Posted on 03/08/2019 7:31:50 AM PST by nascarnation
Blue collar no more: Skilled auto technicians are in high demand
The tight labor market can be a boon for blue-collar workers: They are more likely to find good-paying jobs and experience rapid wage growth. More employers are trying to tackle the aversion to manual labor jobs by offering workers higher salaries, tuition reimbursement and apprenticeship programs. Technology is also transforming blue-collar workplaces, making more advanced skills in demand....
Across the country there are more drivers on the road, and many of them hanging on to their vehicles longer than ever. That means workers like Michael Gerhart are in demand.
Gerhart, a master auto technician at Pep Boys, has been fixing cars for nearly three decades, keeping on top of his skills as technology advances and learning how to do his job in a new way. Today, his focus is on engine diagnostic work, including things like the driveability of vehicles and emissions testing for the state of New Jersey. He works on different vehicles throughout the day, flexing his knowledge base on makes and models of all kinds.
"Cars have changed a lot, even in the past 10 years as far as the diagnostic end of things, and training has become more advanced as far as what's required to fix the current vehicles," Gerhart said. "It definitely doesn't get boring and it's always changing."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
You have tremendous opportunities in the skilled trades these days and a generation or two who are really horrible with their hands and more importantly are uninterested in learning. Its how they grew up. I see it every day.
Technical knowhow is a blessing.
Another factor for the shortage is those seasoned mechanics who stayed end up having to fix the repairs being botched by these replacement mechanics. This leads to burn out and their leaving.
The shortage of qualified mechanics largely boils down to GREED on the part of the dealerships. They take the lion's share of the profits and leave the scraps for the mechanics who are doing all of the work.
Isn’t that what America is all about...quit and get into competition with them.
Too many nowadays want a job, where they sit in an office and sit at a computer screen. And expect big bucks to do it.
Hopefully word gets out, that there are good paying jobs out there, if you are willing to do actual work, and willing to learn.
Our local Job-Link (employment office) has partnered with a local dealer and the JC to create programs that train people in exactly what the dealers need with almost guaranteed employment after the program. Seems to be working really well.
Well, that would certainly explain why no matter where I’ve taken my cars to get them wrenched on I have been getting BURNED for the last 25 years.
The Bosch 625 he uses is a $5000 piece of equipment!
From 2017, but those wages look pretty good to me.
He is not without a plethora of high end electronic tools.
He likely gets “product placement” items these days.
He is still mentally skilled and persistent to find and prove root causes.
Back in the late eighties, I was moonlighting in a friend’s independent garage. The factories were sending the independents in those days servicing literature for the newer cars, fuel injection, anti-lock brakes etc. In my spare moments, I would sit down with this stuff and read it. It struck me that the literature was written for those with a solid reading and comprehension background. I read, not too long that a school that offered auto mechanics as a major was turning away applicants because they could not read well enough. Getting back to the basics, reading skills that were never pushed in the early years are now being shown to matter.
“Published on Feb 8, 2019”
I just picked a random video of his that looked to be electronically oriented. It’s obviously new, and posted later later than any of the other videos of his I have watched. I had not seen him use that tool before.
Who knows why he has it.
That jives with someone else who has a relative that does some kind of training for dealerships. Getting mechanics was tough.
I don’t know beans about electronic repair equipment. I heard him mention the Bosch at the beginning of the video and looked it up...surprised me at the cost. I watched the full video and he was able to get the Jeep running again. You really need guys like this nowadays with the complexity of modern day vehicles.
AND that SUN AUTO DIAGNOSIS machine in the early 70’s cost about the same!!! $5000. It actually could do a diagnosis that today’s machines cannot do.
Too many computers in today’s cars. Don’t want one.
I’m retired now, but I sure can relate to this. It seems to be lucrative for some, but many are just not making it at all, & most of that is for the reasons as stated. I won’t recommend it to anybody, but if they decide to go into it they better concentrate heavily on electronics. Chances are if they are really competent with electronics, there’s a better career than auto tech waiting for them.
A Snap-On Verus is over 10 grand with $1700.00 in subscription costs per year. You can easily spend $50,000 to $100,000 in tool costs to do a $17.00 an hour job, less if you are not the service writers friend.
You are right about vehicles being complex these days. In fact, I think they are unnecessarily complex & there is not enough info from the manufacturers to do a quick competent repair. Some of their troubleshooting procedures do not much more than lead you in circles & then ask you to try a “possibly needed” part that is ridiculously expensive. Too many expensive parts & high labor prices lead to customers declining repairs. In the meantime it is often the case where the tech who works on commission used to get 50% of the labor is down to less than half that, while the vehicles are much more complicated. While the repair operator has to invest in more expensive equipment, so too has the mechanic needed to buy much more expensive hand tools as well as some light equipment that is not furnished. If one is working in a dealership on a commission basis, there are numerous ways you can lose money on customer paid repairs, & more yet on warranty work. Good careers?? Not unless you can overcome these obstacles & pretty much know what you’ll be making.
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