Dan Aldrich was exposed to automotive work as a child in his dad's independent auto repair shop in upstate New York. After choosing automotive as his career path, he entered the workforce through BMW's training program and carried the manufacturer-centric worldview that many technicians hold: testing is just a piece of paper, and only hands-on ability matters. After mentoring younger technicians and eventually moving into corporate training, his perspective shifted. 

Today, as director of Automotive Technical Training for Christian Brothers Automotive—overseeing training across more than 300 franchise locations—Aldrich is a vocal advocate for ASE certification, actively helping write ASE tests and pushing his organization toward ASE accreditation. He discusses the moment his doubts cracked, what changed his mind, and why he now tells skeptics they'd be "crazy" not to pursue it.

You once questioned the value of ASE certification. What were your doubts, and what was driving them?

Dan Aldrich: I came from the independent shop world. I went through automotive school and the BMW training program, and when I was in that world, there was this attitude that manufacturer certifications from the OEM superseded anything from ASE. Those were the only things of value. Since then, that manufacturer has changed its stance and highly values ASE, but back then, and being around other techs, a lot of technicians would say it's just a piece of paper. Anybody could take a test. Just because you could pass a test doesn't mean you could actually fix a car.

Some guys would say, "I know lots of guys who could take a test, but they couldn't fix a sandwich, much less a vehicle." There was this kind of cloud or sentiment among the technicians around me that testing didn't really mean anything. And you wouldn't even see a technician wearing the patch on their uniform. If they did, they would get teased. There was just this aura that testing meant nothing—it was all about old-school demonstrated ability, and that was the only thing of value.

What shifted your thinking?

Aldrich: As I grew in my skills and started moving from being the young technician in the shop to mentoring younger technicians, I had a different mindset. This was before I even got into automotive education. What I noticed is that so many technicians have mechanical aptitude—that's what got them into this business. They understand hands-on work; they can see a gear, put their hands on it, and understand how it works. But when it came down to actual diagnostics and demonstrating knowledge, they struggled.

When I decided I wanted to take mentoring seriously and start teaching, I realized: how could I think I could teach anybody anything if I don't even have my certifications? I'm not even technically a certified technician. I had BMW certifications, but ASE is universal across the board.

I started to realize that being an automotive technician is one of the only blue-collar fields where you don't have to have a mandatory license or certification. An electrician or plumber needs a license, but anybody can just say, "I know how to work on cars," and if you can do it, you can do it. ASE is really the only thing the industry has that is a standardized demonstration of "I possess the knowledge." Yes, if you can't do the job, you're going to get weeded out quickly. But when you combine mechanical ability with demonstrated knowledge, you create a level of professionalism. That's what it became about to me.

For technicians who say it's just a piece of paper, what would you say?

Aldrich: Sure, there are a lot of people who could fix a car and have mechanical aptitude. But can you do both? Can you demonstrate that you have the knowledge? Are you willing to put your knowledge to the test? Or are you afraid that you can't do it?

Technicians in this field often went with their hands. They didn't like school, and they didn't like test-taking. So, whenever somebody thinks of taking a test, it's a daunting thing. But this is your career, this is your life. This is how you prove what you know and what you don't know. I learned so much studying for the ASEs. It was a barometer—a check—like, "Hey, I didn't really know how much I didn't know. Maybe I do need to learn about some of these things."

ASE is one of those things that separates a mechanic from a technician. A mechanic is grunt work—brake jobs, tires. But a technician is different. Someone who's technical, has a high knowledge level, understands electronics. That's the differentiator.

How does ASE certification align with Christian Brothers' core values?

Aldrich: Our four core values are neighborly excellence, transparency, and joy. ASE certifications align perfectly—executing excellence in everything you do, from the franchise owner to the front counter team to our technicians. If you want to be the best, you have to be willing to do the things that other people aren't willing to do. That's a differentiator. ASE certifications reflect our commitment to excellence and our culture, which is why we promote it so much within our brand. We provide training resources for ASE.

It's really rewarding when you have technicians come to you and say, "I can never pass one of those tests," and less than a year later they're choking up on the phone because they're so proud they reached master level. And then they want more.

A few years back, we had a technician who became a world-class certified technician—an insane amount of certifications. It's very difficult to achieve. We wanted to honor him at our fall annual training conference, made him a custom Carhartt jacket with the ASE World Class patch, and a custom Christian Brothers world class trophy. What we didn't expect was how many technicians in the crowd saw that and thought, "I didn't know about that." It motivated them. Now we have 6 technicians who've achieved ASE World Class status, and one just reached President's Club. We have a lot more working towards world-class.

