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Well we can chat about that if you want, and why I got out of automotive :) Depends what your interests are. It's a highly regulated area and mfgs would rather sue joe home owner out of existence, than allow you to help people.

That said, tech life is not easy. Most guys get into it because its another trade for kids that don't know what they wanna do. It pays better than many trades but is hard work too. MFGs try everything they can to squeeze money out of dealerships and repair shops as well. While theyre forced to offer tools for repair by the government, it doesn't specify what ways they can offer it.

At some point Ford engineer gave us a megashare link to a firmware download for something one of our techs was working on. (funny story Siglent recently sent me a megashare link for a firmware recovery package XD)

For our shop, it was run buy guys who were highly motivated (3 of us started the show, I was just an employee though). We were one of the most expensive repair shops though, and generally turn down small jobs like the equivalent of your situation.

Dealership techs are usually a different story though. I've been offered tech jobs and declined because the work sucks relatively speaking in the trades. Usually the pay is lower because dealerships don't make much money in comparison to 3rd party shops. They have more overhead, mandatory warranty work (they usually lose money on) and they are required to set repair pricing based on the mfg book time which usually isn't enough for the dealership to make much on, despite it feeling like they are telling you to bite the pillow. Dealerships make money on sales, not service, may around here avoid service as much as possible. That and for the past few years they have been short staffed and hiring kids fresh out of tech school.

My experience was mostly in calibration firmware engineering (or reverse engineering).

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Techs would rather have an engine swap then a hose repair or brake job. It pays WAY more for the time and attention. I also forgot to mention, techs at dealerships get paid on book-time or job-time not hourly (usually) some do, but it's like $5/hr just to be there. The money is on the job.

If a job says 30min repair, they only get paid 30mins for the repair which usually doesn't account for them getting setup, tools out, logged into to the dealer network, connected to the vehicle etc. So if a job takes more than the book time, you want a larger job so it pays more. Small jobs don't make the tech money, nor the dealership. They don't want them, but often have to take them, or the service writer makes a commission taking the job lol.

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Discussion

Matt 5mo ago

I understand the pay structure for techs is bad. That's a common, widespread issue unfortunately. But that's all okay because I'm not going to them anymore. I'm doing it myself or going to one or multiple independent shops for things I can't reasonably do. Don't even give a fuck anymore. The scam won't last forever. People are figuring it out and I think there will be a ton of opportunity for high quality, honest techs on the other side of it all.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

That's the market though, 3rd party shops squeese even tighter, and you fall under pretty strict regulation and insurance that mfgs provide for dealerships (its a ripoff tho). IMO dealerships that have less than a dozen locations are not making good money anymore. MFGs are squeezing them as much as possible it's pretty wild. Some dealership franchise up north are really worth keeping around, they have huge parts sourcing networks (100x better than Ford or GM or Chrysler themselves). Then the mfgs pinch them for hoarding parts because they suck so bad.