Important-Ad3820@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Don’t waste time on a technical school. I run a few shops and don’t prioritize those students in any way. Either do the military, or ask around at shops willing to provide OJT.