CIT apprenticeship leads to bespoke car career

For CIT graduate Ayden Hunt, cars are not just a career - they are a passion. Now with his own business customising cars, Ayden is able to share that passion with the next generation of Automotive students.  After Ayden finished his apprenticeship, in Certificate III Automotive Repair Technology (AUR32116) at CIT he moved to Taree to work in a smash repair. He then moved back to Canberra and worked with local company Lucky Speed. As part of this he also worked on restoring a Bentley, which led to more work after promoting his project on social media.

Ayden strongly believes that apprenticeships and trades are important.

"I don't think there is enough emphasis on trades at school. There are always job opportunities in trades."

"There is always a need for smash repairs, regardless of the economy and robots can't do it all. Young people can learn about things they are passionate about, and they can get into a career they love straight away. They don't have to go to university and rack up heaps of debt. They can have a job they love."

In 2021, Ayden set up his own business focused on customised cars after working for one client on his car -  a 1940 GMC. His first apprentice, Harrison Jasper started one week later.

Harrison is studying Certificate III Automotive Repair technology (AUR32116), just like Ayden did.

"Harrison is a great apprentice - he is only 16 and moved here from Victoria, so this is a big step," Ayden said.

"He is very mechanically minded and his dad worked on cars for 40 years. He is passionate about retro cars."

"It is a challenging industry and a lot of work. It's not just a 9 to 5 job. You live and breathe custom cars and learning to work with them. You improve your skill level so you can build high class cars. It's very rewarding; no day is the same and there are plenty of creative challenges."

Ayden said CIT gave him the early exposure to some of the machines which are not typical in a smash repair shop.

"Once I got all my course work done, I would work on the custom cars. It has given me the exposure which has driven me to work in custom cars and set up my own business. My favourite car is a Mercedes 300 SL - I think it's beautiful. It's got a real elegance but is still an aggressive race car. I'm going to build one myself one day."