Grade 11 Miguel Acosta has recently started a mobile mechanic business after beginning a Mechanics Course at SENA.

In January 2024, Acosta started taking a course at one of the SENA facilities called ATECH. Since then, he has been working alone and with a partner, fixing cars around the city.

It all started when Miguel Acosta first purchased his car; he realized that repairing everything the car required was too expensive, and the issues could be easily resolved if he could fix them himself. Thus, Acosta enrolled in the Mechanics course at SENA in the city center every Sunday from morning well into the evening. In this semester course, Acosta has learned how to repair brakes, suspension, clutch, leaks, sounds, general mechanics, maintenance, and oil changes. He still has lots to learn in the next few months, but what he is looking forward to the most is learning about “fields that are more advanced such as larger vehicles and large trucks.” Additionally, from his mechanic’s course, Acosta doesn’t waste time and practices what he has learned in his free time by repairing broken-down cars he sees on the road or even offering his services as a mobile mechanic.

On average, Acosta sees about one car a day, or seven a week. What he sees the most are older cars, with the most common being Renault. Acosta says he mostly does “two things: the first thing that I do, the most common, is fixing. I see something broken and I fix it. These are situations where creativity is very important and thinking outside the box. And the rest is mostly maintenance. What I see that needs fixing, I fix it.” In these past four months of repairing cars and motorcycles, Acosta has learned a lot. One of the most important things has been that the most difficult thing about mechanics is not the car itself, but the customers.

“Most of the time they don’t understand what happened, and as such it is hard to deal with them,” Acosta said.

Although dealing with customers is tough, they haven’t been the only challenge Acosta has faced. Amongst the challenging ones has been working with other people. At times, Acosta has had so much work or such complex tasks to repair that he has been forced to hire other people to help him. This has proven to be highly complicated, especially in Colombia. Acosta explains that mechanics are complicated people to work with; for example, he once worked with a Venezuelan who not only stole from him, humiliated him in front of customers, and even took some of his tools, but he also broke their previous pay agreement by asking for more.

Juggling work, academic, and social life may be difficult for some, but Acosta thrives in managing them all. Since he is his own boss, he can easily organize and agree with his customers on the time of day he can come over and fix their car. Acosta usually books them during his free time, after school, or on weekends, which are his busiest times of the week. He takes special advantage of early mornings, given that his social activities are usually at night or later in the day. Yet, the key to his success is not just being able to organize his own agenda, but enjoying what he does.

“I like what I do, and

the pay is good so I enjoy doing what I do and it doesn’t bother me at all. From time to time, it has been hard to manage, but usually, I enjoy it because, well, for one, I like what I do and the pay is good so I enjoy doing what I do and it doesn’t bother me at all,” Acosta said.

Despite the various challenges Acosta has faced with his emerging business, he still has high hopes for the future. As of right now, Acosta wishes to keep on learning more about general and advanced mechanics, as well as acquiring more and better tools so that he can provide more specialized repairs for each car. With these new tools, Acosta could enhance his work by making it more accurate and a lot better.