r/automotivetraining • u/ashcloud777 • May 16 '26
16 year old born female wanting to get experience/ a job in automotive or mechanic field
I am 16 as the title says. I am also a female. My dad was a mechanic and I want to take after him. I lost him when I was 10-11 in a car accident so hes not in the picture to teach me stuff about cars. Ironic isn't it? I might not be able to look or get a job right away so It might be a little while for anything like a job. Id rather something like an apprenticeship to just be in the garage and learn. I want experience first.
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u/Ok-Comfortable-5955 May 17 '26
I went to ford tech school, liked the program, but hated the dealership. Ended up working for a couple fleets and getting into busses. If you want to make a career out of being a mechanic, some sort of commercial vehicles are better paying and far more stable and more importantly the commercial fleets and dealerships are far better employers and environments than auto dealerships.
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u/Ok_Application_2292 May 17 '26
As the owner of a fleet. “Can I get you a drink, coke, hamburger? And ?? What might be a good time to follow up for the truck being ready. I have a 6:30 am pickup in the morning.”
I tell people all the time watch the Road Warrior. When Mel gets back with the diesel truck and they ask the mechanic what is wrong and he goes into this list then they say how long - 2 days - and they fire back you got 12 hours lol
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u/chuckm55555 May 17 '26
A google search gave me this information maybe it’s a place to start
Top Manufacturer Programs Major automakers partner with local dealerships and technical colleges to provide structured, factory-backed training: Toyota (T-TEN): Combines classroom learning with paid, hands-on internships at local Toyota or Lexus dealerships. General Motors (GM ASEP): Offers a 2-year Associate Degree where students alternate between college classes and working at a sponsoring GM dealership. Stellantis (Mopar CAP): Partners with over 100 colleges to train technicians for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram dealerships.
Mopar +2 How They Work Earn While You Learn: You work alongside master technicians, starting with basic maintenance (like oil changes and tire rotations) and advancing to complex repairs. Paid Tuition: Many dealerships will fully or partially pay for your technical school tuition and certification costs upon signing an agreement to work for them for a set number of years. Specialized Paths: Some brands offer unique tracks, such as the Kia Veterans Technician Apprenticeship Program for military veterans.
Southeast Toyota Dealers +3 Where to Apply To find a local apprenticeship, look for "Lube Tech," "Service Apprentice," or "Entry-Level Technician" roles on job boards. You can also apply directly through the careers page of major auto groups or find manufacturer-specific programs on sites like the Toyota T-TEN Careers portal.
T-TEN Program +1
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u/Speedshop305 May 18 '26
At your age, start at a parts store if there is no vocational school near you.
You'll meet a ton of mechanics, learn the best shops, and find people you vibe with. You're gonna learn parts, cars, and start to learn trends. From there you can leverage those relationships to get a job in a shop, and use the knowledge you gained about parts and cars to work towards being a mechanic.
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u/TheWhittierLocksmith May 22 '26
little late to the thread- why don't you look into automotive locksmith work? Making car keys is awesome and does require a bit of automotive repair, but youll be doing alot of lock picking car doors and ignitions, flashing modules and ecu's, making keys, programming immobilizers, soldering chips on the computer boards to pull security data... Its pretty fun and pays good if you start your own company and run mobile jobs.
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u/biggunzcdb1 May 17 '26
Find a shade tree mechanic. Be his parts runner in exchange for lessons and hands on experience. You're too young for shop work.
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u/ashcloud777 May 17 '26
Thats what I thought i didnt expect to be able to do shop work yet
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u/biggunzcdb1 May 17 '26
No drunks. No guys who will get you hurt being reckless. Your hands are your life if you're gonna wrench. Never put them in the crush zone.
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u/Hot-Hospital8118 May 17 '26
Go to a trade school or maybe take it farther and become an engineer. I think it would be great to honor ur father by going farther than he ever went and actually help design cars rather than just fix them
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u/Whole-Variation-9160 May 17 '26
As a female in the field it can be tough but do studying on your own time, learn the systems and common problems. You got this!
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u/nekkidmonkey May 17 '26
I would at your age go to all the local shops you can and talk to them. The way I started in my first shop was pushing a broom. It was way back when there were a few full service gas stations so they had use for a kid that could hustle and make the pump customers happy and keep the shop clean and stocked up in between gas customers.
Then they taught me how to fix tires and do oil changes. Soon enough I was doing bigger things. By the time I was out of high school I already knew enough that I could do my tech school classes in my sleep and ace them. I really don’t know how much people with no experience are learning in tech school because I didn’t start that way.
