Don’t call them mechanics.

Today’s auto technicians are highly trained professionals, and their education never ends.

Unlike the mechanics of yore, modern technicians need to stay up-to-date on the latest technology, from electronic features to computers that control everything automotive, from the radio to the headlights.

“It’s changed drastically through the years,” said Bobby Stiehler, service manager at Diehl Automotive in Butler. “The old headlight switch used to be just that, a switch. Now it has to go through, like, six computers.”

With all the high tech involved, they’re not mechanics, said Stiehler.

“You gotta be a mechanic, an electrician, a plumber,” said Dave Spithaler, Diehl’s Toyota shop foreman. “There’s a lot more electronics.”

Spithaler has been at Diehl for more than 24 years. In that time he has seen his work change as automobile technology became increasingly advanced.

These days, cars can have up to 50 computers, and a technician needs to know how to work with all of them.

“To become a master technician, it takes 10 years,” Spithaler said. “Two years at a trade school, five years training with the manufacturer,” and then a few more years working with the vehicles and the parts.

Spithaler’s shop features a dozen Toyotas in various stages of repair. Vehicles being worked on have wires and laptops propped up on the engine.

“(School) is where you learn the theory,” Spithaler said. “But this is where you really learn how to do this.”

Once they are certified, technicians take online courses and tests a few times a year to stay up-to-date with the latest technology.

Manufacturer training typically takes 25 days out of the year, with the rest spent in the shop working on cars and learning from senior technicians.

Stiehler said he likes to hire employees out of school and build them into technicians from the ground up.

“We’d like to see people come out of technical institutes like vo-tech,” Stiehler said.

New hires often start in express care and move on to a mentorship with a senior technician. That can last for six months to a year, and then they are sent to be certified with the manufacturer that they are focusing on.

“Each manufacturer is different,” said Stiehler.

Technicians attend courses put on by specific manufacturers to work on their cars.

“You can spend five to ten grand on a guy,” said Stiehler. Newer technicians in particular require more training and investment.

While automobile technology speeds ahead, technicians are becoming harder to find.

“We’re getting few and far between,” said Stiehler.

Despite the intensive training, it takes a while for a technician to make a high salary, though after years of hard work that salary can climb to six figures.

“I have guys making anything from $33,000 to $115,000,” said Spithaler. “A good technician makes on average $60,000 to $70,000.”

But that’s after a decade of training and work, and students at technical schools often expect to make a hefty salary right after graduation.

“Vocational schools tend to build it up too much,” Stiehler said. “When you’re green, you think you know everything.”