Meet Greg, a mechanic with Young’s Equipment. If you like working with your hands, but also enjoy computers and precision engineering, a career as an agriculture mechanic might be right for you.

To start his career, Greg chose the pre-employment option for trades. After taking a 35-week course, he got a job to test out working as a mechanic. Once he decided he liked this trade, Greg entered the apprenticeship program. He is currently in the process of becoming a journeyman mechanic. After he gains his hours of work experience, he will take the rest of his schooling (two sessions of two months each)– an appealing alternative for those who do not want to go to school for four years straight. Upon completion of his fourth year, Greg can write his Journey Person AMT Test.

Every day is different in the life of a mechanic, and you are constantly learning new things. Imagine working on a tractor one day, a sprayer the next and then a combine to finish the week. It is an exciting reality for Greg -  he is able to diagnose a wide variety of problems and work with limited information from the producer in order to get the machinery back in the field in a timely manner.

Although more traditional mechanic practices are used on a daily basis, the use of technology and computers is becoming more and more the norm. You need to be able to use a heavy duty impact wrench but also load information onto a laptop to diagnose a problem.

Because the agriculture industry is so dynamic, as a mechanic Greg is not tied to the shop – one day he could be performing diagnostics in the field and the next completing repairs in the shop.

Greg grew up on a farm and always knew he wanted to do something in the agriculture industry. He liked fixing things and wanted to contribute to the industry but was not interested in primary production. Greg sees the high demand for mechanics as the biggest opportunity for those pursuing this trade.