these are master ase techs at this company and ford.......
One of the best diag techs I've ever worked with, refused HARD to get any type of industry certifications.
I always told him, who cares, it looks good on a resume, and increases base pay, nothing else.
He would always come back and say "I dont need to be f'n certified to know what I know..."
That line has always stuck with me, and its the damn truth.
The only reason I kept up with my certs is because having them vs not was an almost $16 an hour pay difference, and every company paid for me to get them, and recert when needed. My co-worker KNEW this, and STILL refused to get them. Just a man of principle I guess haha.
Sadly, industry places wayyyy too much on those arm patches, and I've worked with wayyy too many "master techs" who have no idea what they're doing, that somehow their shitty work and crappy diag strategies somehow improved after taking a test.
Ive seen plenty of people who know nothing about automotive systems able to pass ASE practice tests, because they're good multiple choice test takers lol.
ASE A1-A8, T2-T7, L1-L3, never once did I study anything in the practice books to pass those tests. My strategy? Run through the practice tests on the backs of the study guides, with your pinky on the answer key page so you can quick reference. If you can look at the questions, and get the right answer everytime, you're good and you will pass whatever that test is. Anything unfamiliar, spend 2 minutes googling the subject, get familiar, then run through again for good measure.
The only one I'll admit that ASE has done a really good job with is the L1 Advanced automotive test. L2 and L3 arent really the same difficulty, easier overall. L1 is at a point now where I dont think someone without a decent chunk of hands on experience doing diag work could reasonably pass it, so you've got that going for industry lol.
So dont look for just Master Tech patches, Look for Advanced Level Specialist patches, and if he's working on cars, he passed A1-A8 and the L1, so you're probably in decent hands, although I still know a few who have passed the advanced tests and still ask me for help setting up multimeters and labscopes.... go figure, a test cant teach or learn you anything... lol
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