What is your definition of "mechanic?"

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Based on the Craigslist job adds I've been reading, you're not a "mechanic" unless you're ASE certified and have at least 5 years of paid shop experience; and the emphasis being on the ASE certification. That can be intimidating to the DIY guy who feels like he's capable of repairing cars for a living, but doesn't have the documented proof to prove it. What is your definition of "mechanic?"
 
Originally Posted by hpb
Here, it's someone who has at least completed an apprenticeship (4 years), but I don't think that's a thing in the US.


Same here in Canada. Do your 4 years, get your red seal certification, and good for life.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Ase went out of popularity over 20 years ago. I let mine go. I got paid the same with or without ase certs. I saw no reason to pay to keep them.


I think you work for a shop so it probably doesn't matter as much. When I search for a mechanic on craigslist, I only look for ASE mechanics and I check their certificate to make sure it's real. There's a bunch of fly by nights who claim they're a mechanic but don't really know what they're doing. If going to a shop, I guess it doesn't matter as much.
 
ASE doesn't mean much but for the L1 and L2 which are required for some jobs with the state, it was just a way of weeding out the chaff.
4 years of trade school or apprenticeship gets you in the door as a entry level mechanic.
 
My ASE cert's are all expired, It helps getting-on with certain jobs, Emergency/Municipal vehicle repair for example.
Dealer techs get manufacturer training along with ASE certifications.

I was very proud of my 2003 GM World Class Technician plaque/trophy/jacket that took YEARS of working & training to receive. I was fortunate/ahead of the curve working at a Cadillac/GMC dealer as in you had to deal with the latest...tech/diesel/Opel-GM Euro everyday.

Don't work near the hours & make about the same money working at a independent garage.
 
A mechanic changes parts. A Technician will diagnose and repair with fewest comebacks. As my boss used to tell me I came from a different tree. I ran diagnostics on just about everything.
 
An apprenticeship system here too. I had to do so many hours, go to night school twice a week, do block courses once a year, pass a yearly exam, and the final exam was a practical...an 8 hour day. Then I sat my Advanced Trade Certificate - A Grade. This is all a National certification, every mechanic had to go through this to call themselves a mechanic. Someone walking in and saying he's pretty good at fixing his mates cars hasn't got a show getting a job as a mechanic in NZ - you have to actually be a mechanic, and have the papers to prove it.
 
A DIY guy that has worked on cars at home is not qualified to work as a mechanic in a shop. Best he can hope for is Lube Tech and
take night classes at the local college to advance. Modern cars are too complicated - a lot of diagnostic work before a wrench is turned and you have to make reasonable time on jobs too.
 
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As a former Master Tech back in the day, I can say I worked with several people who were supposedly qualified, but who were really nothing more than parts changers.

These days in my hobby, it's my job to oversee a bunch of supposed to be qualified mechanics working on race vehicles. You go through a lot of candidates that can't cut it, to find good ones.
 
Originally Posted by Silk
An apprenticeship system here too. I had to do so many hours, go to night school twice a week, do block courses once a year, pass a yearly exam, and the final exam was a practical...an 8 hour day. Then I sat my Advanced Trade Certificate - A Grade. This is all a National certification, every mechanic had to go through this to call themselves a mechanic. Someone walking in and saying he's pretty good at fixing his mates cars hasn't got a show getting a job as a mechanic in NZ - you have to actually be a mechanic, and have the papers to prove it.


This more or less mirrors the Aussie system - or at least that's how it was when I did my apprenticeship in the early '90's.
 
A mechanic is someone who can properly diagnose and repair the equipment he is assigned to.

There aren't many, with or without ASE or A&P certifications.
 
Originally Posted by tiger862
A mechanic changes parts. A Technician will diagnose and repair with fewest comebacks. As my boss used to tell me I came from a different tree. I ran diagnostics on just about everything.


You have that backwards. A good mechanic will diagnose and repair what he can (within reason) and replace parts as he needs to the job right. Technician is the same as sanitary engineer for a sewer worker or environmental services technician for a janitor. I am a mechanic.
 
I'm a semi truck technician and make $36 an hour, get free health insurance and a pension. I'm also required to maintain a CDL and am subject to DOT random drug tests.
 
There are plenty of part changers out there. Few that can really diagnose a problem. Some people just have the talent without the schooling....others need to study years to get it. If you have the talent, you probably don't need school however, the real problem is convincing someone of that. I work with a lot of blowhards bragging how they can do this and that....but mostly it is just part changing. Common sense is in short supply in this world.
 
Diagnosing front end issues is easy-- Hear a rattle, stick a pry bar in, if it's loose, it's bad. I would call someone changing this stuff out and getting it aligned afterwards a mechanic, so I would call myself that too.

Driveability diagnostics still have a basis in "it feels like fuel" or spark. There are exceptions-- of course there are-- but it's a start.

I ride on the coattails of dealer techs who figure out the really weird stuff on new cars. Good for them. Once the problem and fix are documented I'm happy to copy it by recognizing it, testing for it, then changing parts. No different than a surgeon reading medical journals.

My state licenses inspection mechanics with a book test, nothing hands-on. Passed that easily. There are few other qualifications, aside from experience which you can BS your way through, needed here.
 
The best are the 3+ yrs of school, $25,000 in Strap-On tools, scanners, cabinets, etc., and they can't read fuel trims to diag an O2 or check a 5V reference code to sort through 10 major DTCs.
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
Diagnosing front end issues is easy-- Hear a rattle, stick a pry bar in, if it's loose, it's bad. I would call someone changing this stuff out and getting it aligned afterwards a mechanic, so I would call myself that too.

Driveability diagnostics still have a basis in "it feels like fuel" or spark. There are exceptions-- of course there are-- but it's a start.

I ride on the coattails of dealer techs who figure out the really weird stuff on new cars. Good for them. Once the problem and fix are documented I'm happy to copy it by recognizing it, testing for it, then changing parts. No different than a surgeon reading medical journals.

My state licenses inspection mechanics with a book test, nothing hands-on. Passed that easily. There are few other qualifications, aside from experience which you can BS your way through, needed here.


The issue is the entirety of the system weeds out anyone with common sense. The pay isn't good enough for most real technical minds, the schooling exists solely to collect fees for the schools, the certification exists to make it easy to get through to support the schools, and to provide jobs for the agency in charge of administering the certifications, and the employers treat every last open position as if any $8/hr boob who doesn't feel like onboarding at McDonald's can walk in and just do it. We are all commodities.
 
Things change over the years. I worked with others on mine and their cars as a young pup as many of us did in the 60's. I went to 'Auto Mechanics School' and so had 'learned enough to be dangerous'. A bad draft lottery number got me with a war going on and I never got back to it. A local fella worked with his dad at his gas station and, after his dad died too young, took out the gas pumps and repair only. He works on some older cars that the dealers and most other indy shops will not bother with. He does for me what I really can't or no longer care to do. He's honest and fair and pretty darn good even if he never went to school. When he retires pretty soon, he will be missed. I've seen dealers where a 'driveability tech' will diagnosis with 'light duty' or others doing the parts changes. The word competent comes to mind no matter whether it's mech or tech.
 
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