Why Start an Auto Tech Blog?
Why start a blog in 2024? Well to be honest I learned how to use this computer approximately 33 minutes ago and thought why not get some of these thoughts rolling around in my head out onto some digital paper?
Reason 1: I want to learn how to build a website. I am a continuous learner and I am always looking to challenge myself and learn new things, and knowing how to build a website might look pretty good on a resume in the year 2024. I have also been told that a website/digital presence is the new resume. Maybe not in the automotive tech industry as much, but nonetheless it is a new skill that I would like to learn and challenge myself to be consistent with for the next reason…
Reason 2: I am a firm believer in the idea that “comfort is a slow death” and “get comfortable being uncomfortable,” and at the age of 33 I have put myself physically (Strongman competitions, marathons, triathlons, cold plunges, the list goes on) and mentally (Dean’s List and Master Tech status in both automotive and truck) through such uncomfortable situations that my body and brain have adapted to these kinds of things making them no longer uncomfortable. What is uncomfortable for me? Vulnerability and socializing. Therefore, I am doing this as a means of putting myself out there and hopefully making some connections whether it be through this blog or the correlating Instagram page.
Reason 3: (the biggest reason): I had been mulling over beginning this blog for a while now, but a recent Order of Man podcast episode spurred me to turn thought into action. In the episode “How a Man Finds Purpose in Life,” one of the five featured key points was “What have you personally gone through and overcome that will help other people’s problems in a similar situation?” And that is the real reason I am doing this.
A little over a year ago I read a book titled Why Didn’t They Teach Me This in School by Cary Siegle (of "99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By" fame); this proved to be a great introduction personal finance and I recommend it to both new and established auto techs. This book prompted me to reflect on something I have found myself thinking time and time again over the past few years as I began embarking on this career: why didn’t they teach me this in tech school?
Over the past two and a half years working as a full-time auto and diesel tech, I have been tasked with some of the more difficult projects? that our industry has to offer. I have failed and learned so many times that I have lost count at this point; it has been such a roller coaster of emotions that it would make the most experienced of astronauts vomit. I have doubted myself, wondered if this will eventually work out, wondered if I should quit - but every day I get back up and go back at it. My goal is to share the kernels of wisdom that I have gained since entering this trade instructors and teachers, new technicians just beginning their careers, and those thinking about entering the trade. I am by no means done learning; very day I go into work and pick up a new piece of knowledge, learn a new trick, and become at least 1% better as a technician. My goal is to share that journey. If it reaches and helps even one new tech avoid the mistakes that I have made since starting this career, then my goal here has been accomplished.
Written by: Ian Clayton
Edited by: Merielle Donaldson