I have expressed my frustration many times with the quality of local in-person technical training. Many of you know that I have been a technical trainer for years and I expect my staff to stay current in our ever changing field. We do close to 100 hours of training per technician annually though multiday technical conferences, webinars, web based training and in person classroom events.
I have asked a couple of local shop owners to join me as volunteers, working as a non-profit group to help bring better training to the area. We formed SJATA (South Jersey Automotive Training Alliance) earlier this year and have already had several high quality training events right here in town at Kristy's Diner. These classes include Advanced Brake Technology, No-Start Drivability Diagnosis, Hybrid/Electric Vehicle Repair and Maintenance, and Modern Sensor Technology.
Our Group is supported by the following shops and organizations and I am proud to call them industry friends: Ryan's Service Center, OTC car Care, Jon Miller Car Care, Bayville Auto Care, Malue Auto Care, Waretown NAPA, NAPA of NJ, and NGK USA. There are also many other shops in the area that have joined us for our training but these companies are the ones that make our organization possible.
This all started when Vinney Lobello from The Parts Shack and Rick Brown from Napa Corporate suggested launching a class in our area. The class was heavily sponsored by NAPA and The Parts Shack, and it was the kickstart for our organization and a huge success.
We are also working with Ocean County Vocational School System to encourage young talent to enter this highly skilled field. Petty Motorworks currently has two high school age apprentices working part time after school. One has completed a two year vocational program and we are sponsoring the other to attend the OCVTS evening program in the fall of 2024. This evening school program is perfectly suited for our industry because we will be working directly with the instructor and the student to reinforce the students weekly training. By having this intimate connection between the school and the shop the budding apprentice will have a much higher chance of success and hopefully have a rewarding and satisfying career.
