Automotive Electrician
What the work is
Installs, maintains and repairs electrical wiring and electronic components in motor vehicles.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Inspects vehicles to identify electrical and electronic faults
- Tests electrical systems and components to determine the cause of malfunctions in vehicles
- Maintains, repairs or replaces faulty wiring, switches and other electrical components in vehicles to ensure optimal performance
- Installs new electrical systems and components in vehicles
- Uses diagnostic equipment to troubleshoot complex electrical issues with vehicles
- Reads and interprets electrical diagrams and technical manuals relating to vehicles
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a specialist auto electrical shop that fits, tests and repairs wiring in cars, vans and work utes. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A flat battery mystery finally gives up its answer on the meter
- You hand back a work ute with every light and camera fitted neatly, wires hidden and tidy
- A fleet customer says their vans have stopped breaking down since your visit
Hard days
- An intermittent fault that behaves perfectly every time the customer is not there
- Chasing one wire through a dash that someone else has already cut up
- Being asked to just bypass the thing that keeps blowing a fuse
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 351231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.