Editor’s comment

2 April 2015  

What do you consider yourself to be? Are you a technician, mechanic, engineer, fixer or grease monkey? Are any of those derogatory or do you embrace them? What terms do you think the public want to see you in?

My welcome to the April issue of Aftermarket magazine asks the question as to whether you are a mechanic or a technician and I’ve had a fair few responses to it, some believing that with the amount of technology in today’s cars, technician is the correct term. Others have said they are proud to be mechanics, they started out as mechanics and despite the shift in type of work they are still seen as that. One reader even pointed out that in Formula 1, the most technically advanced automotive sport, the guys fixing the cars are still called mechanics. That’s a good point.

The question therefore is, what do you term yourself? Are you proud to be a mechanic or does technician sound like a more important title to the customer? Or is it simply that there are different levels in the industry today that require different titles, with mechanics working on the practical systems, technicians completing diagnostic and electrical fixes, engineers developing solutions to problems?

You should notice I also used the term ‘grease monkey’ in the opening gambit of this piece. According to the internet it is an urban term that could be affectionate or derogatory, so which is it? I guess if a friend calls you a grease monkey it’s said in jest, however a customer calling you by the term would be insulting. It comes back down to perception of the terms in which it is being applied.

Personally, I like the title of mechanic and technician, I see no problem with either, it simply comes down to how you feel you want to be represented.

phil@aftermarket.co.uk

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