What Does a Shop Mechanic Do?

We looked at the average shop mechanic annual salary and compared it with the average of an automotive service technician. Generally speaking, automotive service technicians receive $4,300 lower pay than shop mechanics per year.

While their salaries may differ, one common ground between shop mechanics and automotive service technicians are a few of the skills required in each craft. In both careers, employees bring forth skills like hand tools, work ethic, and cleanliness.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a shop mechanic responsibilities require skills like "preventative maintenance," "hydraulic systems," "cdl," and "electrical systems." Meanwhile a typical automotive service technician has skills in areas such as "manual dexterity," "customer satisfaction," "ase," and "automotive repair." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Automotive service technicians really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $38,929. Whereas shop mechanics tend to make the most money in the government industry with an average salary of $43,954.

On average, automotive service technicians reach similar levels of education than shop mechanics. Automotive service technicians are 0.6% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Now we're going to look at the diesel technician profession. On average, diesel technicians earn a $509 lower salary than shop mechanics a year.

A similarity between the two careers of shop mechanics and diesel technicians are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "hand tools," "preventative maintenance," and "hydraulic systems. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, shop mechanic responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "air brakes," "rental equipment," "ladders," and "mig." Meanwhile, a diesel technician might be skilled in areas such as "diagnosis," "defective equipment," "pto," and "maintenance services." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Diesel technicians may earn a lower salary than shop mechanics, but diesel technicians earn the most pay in the utilities industry with an average salary of $49,875. On the other side of things, shop mechanics receive higher paychecks in the government industry where they earn an average of $43,954.

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, diesel technicians tend to reach similar levels of education than shop mechanics. In fact, they're 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Let's now take a look at the heavy equipment mechanic profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than shop mechanics with a $1,641 difference per year.

Using shop mechanics and heavy equipment mechanics resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "hand tools," "hydraulic systems," and "cdl," but the other skills required are very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from shop mechanics resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "preventative maintenance," "work ethic," "cleanliness," and "customer service." But a heavy equipment mechanic might have skills like "forklifts," "dozer," "preventive maintenance," and "backhoe."

Interestingly enough, heavy equipment mechanics earn the most pay in the transportation industry, where they command an average salary of $60,682. As mentioned previously, shop mechanics highest annual salary comes from the government industry with an average salary of $43,954.

Heavy equipment mechanics are known to earn similar educational levels when compared to shop mechanics. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Mechanic helpers tend to earn a lower pay than shop mechanics by about $15,485 per year.

While both shop mechanics and mechanic helpers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like hand tools, hydraulic systems, and work ethic, the two careers also vary in other skills.

Each job requires different skills like "preventative maintenance," "cleanliness," "cdl," and "customer service," which might show up on a shop mechanic resume. Whereas mechanic helper might include skills like "strong work ethic," "preventive maintenance," "safety equipment," and "safety procedures."

Mechanic helpers earn a higher salary in the professional industry with an average of $36,229. Whereas, shop mechanics earn the highest salary in the government industry.

Mechanic helpers reach similar levels of education when compared to shop mechanics. The difference is that they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.