How much will a automotive master mechanic make after five years ?
I am a current student in Job Corps and looking for advice about automotive engineering #engineering
2 answers
Sheila’s Answer
Hello Jeffrey:
Your question is much appreciated. According to the US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for automotive service technicians and mechanics was $40,710 in May 2018. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 % percent earned less than $23,420, and the highest 10 % percent earned more than $66,950.
I wish you much success on your career journey. Best of luck to you!
~ Sheila
G. Mark’s Answer
The first thing to keep in mind when embarking on a career in auto service is how much you like to fix cars. Right? That being said, be aware that when you work for a dealership or auto repair facility, a lot of what the hourly rate is will be divided between you and the business. Also, there will be positions where you'll be confronted with the darnedest problems and be really challenged in how to resolve them. You might also be put on some pretty routine jobs, like me when I started. You could be working on body undercoating (yeah, I'm that old), tuneups, brake jobs, etc.. Luckily, there's a whole lot of computer power out there in cars to diagnose a lot of what goes on to help narrow the field of what you'll fix.
Now let's get to the meat of what you want to know. Unless you specialize in some exotic or unique hardware, expensive cars, etc., expect to make around 20 - 30 dollars an hour. This is as an actual mechanic, not a manager. You can expect to be bitten by the "bug of the Peter Principle". That is, you rise to your level of incompetence :-) . In other words, if you're good at what you do, you'll advance until you can't advance anymore. So a "master mechanic" who makes a lot in their particular area is pretty rare.
The bottom line is that you should not expect to be rich by any means, but you will be exposed to opportunities to work on some of the most advanced hardware corporations can offer, and what you do with that will determine what your income will be.