Automotive Machinist Education Requirements And Courses

Automotive machinist education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Usually, automotive machinists don't need a college education. The most common degree for automotive machinists is high school diploma with 34% graduates, with only 27% automotive machinist graduates earning associate degree. Automotive machinists who decided to graduate from college often finish Ferris State University or Red Rocks Community College. Some good skills to have in this position include gauges, grinders and ect.

What education do you need to become an automotive machinist?

What degree do you need to be an automotive machinist?

The most common degree for automotive machinists is high school diploma, with 34% of automotive machinists earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 27% and associate degree degree at 14%.

High School Diploma, 34%

Associate, 27%

Bachelor's, 14%

Diploma, 8%

Other Degrees, 17%

What should I major in to become an automotive machinist?

You should major in automotive technology to become an automotive machinist. 37% of automotive machinists major in automotive technology. Other common majors for an automotive machinist include mechanical engineering technology and precision metal working.

Automotive Technology, 37%

Mechanical Engineering Technology, 10%

Precision Metal Working, 10%

Mechanical Engineering, 7%

Other Majors, 36%

Rank	Major	Percentages
1	Automotive Technology	36.9%
2	Mechanical Engineering Technology	9.5%
3	Precision Metal Working	9.5%
4	Mechanical Engineering	7.1%
5	Engineering	4.8%

Rank

Major

Percentages

Automotive Technology

36.9%

Mechanical Engineering Technology

9.5%

Precision Metal Working

9.5%

Mechanical Engineering

7.1%

Engineering

4.8%

20 best online courses for automotive machinists

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1. Diesel Engine Fundamentals (Mechanical Engineering)

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Learn about the diesel engine! Ideal for Automotive Engineering and Automobile Engineering!...

2. Introduction to Automotive engineering - Performance

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Learn the Basics of Vehicle Performance and take your Automotive knowledge to next level...

3. Automotive Engineering: Automobile Fundamentals and Advanced

4.5

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Automotive & Vehicle Engineering: Master the Mechanics of Cars including Engine, Dynamics, Transmission, Chassis & More...

4. Introduction to Automotive Product Design & development

4.4

(648)

Learn about the process, milestones and activities from idea to complete design of cars for Automotive engineers...

5. Internal Combustion Engine Basics (Mechanical Engineering)

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Learn how internal combustion engines work! Learn all of a combustion engine's main components and how they work!...

6. Automotive Radar

4.4

(1,566)

FMCW Radar, Signal Processing, Applications in ADAS and Autonomous Driving...

7. Do it Yourself - Automotive Electrical Diagnosis - Beginner

4.7

(1,353)

Learn to Eliminate the Possible Causes of Basic Automotive Electrical Faults oftentimes without even Touching the Car...

8. Automotive Cyber Security

4.2

(1,627)

A learners Guide: Covers Automotive Security, Concepts of Security and many more...

9. Catia V5 Electrical Harness Design - Automotive & Industrial

4.6

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Learn Catia V5 from a design engineer with more la 18 years experience in automotive, racing and industrial design...

10. Introduction to Automotive Design

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Professional Techniques, Tips, Tricks and Secrets for the Aspiring Car Designer...

11. Automobile Engineering: Vehicle dynamics for Beginners

4.4

(1,024)

Introductory course on the mechanics which govern vehicle behavior and the Suspension design concepts...

12. Catia V5 Beginner to Advanced - Automotive and Industrial

4.6

(2,645)

Learn Catia V5 from a design engineer with more than 18 years experience in automotive, racing and industrial design...

13. Do it Yourself-Automotive Electrical Diagnosis-Intermediate

4.7

(538)

Introduction to Modules and Information Circuits...

14. Complete Field Instrumentation Engineering Course

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(259)

Flow, Level, Temperature and Pressure Instrument - Selection, Sizing, Calculation and Detail Engineering...

15. Automotive product design using CATIA V5

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Automotive domain design using CATIA, interior and exterior trims on CATIA, Plastic product design in Automotive sector...

16. Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Explained

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Learn how things work! Boilers, engines, valves, transformers, pumps, learn it all in this constantly growing course!...

17. Automotive 101: A Beginners Guide To Automotive Repair

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A Basic Introduction to The Automotive Repair Industry...

18. Google Cloud Machine Learning Engineer Certification Prep

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Building, Deploying, and Managing Machine Learning Services at Scale...

19. An Introduction to Machine Learning for Data Engineers

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A Prerequisite for Tensorflow on Google's Cloud Platform for Data Engineers...

20. Power Engineering: Power System Analysis - Part 1

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Start your career in electrical engineering and power engineering by learning the fundamentals of power system analysis...

Average automotive machinist salary by education level

Automotive machinists with a Associate degree earn more than those without, at $43,893 annually. With a Bachelor's degree, automotive machinists earn a median annual income of $43,390 compared to $41,839 for automotive machinists with an High School Diploma degree.

Automotive machinist education level	Automotive machinist salary
High School Diploma or Less	$41,839
Bachelor's Degree	$43,390
Some College/ Associate Degree	$43,893