World Class Wednesday: Mark Armbrust: A master never abandons the fundamentals

Earning the title of Automotive Service Excellence World Class Technician is no small accomplishment. To be recognized as World Class, these individuals have obtained ASE certification in 22 specialty areas: A1-A8 (automotive), T1-T8 (medium/heavy truck), B2-B5 (collision repair), and L1-L2 (advanced).

Not only is achieving certification in these areas impressive, but becoming World Class is no small feat. As of 2025, only 2,000 technicians have achieved World Class status.

In this Q&A, Motor Age sat down with Mark Armbrust — an ASE World Class technician and an automotive technology instructor at Broward County Schools in Florida — to learn more about his journey in the automotive industry and how gaining World Class status has helped advance his career.

Motor Age: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your experience in the automotive industry.

Armbrust: I spent roughly 10 years in the industry working for Chevrolet where I made it up to team leader. I did some other things with Matco tools along the way, and in 2010, I became an automotive instructor. I've been teaching for about 16 years now. I've been a master tech since I was 19 with ASE.

As a teacher, it's my job to inspire the students in the room. I had a friend I was teaching with for a little while who had more ASE certifications than me. I was mastering L1 and feeling pretty good about myself. And he said, “Oh, I'm a master truck technician.” I'm like, “Oh, really.” Me being me — a competitive individual — I became a master school bus and master truck technician, and my buddy was like, “All right, I forfeit. You win.”

Within the last couple of years, I've been tasked with maximizing our student ASE count. When teaching, I’m using a study guide and talking to the students about test-taking strategy. Because of this, I decided to take the test. I didn’t really care if I passed it or not. I figured, even if I failed, at least I would have an idea of what my students were going to be facing. I ended up passing the test. The body shop tests were the only four I needed for World Class; I had everything else already. So, I'm like, “Alright, I'm this close. Let me just go ahead and get World Class.”

I studied that summer with my students, and that's how my ASE World Class status came to be. I knew I was right there, but I was never motivated enough to study for it, but then they basically paid me to study with a bunch of kids. So, I became a World Class technician last June.

Motor Age: What's the most memorable repair you've ever completed?   

Armbrust: Early in my career — especially as an instructor — everything was about instilling good, solid fundamentals. Many technicians in the industry overlook the basics, and they end up knee deep in alligators for no reason because they forgot to check oil level in the engine or something like that. Back in the day, I had a technician working next to me with a weird electrical problem going on, and he had half the interior out of the truck expecting to find pinched wires or something like that.

We worked in a dealership ... there's no reason to take the whole interior out of a truck in a car dealership. So, we were looking at the car, and were like, “It looks like this thing might have been in a body shop. Those painted bolts have wrench marks on them.” So, we looked around for a minute, and we found a ground wire hooked up to the rubber bumper. To solve it, we just hooked the piece of wire to something metal instead of the rubber bumper, and it fixed the issue.

The issue was a fundamental thing, and it was found just through visual inspection. As an instructor with an electrical course, that's a story I share often.

Motor Age: Tell us one thing about you that we can't guess from your certifications.

Armbrust: I build and fly giant RC Airplanes. My dad got me started when I was 11. I've been in and around that hobby for 35 years, and I'm at an advanced level now.

Motor Age: What automotive technology trend are you most excited about/ most concerned about?     

Armbrust: I think my concern is wrapped around ADAS, and that the average consumer overlooks the minor fender bender stuff.  

This is an issue because ADAS systems are completely reliant on those sensors being calibrated and everything being correct. The average consumer will hit a little bumper and think nothing of it, not realizing it could affect those systems greatly, and the cost to repair is big.  

Additionally, the American consumer hasn't really latched on to EV, but that's coming. And the trend in the industry — unfortunately — is that we’re in need of a higher level of entry-level student to teach them this stuff. In the last six years, I've seen a decline in the quality of automotive students coming through.

Motor Age: How has ASE certification helped advance your career?  

Armbrust: Having my resume intact. When I was a master tech, I wasn't making the money I felt I deserved based off my resume. So, I went to another Chevrolet store, and I got a $4 an hour raise instantly.

Being World Class or even just ASE certified creates job portability for you and opens the idea that you don't have to work somewhere because your resume isn’t good enough. You can go where you want to work.