FLOWING WELLS, Ariz. — We’re in the holidays now, but soon it’ll be time to get back to work. Flowing Wells High School is helping students train for a traditional job that has a strong future ahead.
A lot of people may wonder what jobs will pay well and may be safe from artificial intelligence? You might find that career under a hood.
Students at Flowing Wells High School are mastering the complexities of fixing modern cars. The program’s so popular there’s a waiting list for the four year program, and with good reason.
There’s so much need for skilled mechanics, the CEO of Ford Motor company says he could hire five thousand mechanics right now at six-figure salaries.
“I always was wanting to do something with my hands, like I would just take stuff apart and put it back together for fun.”
Mia Fragoso sees mechanic work as a great way to turn her natural skills into opportunity. She may go to college for more advanced training, stay with car mechanics, or work in aviation.
Symon Graves plans to use what he’s learned as a foundation for joining the Navy and working with missiles, then returning to civilian life in a few years.
He thinks artificial intelligence will never replace the hands and brains of a skilled mechanic.
“Because even robots mess up, and like, some of the times, you just got to know what you're doing and trust it where, like, it gets messy. And if a robot gets messy, it might not be able to persevere.”
“Everybody's looking for mechanics and service riders, parts people. I mean, there's so many opportunities.”
Jesse Brenton coordinates Flowing Wells program with help from Pima JTED, and from local dealers. They donate the cars students work on and help them learn with mechanics already working in their shops.
He says there’s plenty of opportunity in auto tech work and all the skilled trades as experienced workers retire without enough new workers to replace them.
“Probably starting the wage for entry level technicians going to be right around $17, $18 an hour, which is really good with pretty quick advancement. Raises happen pretty quickly.”
All the students we met say they like solving puzzles so for them the pieces fit together—a good job at good pay that lets them work with their hands and with their brains.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
