Auto Mechanic Training - Turning a Hobby Into a Career

There are many people who never even consider the fact that what they like to do could make them a living.

In this age of information and technology one can flip a switch and have access to tons of information. Under this scenario you start to understand why there is a demand for all sorts of information, possibly information pertaining to your hobby.

In this hub we continue focusing on the field of auto mechanics, taking it from a backyard hobby and turning it into a career.

There are some people that frown upon this transition because they feel it takes the fun out of the hobby, but why can't it be both profitable and fun too?

I believe the key here is differentiating the difference between a job and a career.

When we look at the words Job and Career we want to look at the words that come before them.

Listen to how people address what they do: "I go to work or I work at a job."

Now, compare this to a career: "I'm building a career or My long term career goals are..."

Notice the difference, one is short term and one is long term. When a person talks about their career they speak in terms of building, this is almost like building a business. When people speak about their job it's like a routine, there is no tones of personal investment in it.

One of the reasons we address auto mechanics as a career is because of stability and growth.

It seems very doubtful that this service can be outsourced and cars WILL break down. This means the demand for auto mechanics will remain high and pay should be good throughout. The other factor is cars are evolving, they are more complex and this opens the door for opportunities that reach beyond repairing cars.

So, with your interest and ambition you can turn a hobby into a life long career that will be fulfilling and profitable.

Even though you have an aptitude for repairing cars and you have a lot of hands on experience, employers still want more training from you before they will even talk to you. I know, there are backyard mechanics that know more than shop mechanics, but that's the way it is.

So, you need to get either a diploma from a college or a certificate of completion from a trade school.

Now, you will save yourself a lot of headaches in the future if you do some homework upfront. Each school counselor will tell you their school is the best, so this is a waste of time when you are filtering out schools. Reading online reviews can be skewed if that review site is getting a commission for referring people to a particular school, so this too could be a dead end.

You really have to do two things - first, review your needs, are you working full time? Will the schools schedule collide with your schedule? How about costs? Next, make life easy on yourself, go talk to your local dealers and auto repair shops. Talk to them about your ambitions and career plans, they know best which schools are highly regarded in the automotive community. Just these two steps will make searching for your auto mechanics training a lot easier and save you from being SOLD on a training program that may not hold any weight when it comes time to get a job.

The employment projections for auto mechanics is very favorable looking forward. If you look at it as a career and not a job, then it will be like building your own business, hey maybe you will have your own auto repair shop one day - think about it.