The open-air labs of the automotive technology program at Texas State Technical College feature lifts, computerized equipment, tools and students huddled around their instructors as they troubleshoot and diagnose scenarios.

Rosendo Rodriguez is one of the auto tech instructors at the TSTC campus in Harlingen. On a recent sunny morning, he pointed out what the different groups of students were doing. One instructor was going over a large engine placed in the midst of a handful of students. Another group had checklists before them as the students conferred with each other on what they were seeing underneath a car hood. There were also students from PSJA North High School as they got a tour of the facility.

“You know when you get into this field that you’re always going to get called,” said Rodriguez, who previously worked as an automotive technician for nearly 30 years for a major Rio Grande Valley dealership. “Someone has to diagnose and fix things. It’s sort of like doctors with people.”

The Harlingen TSTC campus is bolstering its auto tech program with an expanded curriculum and new resources. It’s doing so, in part, due to increasing demand in industries needing professionals in the automotive technology field. The field is getting more complex, Rodriguez said, because new vehicles are heavily computerized and utilize increasing levels of technology.

“There is more demand during a time when there are less technicians in the field,” he said. “It’s getting tougher because the electronics in today’s vehicles are very sophisticated.”

Vets Skills Fit Program

Gavin Almeida is one of the 123 current students in the TSTC auto tech program.

He is an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Army and spent most of those years at Fort Cavazos in Killeen. Almeida had a specialty in the military that included automotive repair and service work. Military vehicles are often diesel and hydraulic-based, but it nonetheless provided a good gateway for Almeida to study the more sophisticated systems he is seeing at TSTC.

“It’s much more in depth than what I did in the Army,” Almeida said of the 16-month program he is taking at TSTC. “There’s a lot more diagnostic and troubleshooting here than what I saw before.”

Rodriguez, the instructor, says many of the older students in the auto tech program are vets like Almeida. They come ready made with a good foundation of experience and have demonstrated they possess the necessary motor and thinking skills to be auto technicians. Of the younger students, the instructor says that growing up with gaming and having exposure to IT situations can serve them well in studying to be auto technicians.

“The younger generation is used to building things virtually,” Rodriguez said. “That can be applied to auto tech work since so much of what is done is diagnosing problems on computer screens.”

Someone To Fix Things

The TSTC program offers a 16-month automotive technology program that offers an associate of applied sciences. There is also a 12-month certificate of completion program in automotive repair and light repair. Another program offered is a higher-level 16-month certificate program in the automotive technician field.

TSTC expects the need for qualified automotive service technicians to grow in the years ahead. The school cites one survey showing that Texas employs more than 55,000 technicians in the state. The forecast is that 61,000 technicians will be needed in Texas by 2030. The average salary for a technician in Texas is nearly $47,000.

Some of the essential elements studied in the TSTC auto tech programs include electrical systems, engine repair, and automotive electrical diagnosis and repair. All of those courses and more are needed to repair and service higher-end vehicles that can have over 50 computer systems in them, Rodriguez said. Even more inexpensive vehicles usually have at least 20 computer systems, he said.

Almeida, the student and vet, reaffirms his instructor’s view of the durability he sees in the auto tech field.

“It’s always going to be there in the years to come,” Almeida said. “It’s one of those necessities. You are always going to need someone to fix things.”