A deep interest in luxury sports cars and the mechanisms that make them roar led Dylan Serrano to pursue a career as an automotive technician.
“I think I fell in love with being a problem solver,” he said. “With a car, it’s just a bunch of problems and then I just love solving it and figuring it all out.”
Serrano, a 19-year-old student at Osceola Technical College, was one of 20 teenagers who tested their automotive technician skills this week at the Central Florida International Auto Show.
As part of an annual student competition, students identified and fixed mechanical issues in the 2025 models of about a dozen vehicles, including a Ford Bronco and a Dodge Charger.
It was a chance for the students to earn scholarship money — and for the industry to find workers and to highlight the national shortage of automotive technicians.
“With the tech competition, what we’re doing is identifying talent because we’ve got a nationwide shortage of over 70,000 techs,” said Evelyn Cardenas, the auto show director.
The students involved in Thursday’s event at the Orange County Convention Center were the top scorers in a two-hour written exam designed to trim the field of prospective technicians.
During the timed competition, students moved among 21 stations, testing their knowledge of each vehicle by completing diagnostic checks, pulling data out of the vehicles and locating electrical system faults.
Serrano said the competition, for him, was mostly about pursuing what seems like a perfect career.
“As I grew older, all I wanted was to just find the most random car and make it like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” he said.
Serrano and the other competitors could be major players in a future that will desperately require their services.
The number of new technicians graduating from automotive post-secondary education programs in the U.S. dropped nearly 12% in 2021 even as demand for those workers went up, according to the most recent report from TechForce Foundation, a nonprofit that helps direct students into careers as professional technicians.
Many dealers will pay to educate interested students, who can earn good pay once they are hired.
“If they’re willing to come and work and learn the trade, we’re more than happy to train. We’ve had technicians at the age of 22 already making $100,000 with master certification and getting an even better jump start to their career,” said Harvey Mondragon, a technician trainer for Morgan Automotive Group, which sponsored the event.
The automotive company is the largest privately owned dealer group in Florida and the second largest in the country, according to operations director Craig Smith.
When Mondragon speaks with students he often tells them of his own career path, which started as an auto technician in Hillsborough County.
“I grew up in Plant City and Plant City High School has a training program,” he said. “I came from there and went straight to Toyota Tampa Bay 16 years ago and started out as an express oil changer. Grew into a team leader, shop foreman, became a service manager and then got promoted to corporate.”
Smith said dealerships are willing to help pay tuition and other fees to entice students to train as technicians.
“Most dealerships will pay for a kid’s tuition or do tool allowances because that’s a thing a lot of kids are concerned with, having to buy their own tools to work on the cars,” he said. “Kids that are at the top level and doing good won’t have an expense in regards to their education.”
The competition is also a way to build pride in a sometimes overlooked field.
“The automotive technician is an underappreciated job,” Smith said. “This creates a culture of appreciation for the trade, the technicians who are wanting to develop them and helps people want to get interested in it.”
Originally Published: November 18, 2024 at 9:57 AM EST