What is a Heavy Vehicle Technician?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a heavy vehicle technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.27 an hour? That's $38,006 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -1% and produce -6,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Heavy Vehicle Technician Do
There are certain skills that many heavy vehicle technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, detail oriented and dexterity.
How To Become a Heavy Vehicle Technician
If you're interested in becoming a heavy vehicle technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 15.7% of heavy vehicle technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.1% of heavy vehicle technicians have master's degrees. Even though some heavy vehicle technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Heavy Vehicle Technician Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a heavy vehicle technician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as field service technician, progress to a title such as service manager and then eventually end up with the title site manager.
Average Salary for a Heavy Vehicle Technician
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Heavy Vehicle Technician
There are several types of heavy vehicle technician, including:
Technician
Role:
To be a technician, you have to know your stuff. Some may refer to you as an expert in your field or maybe people will know you as skilled in an art or craft. Then again, you may just be needed to look after technical equipment.
Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.
The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.
- Average Salary: $38,045
- Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Service Technician
Role:
As a service technician, you'll be coming home with a lot of grease on your hands. Unless, of course, you wash your hands before leaving work. Guess where all that grease comes from. Vehicles! That's right, you'll be inspecting and repairing cars, left and right.
Generally, you'll be working in a well-ventilated, well-lit garage of some sort. You'll need to be familiar with automotive issues in a car's computer system, such as figuring out why the check engine light is on. And you'll probably need to know how to change a tire or change the oil. But we're not telling you how to do your job.
Instead of getting your training from us, you should complete a program from a postsecondary institution. Again, not telling you what to do but rather what employers like to see. Once you have the job, you may need to go a step further by becoming certified.
- Average Salary: $40,379
- Degree: Associate Degree
Automotive Technician
Role:
Automotive technicians work with everything that runs on wheels, except for bicycles, baby carriages, and wheelbarrows.
They work in repair shops, gas stations, garages, or service areas of automobile dealerships and repair cars, fix engines, and tune trucks. They figure out what is smoking under the hood, where the squeaking noise is coming from, or what is making the tires wobbly. They replace broken tail lights, tighten loose wheel bolts, adjust brakes, or hammer out dents. They do a number of other things as well, with components most of us are not even aware exist.
Automotive technicians are not afraid of getting their hands dirty or sliding in under partially elevated cars, and they typically do not learn their profession from books. They tend to love their job and make $40,150 per year on average.
- Average Salary: $40,910
- Degree: Associate Degree
States With The Most Heavy Vehicle Technician Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active heavy vehicle technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where heavy vehicle technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Heavy Vehicle Technician Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 2,885 | $36,132 |
| 2 | California | 2,607 | $44,711 |
| 3 | Texas | 2,434 | $36,249 |
| 4 | Georgia | 1,768 | $35,293 |
| 5 | New York | 1,691 | $34,686 |
| 6 | Illinois | 1,612 | $36,293 |
| 7 | North Carolina | 1,384 | $31,091 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | 1,243 | $40,353 |
| 9 | Ohio | 1,184 | $37,280 |
| 10 | Michigan | 1,132 | $38,254 |
| 11 | New Jersey | 1,122 | $41,716 |
| 12 | Massachusetts | 1,084 | $35,065 |
| 13 | Virginia | 1,032 | $44,052 |
| 14 | Indiana | 987 | $40,443 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 932 | $40,837 |
| 16 | Iowa | 901 | $42,912 |
| 17 | Colorado | 885 | $39,201 |
| 18 | Washington | 831 | $39,330 |
| 19 | Arizona | 827 | $37,732 |
| 20 | Missouri | 804 | $31,747 |
