well, a certificate means you most likely went to a Trade School rather than college. this is more than acceptable to be an auto mechanic. the money maker in auto mechanics is your ASE certificates. these you take after you've had some experience and can master certain areas. usually with each ASE certification you get, you're pay will go up. as for making $50,000 a year, well, this is up to you and how good you are. most mechanics are paid flat-rate. this means that they'll make say $15/hour for example, but are paid on a per job basis. say a cylinder head replacement in the book says the job should take 8 hours, you'll get paid for 8 hours when you're done whether it took you 4 hours or 16 hours. if you're good, you can easily book 60+ hours a week while only actually working 40. on the down side, if business is slow, you can also get paid for 30 hours while being there 40.
