Machines and engines
Automotive & Diesel
You keep things moving. Cars, trucks, fleets, heavy equipment. Diesel and fleet work pays well above general automotive and has a fraction of the people in it, which is the single most useful fact in this trade and almost nobody tells a seventeen-year-old.
A day in it
- Bay at seven. First ticket is a no-start on a work truck the customer needs today.
- Scan it, pull codes, but the codes tell you where to look, not what's wrong.
- Fuel pressure is low. Trace it back to a clogged filter and a failing lift pump.
- Parts ordered, on the shelf by ten, truck out by noon.
- Lunch, then scheduled service on two fleet vans.
- Afternoon is a hard one — intermittent electrical, and those take as long as they take.
- Find it at four. A chafed harness behind the engine.
What it pays
- Starting out
- $33,660
- Median
- $49,670
- Experienced
- $80,850
Automotive service technicians are SOC 49-3023. Diesel, bus, and truck technicians track separately under SOC 49-3031: $41,670 starting, $60,640 median, $85,980 experienced.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024 (national). Starting out = 10th percentile. Median = 50th. Experienced = 90th. Annual. Georgia figures to be added alongside national. SOC 49-3023. Real numbers only — never estimated, never rounded up.
How you get in
- —One to two years at a technical college, or hired as a lube tech and moved up.
- —ASE certifications are the currency. Each one moves your pay.
- —Dealer and manufacturer training programs pay you while you learn their equipment.
- —The Mustard Seed covers tuition, ASE testing, and your first tool box.
What you need before you start
- —Tools. This trade is unusual — you buy your own and it adds up over years.
- —Diagnostic patience. The parts-swapping guys don't last.
- —Clean driving record for road tests and fleet work.
Someone doing it
Photograph, first name, age, and three or four sentences in their own words — to be supplied.
What it turns into
Master tech, then shop foreman, then service manager or your own shop. Diesel, fleet, and heavy equipment are where the money is and where the shortage is worst.
Want to talk to somebody doing this?
Two fields. A person reads it and texts you back.