/ How to Become a Mechanic in Australia - Career Salaries, Job Stats & Education
Looking a Job as a Mechanic?
** Open Colleges does not currently offer any Car Mechanic courses**
Working as a Mechanic is an exciting and varied career. Mechanic jobs are usually available all over the country, both in regional and city areas.
A motor mechanic career could set you on the path to doing something you love and working with the vehicles you find interesting. Here’s a comprehensive mechanic job description including information on salary, age profile, car technician job outlook and job prospects.
The graph shows historical and projected (to 2020) employment levels (thousands) for motor mechanic jobs (mechanics).
Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of Employment trend data to November 2015 and projections to 2020.
Over the five years to November 2019, the number of openings for Mechanics is expected to be between 25,001 and 50,000. Job openings count both employment growth and turnover.
Employment for Mechanics gained significant numbers over the past five years, as well as rising slightly in the last 10 years. Looking forward, employment for Motor Mechanics to November 2020 is expected to remain steady.
This is a very large occupation (107,000 in November 2015) suggests that Mechanic skills should be in demand in most regions.
Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of Employment trend data to November 2015 and projections to 2020.
Estimates have been rounded and consequently some discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals. Note: These figures are indicative and cannot be used to determine a particular wage rate.
A Mechanic salary in Australia can be broken down to earn an average of $1000 per week at full-time hours.
Payscale.com lists a Mechanic salary (in Sydney, mid-career) as being between a median of $93,347 per annum and $116,790 at the highest end of the market. Mechanics report that they earn between $17.64 - $41.54 per hour
Please note: if you are seriously considering rates of a Mechanic salary, rates of pay will vary depending on the type of business and the type of environment, also the state or territory you are in.
Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of Employment trend data to November 2015 and projections to 2020.
The graph shows the average weekly hours (by gender and full-time and part-time) worked for a Mechanic who works in a workshop, car yard or in-house (contractor), compared with all occupations.
Mechanics worked an average full-time weekly shift of 40.1 for men and “non-applicable” hours for women (this means there is “not enough data” to give an accurate result). Part time, men work 13.7 hours per week.
Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of Employment trend data to November 2015 and projections to 2020.
This data shows the share of employment in percentage by age profile, when compared against all other occupations. Mechanic careers are most highly represented in the 25-34 age bracket, with around 25% of workers in this age group.
6.4% of Mechanics are older than 55, while 7.4% of those embarking on a Mechanic career are younger than age 19.
Source: *Job Outlook Government website. ABS Labour Force Survey, Department of Employment trend data to November 2015 and projections to 2020.
Available data for Mechanic and Automotive careers shows that the highest educational attainment achieved by most people is a Certificate III or Certificate IV. 70.7% of this occupation holds this as their highest qualification, while 10.6% have a Year 12 qualification as their highest.
Cars are becoming heavily based with electronics now, so becoming an auto-electrician is a secure career if you are keen to get into this area. According to many workers in the industry, automotive preparation is a profitable career, because you can specialise.
The best clear path for anyone doing an automotive career is to specialise in a particular area, whether that’s electronic, body works, engine management, or something else.
Other trends in the automotive industry are the rise of robotics, driverless car technologies, augmented reality to assist with driver visibility, training and safety; as well as autonomous vehicles.
An entry-level qualification is designed to help you build a foundation of basic knowledge to help you prepare for a career in the automotive industry. It can be studied at the same time as a work experience placement or probationary period of work in the industry.
Get the skills to identify, inspect and perform basic repairs on the mechanical and electrical components of light and heavy vehicles, outdoor power equipment, bicycles, marine craft and motorcycles.
I’m from the UK, where I left school and started working in a local garage - it was just a sole trader; myself and the boss. We covered everything from buses to lorries, to cars, to motorbikes, to farm machinery. It was one of those kind of open workshops where anything went.
I did my qualifications through this sole trader on what was then a youth training scheme. I worked with him for just over five years, and then I went to a company called The Automobile Association in the UK which is very much like the NRMA in Australia.
** Open Colleges does not currently offer any Car Mechanic courses**
I worked in roadside breakdown recovery but the company specialised in roadside repairs so all team members were qualified technicians that could do dedicated repairs to customers’ vehicles. After that, I moved into training. I started teaching apprentices on various manufacturer program such as Citroen, Subaru, Vauxhall (which is Holden in Australia). And then I moved to Australia in 2011 and went back to manufacturer programs. I started working with Jaguar and Land Rover, running their apprenticeship program from 2013 until last year.
Patience. I know it sounds a bit odd but patience is one trait that technicians learn to have because cars are “nuts and bolts”, and things never go the way you want them to go! If you can adopt some patience to your training, then it will make life easier for you.
When you’re working under stress, or you’re working in a stressful situation, patience is one thing you need to have, especially as an apprentice. Attention to detail is also important as well as a commitment to hard work. It’s not an easy industry. It’s not glamorous. You go home at the end of the day tired, but it’s very rewarding because you’re fixing things, which is always personally rewarding. You get a problem, you work on it, you solve it.
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