by robert_carpenter

Article by Natasha Bright

Let’s face it, America is in large part culturally defined by cars. Since the inception of the auto industry in 1908 with Henry Ford and his Model T, popular culture in this country has been largely shaped by our love affair with the automobile. However, just because pop culture is heavily influenced by the automobile (and vice versa), that doesn’t make our love affair with our cars an insignificant thing.

The auto industry is one of the key industries that helps drive the economic engine of this country. When automakers stood to fail a few years ago, the government stepped in to bail them out because the government believed their failure would be too dangerous for our economy. Not only is the automobile critical to our popular culture, it’s a big part of the lifeblood that keeps the American economy alive and pumping.

The fact of the matter is that Americans love their cars. They love them so much that a lot of people want to make automobiles their career; they want to work on them, maintain them, build them, and keep increasing their knowledge of them. Today, though, a person can’t really get a job repairing and maintaining cars just because they know how to change spark plugs.

In decades past, a tune-up meant simply changing the spark plugs and the oil. That’s no longer the case; an auto tune-up is a complex procedure that involves some mechanical work, but that’s not all. Most new cars today have systems that are based on computer systems that monitor and control all of the operating systems on a car.

Today, there are cars that don’t even have combustion engines; more and more cars use hybrid technology, and now there are cars coming onto the market that are run completely on electricity. Being a mechanic who understands mechanical systems doesn’t cut the mustard these days. Repair technicians need to understand a great deal more; they need to be able to know basic engineering concepts, and they also need quite a bit of computer knowledge and specialized training.

Unless a person’s family owns an auto repair shop or a car dealership, it’s nearly impossible to get the training a person needs without going to school. Today, more and more colleges are offering training programs especially for the automotive industry. Depending on the type of job you want to get and what level of work you want to do, if you are interested in automotive work, there are a few different paths to take.

In a vocational school, a student can enroll in an automotive technician class. This type of class will prepare a student for an entry-level job in an automotive repair setting. Students will receive classroom and hands-in training in a variety of subjects, including electrical systems, fuels systems, computer diagnostic systems, and more. This type of program can take several months or up to a year to complete, depending on the level of training that is being offered.

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Students can also take online classes in automotive technology for an auto tech degree. Jobs should be plentiful over the next five years; the field is expected to grow 14 percent. So talk to eLearners about starting online automotive training courses today.