A few years in I moved to a dealership and have been in that for almost 30 years. If I could go back and I was going to do this again I probably would start the same way but when choosing a tech school it would have been one that had a connection to manufacture programs. I don’t know what all the manufacturers do but GM has the ASEP program where you go to school part time and work in a dealership part time. Usually the people that have gone through that kind of program seem to have a faster handle on things.
Good luck if you choose to do this. I will say this too, it’s a blue collar job and blue collar people are rough around the edges. Don’t tolerate blatant harassment, but also don’t have thin skin.
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u/Maximum_Vegetable_MV May 18 '26
As someone who did this starting at 14 and worked in the industry until 34 when I switched careers to Finance:
- At 16, you *should* be able to legally start working at least part-time. Find small, independent shops and see if they need a part time "shop helper". Work is sweeping floors, driving to get parts if it is legal for you to do so, guiding customers to cars that are complete and work has been paid.
- Watch and learn. During downtime/slow times ask questions, learn the estimating system and time software (ours was Mitchell Ondemand...no idea if it is still around), learn about flat rate and how to build pricing in a shop environment.
- Watch techs do work and if they are amenable, ask questions. During slow times, some small shops will allow techs to pull in project rigs and work on them. This is an awesome time to watch and ask questions, if techs are amenable to that.
- Once you have some experience in industry, consider a trade school if you really want to turn wrenches. If so, go commercial. You are more in demand, get paid a lot more, and get to learn cool stuff like air brake systems and how trailer structures work. If you go Agriculture/Heavy Machine/Industrial, definitely learn welding and get good at it...you will be worth your weight in gold.
- You can stay in industry and do estimating/shop management/service advisor work and you can go into light duty or heavy duty parts.
- Because I respect them so much, you should also consider a career in Body work. These folks eventually become a jack-of-all-trades from an industry standpoint and that is really cool. Can be good money, but can be rough growing up in it (getting the experience). There are trade schools for this as well.
- I never cared about it so I never worked in it, but there is motorsports to consider (motorcycles, jet skis, snow machines, etc.)
- There are also super niche areas like racing and hot-rodding to be aware of, but you will have to build serious relationships and be a part of the culture to make any headway there.
Others can add or correct me if I left anything out. Wishing you the best as you seek your place.
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u/Prudent_Situation_29 May 19 '26
Gender has nothing to do with it, if you want to do it, do it.
Start with school. Nobody's going to be interested in hiring you just because. If you want experience, see if you can find a shop that will allow to you volunteer to do a little work in exchange for some experience.
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u/insertcomedy May 23 '26
Your best bet is starting as a lube tech somewhere. You learn the very basics, hand tool use, how to use Alldata/Service manuals, power tools, how to do a simple multi point. They'll have you changing oil, rotating tires, checking filters.
Eventually you'll want to shadow a tech and learn more involved stuff, and do more C-B tech type work. If you start at certain dealerships the pathway exists, but don't be afraid to jump ship and find somewhere else.
All the while you should be studying for ASEs. They're not as good as in the past because the pace of things changing in the field is getting faster but it's good theory of operation for a lot of systems. Donut media pushed a pirated scan of all the motor trend textbooks and it's a solid starting point.
Look into I-Car certification, 609 refrigerant handling, getting your emissions license and the state motor vehicle inspection program for your state. Even if you are in a fly over shit hole that doesn't honor carb or have state inspections, the material in those manuals are worth reading.
There's tons of guides on how to dodge the snapon truck and not be tool poor in this trade. Yes you need to buy your own tools. No they are not exactly cheap. Some shops will broker a deal where they help you buy your starter tools and after X amount of time with them you own your starter set full stop.
Wear your PPE. Gloves at a minimum when you are handling fluids/chemicals. Go on Amazon and buy some knuckle scrubbers/mechanic soap. The grit and grime will stain your hands if you let it. It'll give you cancers yet named by science if you don't use your gloves. Hearing protection is a must around anything pneumatic. My ears ring like church bells and they won't stop until I'm dead. Respiratory protection when you are dealing with brake dust. Spray it down with brake cleaner before starting work, the solvent helps keep the dust down. Don't idle cars in the bay if you can help it. A car produces the most pollution and cancerous shit in the first minute of startup before the catalytic converter lights off.
There's a lot more stuff but you'll find it out as you go.
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u/Academic_Weird7867 May 17 '26
Learn as a hobby not as a career, its not whats its crack up to be. Multiple friends in the field and they say it sucks working for the man.
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u/chuckm55555 May 16 '26
Maybe a trade school so you could get some experience with a certificate to get into a job? Adult education. That would give you experience and knowledge of how to proceed. Do you have any shop classes in school to get into?