Smog technician vs front end mechanic

The differences between smog technicians and front end mechanics can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a smog technician and a front end mechanic. Additionally, a front end mechanic has an average salary of $44,190, which is higher than the $39,758 average annual salary of a smog technician.

The top three skills for a smog technician include diagnosis, customer vehicles and customer service. The most important skills for a front end mechanic are front end, service desk, and javascript.

Smog technician vs front end mechanic overview

	Smog Technician	Front End Mechanic
Yearly salary	$39,758	$44,190
Hourly rate	$19.11	$21.25
Growth rate	9%	1%
Number of jobs	63,758	80,680
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 32%	High School Diploma, 37%
Average age	38	40
Years of experience	2	2

Smog technician vs front end mechanic salary

Smog technicians and front end mechanics have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Smog Technician	Front End Mechanic
Average salary	$39,758	$44,190
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $56,000	Between $33,000 And $57,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between smog technician and front end mechanic education

There are a few differences between a smog technician and a front end mechanic in terms of educational background:

	Smog Technician	Front End Mechanic
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 32%	High School Diploma, 37%
Most common major	Automotive Technology	Business
Most common college	-	-

Smog technician vs front end mechanic demographics

Here are the differences between smog technicians' and front end mechanics' demographics:

	Smog Technician	Front End Mechanic
Average age	38	40
Gender ratio	Male, 95.7% Female, 4.3%	Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 12.3% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 59.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	8%	2%

Differences between smog technician and front end mechanic duties and responsibilities

Smog technician example responsibilities.

Manage daily repair activities for high-volume Honda repair facility.
Perform routine maintenance and advance diagnosis on customer cars.
Work with AutoCAD, set up designs and sending information to vinyl printer sending to plotter.
Certify Pass/Fail vehicles, and perform diagnosis and repair for failing vehicles to meet the minimum requirement for air pollution.
Repair Chrysler LLC vehicles with manufacture support diagnostic information and factory service procedures in a fast pace shop environment.
Repair Chrysler LLC vehicles with manufacture support diagnostic information and factory service procedures in a fast pace shop environment.

Front end mechanic example responsibilities.

Achieve traffic tracking and SEO with multiple satellite web sites.
Handle all cash, checks, and WIC.
Perform cash handling transactions through POS systems.
Assist Costco members throughout the warehouse to ensure customer satisfaction.
Promote Costco memberships in order to maximize profits for company and returns for Costco members.
Help customers with finding products, bag customer's groceries, and retrieve shopping carts from the parking lot.

Smog technician vs front end mechanic skills

Common smog technician skills

Diagnosis, 45%
Customer Vehicles, 15%
Customer Service, 15%
R, 7%
Oil Changes, 4%
ASE, 3%

Common front end mechanic skills

Front End, 43%
Service Desk, 11%
JavaScript, 9%
Groceries, 8%
HTML, 6%
GIT, 3%

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Smog Technician
Smog Technician vs Front End Mechanic

Updated January 8, 2025

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