With 300-plus franchise locations, how do you build consistency in technician training?

Aldrich: The A1–A8 were a perfect framework for our technician apprenticeship program, which we launched early this year. ASE was more than generous to share all of their resources with us and didn't charge us anything. The ASE Education Foundation came in, spoke with us, and gave us all the time in the world. They were very generous with their time. That A1–A8 provided a great framework to build out our apprentice program with all the markers technicians would need to hit to move to the next skill level.

We have two paths: one for existing general service techs to get them to proficiency level, and another for techs fresh out of automotive school to get them to a high general service level or a low "C" level. Right now, we're going through the application process to make our training program ASE-accredited. It's a very rigorous process—it's not something you just pay a fee for and sign a dotted line. It audits your entire training program. They ask questions about what you do for this, what you do for that. As a training director, I'm looking at this and thinking, "I guess maybe we didn't think of everything. There are some things here we need to work on." But that reflects ASE's standards of excellence. If you want to achieve excellence, if that blue seal means something, we're determined to put that seal on our training manuals and program.

Talk about the ASE Renewal App and how it's helping your technicians stay current.

Aldrich: The biggest thing right now is spreading more awareness. We have a section in our learning management system on our training website dedicated to it, walking techs through what it is and how to set it up. Number one, it makes it so much easier. You get like one question a month. If you don't get it right, they give you another chance. It's more cost-effective too. You kind of have this feed, and if you miss a month or have a busy couple of months, it just accumulates in your bank. The question doesn't go away—it's still there. So, I go in and knock out a few at a time.

Once you answer 8 questions correctly for that year, it keeps your certification renewed. It's extremely convenient. The questions are still checking your knowledge, but what I like about the renewal app is that they definitely infuse a theme of newer technology because they know that technicians renewing their cars are guys in the field. Yes, it's hard to find time for self-learning, and you don't get to attend in-person training that often. So, it's kind of a double-edged sword—it's helping the guys not just keep certifications current but giving them a monthly feed of things they need to stay up to date on.

The people who write those questions are guys who are in it—active in the industry, some of the best educators and technical trainers out there. OEMs are involved too. So, you have a really good blend of people pooling their knowledge, infusing newer technology into the renewal app questions, and keeping you up to date.

What does ASE's overall approach to innovation and leadership say about its commitment?

Aldrich: I have to give credit to Dave Johnson, the president. He came in with a background from Ford Motor Company, running their training programs on a national level. He brings this excitement and curiosity to ASE. He's a visionary—he's always asking, "How do we make things better? What else can we do?" And he wants to interact with the industry. He's extremely visible. I see him at training conferences teaching and speaking. He's at a lot of them.

Under his leadership, there's been this kind of renewed life, this excitement and curiosity. What I love is that he'll listen to anybody and give them his undivided attention. I've never seen anybody approach him and get brushed off. He's always like, "That's really interesting. What if we did do that? I wonder how that could make us better." He's always thinking outside the box.

I think his leadership has elevated ASE. More people are talking about ASE now than they have in a very long time. The whole approach has been very innovative lately—thinking outside the box, finding ways to make it easier for technicians to get certifications, speak to the value of ASEs, articulate why they're important, get into high schools and technical schools, make younger technicians aware of them. They even have ASE certifications for students now, which takes that fear away from getting those first couple under the belt. I love how innovative they are and how open-minded they seem about entertaining ideas and suggestions from technicians about how to make testing better and expand the reach of ASE.

For skeptics—shop owners, operations managers, general managers who doubt ASE—what would you tell them?

Aldrich: Even the manufacturers and dealerships are utilizing ASE now. Go on the BMW website—ironically, the company I used to work for has a whole line of testing for ASE. The irony. Toyota, all these OEMs are recognizing ASE as a legitimate industry standard.

How can you tell your customer that you're the best technician in town if you don't even have your certifications? If you're not even willing to demonstrate, "Yes, I know what I'm talking about"? There's so much distrust in automotive repair. We're constantly trying to earn customers' trust. People are protective and think they're going to be taken advantage of. Why not take away something controllable and easy—demonstrating to your customer, "Hey, we take this seriously"?

It costs a lot of money to get your car fixed. These repair bills are sometimes like mortgage payments. The vehicle is the second largest investment people will ever make after a home. If somebody trusts you enough to let you work on their car, the car they put their kids in, they give rides to school—I think we owe it to them as professionals. If you truly feel like you're a professional in your field, you owe it to your customer to get your certifications. If you don't believe me, go take a couple. You'd be surprised at how much more legitimate employers look at you when you've demonstrated that you're a certified technician. I'm so grateful that I did it. I only regret that I waited so long.