| 21 | Wisconsin | 784 | $36,598 |
| 22 | Maryland | 778 | $43,709 |
| 23 | Tennessee | 765 | $34,501 |
| 24 | South Carolina | 650 | $29,419 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 635 | $28,184 |
| 26 | Alabama | 593 | $33,529 |
| 27 | Louisiana | 575 | $27,508 |
| 28 | Oregon | 566 | $38,807 |
| 29 | Connecticut | 500 | $41,366 |
| 30 | Utah | 410 | $33,452 |
| 31 | Nebraska | 375 | $36,859 |
| 32 | Arkansas | 353 | $32,737 |
| 33 | Kansas | 352 | $34,942 |
| 34 | Mississippi | 316 | $31,171 |
| 35 | Maine | 308 | $37,861 |
| 36 | Oklahoma | 305 | $37,261 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 268 | $40,851 |
| 38 | Nevada | 267 | $41,689 |
| 39 | Idaho | 213 | $38,222 |
| 40 | Montana | 183 | $36,780 |
| 41 | Delaware | 181 | $38,527 |
| 42 | West Virginia | 172 | $30,530 |
| 43 | New Mexico | 165 | $29,156 |
| 44 | Alaska | 133 | $41,984 |
| 45 | South Dakota | 127 | $35,628 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 125 | $37,622 |
| 47 | Vermont | 125 | $35,150 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 98 | $41,015 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 97 | $33,611 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 68 | $38,614 |
Top Skills For a Heavy Vehicle Technician
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.0% of heavy vehicle technicians listed dot on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and detail oriented are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Heavy Vehicle Technician Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Heavy Vehicle Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Heavy Vehicle Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Heavy Vehicle Technician diversity
Heavy Vehicle Technician Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among heavy vehicle technicians, 14.6% of them are women, while 85.4% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among heavy vehicle technicians is White, which makes up 60.2% of all heavy vehicle technicians.
- The most common foreign language among heavy vehicle technicians is Spanish at 65.2%.
Online Courses For Heavy Vehicle Technician That You May Like
1. Electric Vehicles and Mobility
The purpose of Electric Vehicles and Mobility is to help you, whatever your profile, your training or your country, find your own answers to questions such as: - Will electric vehicles be the last to be allowed in megalopolises in the 21st century? - Does the environmental gain from vehicle electrification justify heavy investment in charging infrastructure? - Are electric vehicles only for wealthy people in developed countries? This course will allow you to acquire elements from engineering...
2. Renewable Energy Futures
Renewable energy's future is bright, yet uncertain. Will it continue to grow rapidly? Is current growth sufficient to achieve climate stabilization? How do related technologies, like electric vehicles and heat pumps, fit in? This course will shed light on the many confusing and at-times inconsistent claims and predictions for renewable energy. We’ll review promising new renewable technologies and approaches, such as floating platforms for wind turbines and building-integrated photovoltaics...
3. Electric Vehicle Technology - A Beginner's Course
Electric Vehicle Tech & Components Motors Battery management system Charging technology Electric Vehicle testing...
Best States For a Heavy Vehicle Technician
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a heavy vehicle technician. The best states for people in this position are California, Virginia, Maryland, and Iowa. Heavy vehicle technicians make the most in California with an average salary of $44,711. Whereas in Virginia and Maryland, they would average $44,052 and $43,709, respectively. While heavy vehicle technicians would only make an average of $42,912 in Iowa, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Iowa
$42,912
Avg. Salary
2. Indiana
$40,443
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$41,984
Avg. Salary
How Do Heavy Vehicle Technicians Rate Their Jobs?
Top Heavy Vehicle Technician Employers
Most Common Employers For Heavy Vehicle Technician
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford Motor | $43,085 | $20.71 | 5 |
| 2 | City of Jacksonville | $40,895 | $19.66 | 3 |
| 3 | Vidant Health | $40,179 | $19.32 | 2 |
| 4 | ITT | $39,661 | $19.07 | 3 |
| 5 | ManTech | $38,632 | $18.57 | 4 |
| 6 | First Transit | $37,358 | $17.96 | 3 |
| 7 | El Paso County | $37,158 | $17.86 | 14 |
| 8 | Nissan | $36,563 | $17.58 | 3 |
| 9 | Walmart | $36,463 | $17.53 | 5 |
| 10 | United States Marine Corps | $36,231 | $17.42 | 5 |