Career Profile: Auto Mechanic

In our society, numerous names and terms are used in reference to mechanics. Grease monkey. Wrench head. Gear head. Regardless of the moniker, mechanics provide an important service that many of us would be at a loss without: they enhance or improve our vehicles.

Mechanics change tires, fix transmissions, change oil filters, paint, order parts, update cars and much more. They are essentially car surgeons, and without them, most of us wouldn’t be able to take care of our cars.

Jonathan Kusch is a 20-year-old mechanic who works at his family’s garage in Leduc, Alberta. He was willing to talk with me and share some details about his job as a mechanic.

YT: Can you tell us about your career? Describe your job as a mechanic.
JK: Oily, greasy, messy, dirty. Oh, you mean the positive things? Well, it’s rewarding, and you get to meet a lot of people. You work both outside and inside, and get to see a lot of different vehicles and how they work. You use a lot of problem-solving/critical-thinking skills.
 
YT: What are the fundamentals?
JK: Patience is a good one, being good with your hands is helpful. You must have good balance, be able to lift heavy things, have good dexterity, know your basic directions (right-y tight-y, left-y loose-y) and have good people skills.
 
YT: How did you get into this line of work?
JK: It’s my family’s business, so I guess I kind of inherited it, in a manner of speaking.

YT: What is your working environment like?
JK: Basically, I work with two holes in the ground (we call it the pit), but the good thing about working in the pit is that everything looks up from there! It’s also really greasy and dirty. But it’s important to keep a professional looking environment despite how greasy the work is; it’s trying to prove that a mechanic is not just a grease monkey.

YT: What kind of opportunities can this job lead to?
JK: Fixing cars can expand your learning into auto repair. You can help people out and help them continue to live their lifestyles. You get to work with something/someone new and different. It can eventually lead to owning your own shop and learning how to help people.

YT: What is the range in salary from a beginner to an advanced employee?
JK: Approximately $17 to $100 an hour – it all depends where you are and what you’re doing – also, for whom you are working.

YT: What are the perks of your job?
JK: I don’t pay labour for my part replacements, of course. I get to meet a lot of people, and it’s never the same job twice – it always changes, even if it’s just by a little bit. I get good deals on parts that enhance others and my own cars. I can make my car faster, better, nicer, etc.

YT: How do you foresee the future of this field?
JK: It’s a career where you can never stop learning, because there is always something new to learn. As long as they make vehicles, mechanics will always be needed.

YT: What training is necessary to become a mechanic?
JK: Apprenticing with a journeyman mechanic who has his ticket [licence to practice mechanics], and then the post-secondary education that you get at college.  

YT: How has the recession affected your industry?
JK: It hasn’t effected it negatively, because recession or no recession, people still have to drive cars. If anything, it has boosted business, considering that people have less money to buy new cars, so they have to get their current ones fixed.

YT: Besides schooling, what can a 17-year-old person do to prepare for a career as a mechanic?
JK: Apprenticeship work, working with a mechanic and with cars. Learning the parts [of a car], etc.

YT: Where would one find reputable training to become a mechanic?
JK: At any [mechanic’s] shop or garage, as long as s/he has his/her ticket. And, of course, at trade school.

YT: Why would you encourage high-school students to pursue this career path?
JK: Because there will always be cars, and they will always need fixing, so there will always be a demand for mechanics to fix cars.