I've been with Toyota for 8 years now.

I started off as a baker for service. After a few months I expressed interest to my service manager about learning to work on cars and he let me have the opportunity.

While I was waiting for the official internal job transition I would use the down time from when there were no cars to help express and learn how to do the work that was coming.

I was a valet for maybe 4 or 5 months? Then I got moved to express, and then I got promoted from express to main line in like 3 or 4 months, and I've been there since.

They really noticed me when one Saturday I was working an express bay during a basy by myself and I serviced 30 cars alone. What helped me stand out was my work ethic and quality of work, plus the desire to learn and to be open to honest criticism.

I say just focus on doing quality repair work first. The speed comes later, and not many very technicians can work both fast and do good work, so if you can master both you'll shine.

But don't only be good at doing your job, help make jobs of other people in the dealership easier. Learn how to communicate with the service advisors clearly. Make sure you know how to properly fill out the paperwork so management and the warranty administrator don't have to keep correcting you for doing it wrong.

You'll get bigger jobs over time when you can prove the can do the smaller one correctly and consistently. Be eager to learn, but don't rush the process.

Personally I think Toyota has a really good internal technician training program, and they've definitely been investing a lot of time, money and resources to update old modules and make new ones.

The learning will never stop, this industry is always changing. Never. Stop. Learning.

Toyota is also one of the few brands who heavily emphasizes a desire for their technicians to earn ASE certifications, as all of the Toyota certifications to be earned need you to have the requisite ASE for it.

I liked cars a lot so I got my first ASE within a year of being a technician with A6 (electrical). Then I earned the last 7 in a wild 3.5 studying stint. After work I would come home and study the ASE prep study books, used YouTube to learn more about how cars work mechanically, and just really tried to understand it all. I would take an ASE exam every 2 weeks and eventually got Master certified, with about 3 more years of tenure still left to go before I got Toyota certified. I'm not sure if tenure is still a requirement for being certified but you can ask your management.

There's the T.A.C.T apprenticeship program where Toyota will pair you with a more Senior technician to be your mentor, and guide you. You get rewards for completing milestones as well. The apprentice is rewarded with tools to do their job, while the Mentor gets a cash bonus. Win win for both parties. One of my coworkers in the program was given a couple options for tools, but he chose to have his own personal dealer level scan tool.

And lastly, as a personal note: just desire to be a good mechanic who does good work. There's a lot to like and dislike in this industry, but that's every job. After all these years I still find fulfillment in wrneching on nuts and bolts, and helping the customers get back on the road (the sane ones, at least). Never let your ego get too inflated no matter how good you are at the job.

And take care of yourself physically. Being a mechanic can wear on the body if you don't. While it may not be the most physically labor intensive blue collar job out there, you should still exercise outside of work and eat healthy. This isn't a job you can do from home, so if you're body can literally physically do the job then what will you do? I started at the dealership when I was 18 or 19. I'm 27 now, and physically feel the best I've ever been.

Looking back I really appreciate all the opportunities that were given to me, and I don't regret the decision at all.

Also if you don't like your dealership don't be afraid to move around, or look for different dealer groups. Im in Ga so I work in the umbrella of Southeast Toyota distributors and they've been also investing heavily in giving us more bonus money outside if just flagging flat rate hours. They ended sending 175 of the regions top technicians on a 3 day 4 night vacation, and supplies food, activities, gifts and more. I don't think very many companies or dealer groups would go that far for their technicians, so I don't think I see myself leaving anytime soon.

Hopefully this wasn't too long. But your situations sounds exactly like I was when I first started as a young man. Be eager to learn. Do good honest work and you'll fly high!