I'd be proud to have a YouTube logo mixed in with my ASE patch, lol. :) Let me explain:

Eric, for years, this has been my absolute favorite, talkative, automotive YouTube channel. ETCG1 is where Eric talks about cars instead of showing automotive repairs. Personally, I pretty much do cars, and I've started to dabble in motorcycles with my YouTube channel (DE "AutoBravado" Nichols)..., but still, this video and community is the place for the best discussions (I know, I know, you have a lovely forum, lol, but I like it here).

I'm a legitimately a certified ASE technician. I picked a couple of the harder ones to certify in even though I'm competent in easier ASE's (yikes, haven't touched transmissions though!)...anyway, I digress like I love that you do too...when I saw this, I wasn't thinking arm chair mechanic, I was also thinking about me. Without YouTube I would have become a competent professional much slower, and I certainly wouldn't have thought A8 Engine Performance, was easy. (I got brakes certified too, because even though they're often easy to fix up, knowing deep stuff that you need for an ASE could seriously save someone's bacon! (aka life)).

I certainly didn't put it on my resume, but if I was close enough to someone running the shop I worked at, I'd tell them honestly, "I know most of this thanks to YouTube."

The conversation could continue like this: sure, I study, I read professional articles, I talk to professionals, and I even study for the ASE tests because the engineers that make those tests are brilliant people. The master tech at my first shop knew one of them. Seriously smart man he'd say, though I forgot how he said it.

I recently made a video about tips on how I got my ASE certifications. It isn't popular. It seems like most people online aren't worried about getting certified when they learn on YouTube, for whatever reason that is.

But yeah, I'd be proud to have a YouTube logo mixed in with my ASE patch, lol. :)