"How Does a Repair Technician Make a Living? Part 1 - Should You Attend a Vocational School? -"

 

Hello, this is Tanaka from Repair.

 

Have you heard of the video series “Repairman Roundtable,” featuring repairmen from TC-tune and Kubokan?

Today, I’d like to talk about the theme of the third video in that series: “Should You Go to Vocational School?”

 

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To start with the conclusion:

 

“You should definitely go to a vocational school to become a repair technician!!”

 

I’ll explain why, drawing on my own personal experiences.

 

 

If you search online for something like “how to become a guitar repair technician,” you’ll find a wide range of information, from a certain Q&A site to personal blogs. There’s all sorts of stuff out there.

One thing that’s almost universally mentioned is

 

“Even if you go to a vocational school, there are almost no job openings for repair technicians!!”

 

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Speaking from my experience and perspective as a professional repair technician who graduated from a vocational school,

 

“There are ‘no’ opportunities for those who rely on others,”

 

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In other words, to become a repair technician, you have to take the necessary steps to become one.

 

 

Vocational schools also help with job placement, so job openings come directly to the school itself.

"XX Factory"

Such-and-such a factory

Furniture factories

 

The opportunities range from those related to musical instruments to those that aren’t.

Among these, job openings for “repair technicians” or “repairmen” are indeed scarce—that’s a fact.

 

However, that doesn’t mean the path to becoming a repair technician is completely closed off. You shouldn’t count on it from the start.

You have to look for repair technician job openings on your own!

 

There are many repair shops all across Japan, so it’s a good idea to reach out to them directly via email.

There are also many independent music stores, not just the big chains. You might even try calling them and asking, “Do you have any job openings?”

Before I got a job at TCGAKKI, I emailed about 10 repair shops in the Kanto region.

 

In situations like that, having the title “Graduate of XX Vocational School” can be surprisingly helpful.

“I attended a repair vocational school.”

At that point, they’ll assume, “This person isn’t a complete novice.”

They’ll also assume you have a certain level of common ground when it comes to musical instruments.

(This was also the case when I was conducting job interviews to recruit repair technicians at TCGAKKI.)

 

It goes without saying that if you’re going to hire someone, it’s better to hire someone with some experience (even if it varies in degree) rather than someone who knows absolutely nothing.

 

There might even be a senior from the same vocational school working at the place you’re applying to. Everyone feels more inclined to be kind to a junior than to a complete stranger.

Or you might receive a tip like, “We can’t hire them here, but so-and-so was looking for a part-time job.”

 

In this way, what you gain from attending a vocational school is the privilege of “gaining access to the musical instrument industry.”

You could also call it connections or a professional network. Especially at vocational schools with a long history, you might find senior alumni in places you never even knew existed.

 

You’ll find comments online saying

“The knowledge and skills taught at vocational schools are useless in the real world, so there’s no point”

or

“At vocational schools, you can learn techniques from professionals, so…”

and so on

You can put those thoughts aside for now.

The biggest reason you should go to a vocational school is to become a part of the industry—even if it’s just in the tiniest corner of the music instrument world.

Becoming a part of that world and taking the initiative to become a repair technician is the surest way to achieve that goal.

 

Of course, even after you become a repair technician, it’s important to take the initiative more than ever.

When you listen to the stories of various big names and legends, they all seem to naturally and consistently stay one step ahead. I, too, want to keep up with them and eventually surpass them.

 

And with that, that wraps up “Should You Go to a Vocational School to Become a Repair Technician?”

I really hope this article reaches high school students who are on the fence about attending a repair vocational school, as well as those who want to go but are struggling to convince their parents, and current vocational school students.

And please, take the initiative to make your dream of becoming a repair technician a reality.

 

Unfortunately, TCGAKKI isn’t currently hiring repair technicians, but we warmly welcome energetic young people who come into the store saying things like, “I’m a student at [Name] Vocational School! Can you tell me about the job?” or “Can I come in for a tour?!”

I hope many people will take an interest in the musical instrument industry and join us.

 

Tanaka 🗜️