“Any technician knows there are highs, and there are lows; every technician at some point second guesses if they really want to be in this career or not. Having the right attitude helps. Learn all you can from an older, more experienced mentor in the shop.” ~ Jose A. Campos III, In-Shop Technician, asTech. 

Flip through the Campos family photo album, and in nearly every picture, young Jose is holding a toy car. If not playing with cars, he was asking his grandfather a “million questions” about them. Like many automotive professionals and enthusiasts today, Jose Campos spent his youth under the hood with an older family member. Often, Campos was right beside his grandfather, a father of four himself who worked with his hands to support his children.
“He had a one-man shop in a small city called Edcouch Elsa, down in the valley, by the Edinburg and Weslaco areas of Texas,” Campos recalled. “My grandfather worked a full-time job, and then after work or on the weekends, he would work in his shop, trying to make ends meet.”

The Little Blue Saab

During his high school years, Campos was a mainstay at the local O’Reilly’s, a job he still fondly remembers. Around this same time, Campos’ father said that if he applied what he learned from his grandfather and his part-time job at O’Reilly’s and could maintain his own car, he would buy him one for school. “My dad eventually bou...