Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Miss Goodwrench
Opportunities for Women in Automotive Repair
Blair Littleton had such a negative car repair experience while she was a senior in high school that after graduation she decided to attend a vocational school where she was certified as an auto technician. That was 10 years ago. Today she is the manager of a European car repair shop in Orange County.
“I realized that there were men out there who took advantage of my understanding of how a car engine works, and that really pissed me off,” she said. “My dad planted the seed for me to become a car mechanic, or grease monkey as he likes to call me, and I loved the idea. Women come to my shop because they know they can trust me, and men come in because I am good at what I do.”
In the automotive industry today, women are racing cars around the track professionally, hawking automotive products, and selling cars on the lot with the rest of the guys. But not enough women are actually getting their hands dirty on engines and transmissions. According to the latest data (2010) from the U.S. Department of Labor, only two percent of small-engine mechanics were women. Less than one percent of bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists were women, which is too bad, because there are plenty of opportunities and room for growth in the industry.
The U.S. Department of Labor also reports there will be approximately 1,288,700 jobs in the collision, automotive, motorcycle, and marine industries making on average of $20 an hour in the United States by the year 2018 so there are plenty of decent paying jobs to go around.
There are many vocational schools around such as Universal Technical Institute in Los Angeles and Arizona that teach and certify students as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. Local classes are also offered at San Diego Miramar College with their Automotive Technology Program and MiraCosta and Cuyamaca College also offer similar programs.
“Over the last five years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of women training to be auto technicians, but the number still isn’t where we’d like to see it,” says Mark Berardi, an admissions representative for the New England Technical Institute, a private vocational school that trains auto technicians. “There is absolutely a strong demand. Service stations and dealers want to diversify.”
Because there are more and more cars driving up and down the freeways each day, there is a need for mechanics- male and female. Gone are the days when good old dad could look under the hood, smack the carburetor with a wrench and declare the car good as new. Today it’s all about computer diagnostics and technological advancements in the car repair business.
But back to the opportunities for women. In the old days there was a lot of heavy lifting involved and working on cars often required brute strength, but times have changed. Today’s mechanics can wear nail polish and not worry about putting out their backs trying to take off a hubcap. Mechanics have morphed into technicians and almost anyone can learn to be a successful car mechanic.
While sexism still exists in this male-dominated field, Littleton brushes it off.
“Yes, the guys give me a lot of crap and tease me. But after they saw I could hold my own they treated me as an equal,” she said. “But we need more women in this industry. Its fun, interesting and you make good money. It beats sitting at a desk all day typing, that’s for sure.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Miss Goodwrench
Opportunities for Women in Automotive Repair
Miss Goodwrench
Opportunities for Women in Automotive Repair
Blair Littleton had such a negative car repair experience while she was a senior in high school that after graduation she decided to attend a vocational school where she was certified as an auto technician. That was 10 years ago. Today she is the manager of a European car repair shop in Orange County.
“I realized that there were men out there who took advantage of my understanding of how a car engine works, and that really pissed me off,” she said. “My dad planted the seed for me to become a car mechanic, or grease monkey as he likes to call me, and I loved the idea. Women come to my shop because they know they can trust me, and men come in because I am good at what I do.”
In the automotive industry today, women are racing cars around the track professionally, hawking automotive products, and selling cars on the lot with the rest of the guys. But not enough women are actually getting their hands dirty on engines and transmissions. According to the latest data (2010) from the U.S. Department of Labor, only two percent of small-engine mechanics were women. Less than one percent of bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists were women, which is too bad, because there are plenty of opportunities and room for growth in the industry.
The U.S. Department of Labor also reports there will be approximately 1,288,700 jobs in the collision, automotive, motorcycle, and marine industries making on average of $20 an hour in the United States by the year 2018 so there are plenty of decent paying jobs to go around.
There are many vocational schools around such as Universal Technical Institute in Los Angeles and Arizona that teach and certify students as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians. Local classes are also offered at San Diego Miramar College with their Automotive Technology Program and MiraCosta and Cuyamaca College also offer similar programs.
“Over the last five years, we’ve seen an increase in the number of women training to be auto technicians, but the number still isn’t where we’d like to see it,” says Mark Berardi, an admissions representative for the New England Technical Institute, a private vocational school that trains auto technicians. “There is absolutely a strong demand. Service stations and dealers want to diversify.”
Because there are more and more cars driving up and down the freeways each day, there is a need for mechanics- male and female. Gone are the days when good old dad could look under the hood, smack the carburetor with a wrench and declare the car good as new. Today it’s all about computer diagnostics and technological advancements in the car repair business.
But back to the opportunities for women. In the old days there was a lot of heavy lifting involved and working on cars often required brute strength, but times have changed. Today’s mechanics can wear nail polish and not worry about putting out their backs trying to take off a hubcap. Mechanics have morphed into technicians and almost anyone can learn to be a successful car mechanic.
While sexism still exists in this male-dominated field, Littleton brushes it off.
“Yes, the guys give me a lot of crap and tease me. But after they saw I could hold my own they treated me as an equal,” she said. “But we need more women in this industry. Its fun, interesting and you make good money. It beats sitting at a desk all day typing, that’s for sure.”
Comments