http://www.azcentral.com/abgnews/art...hanic0713.html
Scottsdale auto tech is best
She's 1st woman to win top honor
Weldon B. Johnson
Arizona Business Gazette
Jul. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
Ingrid Dobson, an automotive technician at Chapman BMW in Scottsdale, is not only one of the few women in her field, she's one of the best.
Dobson is the first woman to win Master Top Honors in the Association of Certified Technicians Challenge, a series of written tests that measure a technician's knowledge and skill.
And after an analysis of her abilities that also looked at customer service, the 25-year-old Dobson was chosen Technician of the Year.
advertisement
Her prizes included an all-expense-paid trip for two to Australia.
"It's cool and everything, but I just try to keep a low profile," Dobson said. "I just want to be like everyone else and do my job."
Nationwide, Dobson is one of about 1,200 female auto technicians, or 1.3 percent of the 936,000 auto mechanics coast-to-coast, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dobson didn't set out to be a technician, it just happened, she said.
Growing up in the southeastern Arizona town of Willcox, she was thinking of a career as a veterinarian or teacher. But she liked mechanical things and in high school took an auto shop class and liked it.
That class put her on the path to learning more about automobiles and how they work. After high school shegot a scholarship to Arizona Automotive Institute.
Her desire to learn has helped her grow as a technician.
"Ingrid is one of the best in terms of skills, such as productivity and efficiency, as well as immeasurables like her passion for what she does," service manager Garrett O'Dell said.
Dobson has worked at Chapman BMW for 2 1/2 years. Before that, she spent almost four years working at a BMW dealership in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Dobson said her co-workers have been accepting. They give her the same kind of razzing that they give everyone else in the shop.
"It's a real friendly atmosphere, and everyone jokes around a lot," she said. "It's pretty cool."
It probably helps that she has a trailblazing woman working alongside her.
Her co-worker, Audra Thelen, was the first female tech to work at Chapman.
Ironically, when it comes to customers, men have sometimes been more accepting of her than women, Dobson said.
"I found that probably an equal amount of women would actually prefer to talk to a man," Dobson said. "I was kind of surprised at that. I thought I could relate to them more or explain things better and they wouldn't feel intimidated.
"But I've actually had women customers say, 'I'm sorry, I'd rather have a man work on my car.' For no reason even, just like some stereotype ingrained in them," Dobson said.
"I have found the male customers I have always have been like, 'Wow! That's cool, you know what you're talking about.' I haven't had any of them say, 'Give me a guy to work on it.' "