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What is a general maintenance technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

Assuming it's a beautiful morning of the weekend. You plan about making nutritious fruit juice to enjoy with your family or clean that dirty carpet of yours that you haven't taken care of for long. But as soon as you look to act on any of these tasks, your machines run into trouble out of nowhere. Now you are stuck and don't know what to do, despite trying hard to fix it back. It looks like you need to contact a general maintenance technician.

General maintenance technicians perform maintenance on establishments, including general repair, pest control, and carpentry. These passionate technical professionals maintain and fix equipment, home applications, and typical home appliances. They also inspect the company's vehicles so that they can give full preventive maintenance services.

Hardworking technicians have excellent troubleshooting skills and problem-solving skills to accomplish their duties. They can get up to $16.43 an hour when working full time. You need a bachelor's degree, but you can also get hired with a GED, associate's degree, or high school diploma.

ScoreGeneral Maintenance TechnicianUS Average
Salary
2.9

Avg. Salary $37,463

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.6

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
5.9
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.17%

Asian 4.55%

Black or African American 11.04%

Hispanic or Latino 20.09%

Unknown 4.25%

White 58.90%

Gender

female 4.08%

male 95.92%

Age - 49
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 49
Stress level
7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance
6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

General maintenance technician career paths

Key steps to become a general maintenance technician

  1. Explore general maintenance technician education requirements

    Most common general maintenance technician degrees

    High School Diploma

    35.1 %

    Associate

    26.1 %

    Bachelor's

    16.1 %
  2. Start to develop specific general maintenance technician skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Electrical Systems35.78%
    Plumbing10.63%
    HVAC8.22%
    Ladders4.07%
    Customer Service3.85%
  3. Complete relevant general maintenance technician training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New general maintenance technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a general maintenance technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real general maintenance technician resumes.
  4. Research general maintenance technician duties and responsibilities

    • Asphalt repair, concrete repair.
    • Travele during require new PC deployments.
    • Design solutions to eliminate note reoccurring issues for customer PC concerns.
    • Construct, erect, maintain and dismantle scaffold per OSHA and ADOSH specifications.
  5. Prepare your general maintenance technician resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your general maintenance technician resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a general maintenance technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable general maintenance technician resume templates

    Build a professional general maintenance technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your general maintenance technician resume.
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
    General Maintenance Technician Resume
  6. Apply for general maintenance technician jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a general maintenance technician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first general maintenance technician job

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Average general maintenance technician salary

The average general maintenance technician salary in the United States is $37,463 per year or $18 per hour. General maintenance technician salaries range between $28,000 and $49,000 per year.

Average general maintenance technician salary
$37,463 Yearly
$18.01 hourly

What am I worth?

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How do general maintenance technicians rate their job?

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General maintenance technician reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2023
Cons

Long hours, and it tends to be a messy job.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2022
Cons

Pay is minimal for your knowledge. Hours are better for white collar professionals. Have to buy your own tools with witch you could have bought your home with and no one cares. Treated as a second rate individual because you said "I'm an automotive mechanic." Expected to be perfect from customers who wonder why you didn't get it fixed on the first try when MD's almost never get it right. Expected to be an expert on over 60k types of automobiles that change every friggan year.....want more? If I had the choice to do it all over again I'd go into politics so I could rip off ppl every day and get rich and no one would ever complain.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020
Pros

Flexibility

Cons

I have more to offer than n various task. My resume spells out my duties.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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