technician Career Path | See the Career Paths People Really Take

mechanic

service technician

automotive technician

diesel mechanic

manager

technician

business owner

biomedical technician

student

machine operator

An automotive technician repairs, inspects, and helps to maintain vehicles commonly cars, trucks, busses and other similar vehicle types. An automotive technician works on all parts of the vehicles inccluding the brakes, engines, steering, and electrical systems of vehicles among others. Their responsablilities include performing maintenance and repair on vehicles, conducting extensive diagnostic procedures, maintaining legible and accurate paperwork, verifying vehicle serviceability, testing the functionality of parts and at the same time providing great customer service.

A Biomedical Technician assists biological and medical scientists and ensures health care equipment is in working order. Their role is to maintain, install, test, calibrate, and repair different types of equipment as well as teach others how to operate them. Their responsibilities are to install new equipment by adjusting, establishing, testing and calibrating the equipments performance, approve new biomedical equipment, maintain supplies in inventory by counting stock, placing orders, and verifying delivery, direct the operation of biomedical equipment, instruct others in the care and use of equipment, keep biomedical equipment in working order, follows preventive maintenance guides, repairs and troubleshoots break downs, evaluates service contracts prepares reports by analyzing, collecting, and recapping trends and information, performs safety tests, and complys with codes.

The Business Owner operates their own companies. Their role is creating a business plan, arranging finances, hiring staff, reviewing sales, and developing marketing strategies.  Their responsibilities are overseeing daily activities, identifying business opportunities, establishing prices of goods and services, maintaining a clean and orderly store, resolving customer complaints, and compiling and maintaining records and bookkeeping.

Do you like working with your hands and pushing yourself? Check out what it's like to be a Painter and Independent Contractor. See what it takes to be your own boss, and if this role suits your lifestyle and skill set.

<h2 dir="ltr">What I do:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">I'm an independent contractor and I work in construction. I do both residential and commercial painting and that leads into both interior and exterior repaints and new construction. I don't have any employees, it's just me sometimes I sub out work.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Career Skills:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You have to be healthy, you know, there's a lot of times when you're up on a ladder, you push yourself to your limits a lot, you can work out that there's a lot of roof work sometimes. That having a willingness to learn new things is huge if you're not learning something new every day, you're doing it wrong.&nbsp;</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Job Challenges:&nbsp;</h2>
<p dir="ltr">You really do push yourself to the limits a lot but I really like that challenge personally. That's one aspect that I really enjoy about my job is that I'm working with my hands and I'm physically pushing myself every day.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Work Life Balance:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Sometimes my work to life balance is pretty sporadic. Most of the time there's not much life balance if you would. When you are working alone and you're on a kind of a larger project it comes time to get that done and you're going to work the weekends, you're going to work late, when you're outside, you're in the sun all day, you're going to come home tired and you're not going to want to do anything, at least for me that's that's the case.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Tips for Starting Your Own Business:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Be determined, have goals and plans and work towards them every single day. Find good construction companies to get in with and they're gonna help you throughout your entire career.</p>

A Diesel Mechanic is a technician who works on diesel-powered engines and vehicles.  Their role is running diagnostic tests on vehicles, analyzing diagnostic test results, and replacing vehicle engines, steering mechanisms, braking systems, and vehicle lighting systems.  Their responsibilities are test driving vehicles to gauge performance, performing preventative maintenance on service trucks, maintaining detailed records of serviced vehicles, adhering to an inspection procedure checklist, maintaining a parts inventory, and ensuring the cleanliness of the shop.

The Machine Operator works with heavy tools as well as computer-operated or mechanical equipment.  Their role is to assist with fixing and maintaining equipment by performing periodic tests and repairs, and operate the equipment to help in plant processes.  Their responsibilities are making sure machine parts meet specifications, calibrating machines to ensure tasks are completed correctly, reading blueprints, and following company safety rules and regulations.

The Manager achieves department objectives by managing staff, and planning and evaluating department activities.  Their role is to develop, coordinate, and enforce systems, policies, procedures and productivity standards, and establish strategic goals by gathering pertinent business, financial, service and operations information.  Their responsibilities are to maintain staff by recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training employees, communicate job expectations, plan, monitor and appraise job results, coach, counsel and discipline employees, identify and evaluate trends and options, prepare an annual budget, and maintain service standards by enforcing quality and customer service.

A mechanic repairs and maintains machinery, motors or engines and commonly work in garages and service centers on cars and trucks. A mechanic is responsible for inspecting and repairing vehicles, conducting regular maintenance on machinery, assembling mechanical components, monitoring part inventory, and performing vehicle assessments. They are also responsible for ensuring the functionality and reliability of machines for use in their craft. They perform various other duties including diagnosing mechanical problems, performming brake repair, and doing fluid level checks among many other tasks need to repair and maintain machinery.

The Service Technician maintains technical and mechanical skills in order to provide support to customers during site visits.  Their role is servicing heavy equipment like farm or factory machines, diesel engines, and computer networks, servicing home based equipment like security systems, appliances, computer equipment, televisions, and heating and ventilation units, and fixing defective or broken products by ordering replacements for faulty or worn out parts.  Their responsibilities are promoting the company's services, using diagnostic tools to identify issues and evaluating the available information, installing and testing products, equipment and machinery, and providing instructions to customers on the proper usage of their product.

The Student works to achieve knowledge in a specific field or industry.  Their role is attending classes on time, being prepared for classes with all necessary supplies, completing all homework assignments, and passing all exams.  Their responsibilities are taking care of school property,  organizing their time, respecting themselves and others, reading regularly, and continually working towards their final goal.

The Technician works with complex systems and performs highly technical mechanical or diagnostic tests.  Their role is managing all on-site installation, repair, maintenance and test tasks.  Their responsibilities are providing service and customer support during field visits or dispatches, diagnosing errors or technical problems, and determining proper solutions.

Technician Career Path