I asked over 100 techs why they quit. Here’s the pattern.

As an industry, we keep saying we’re “short on techs,” but the best ones aren’t hiding—they’re just ignoring shops that look the same.

After 7 years of conversations and 100+ exit interviews, the pattern is blunt:

1) Wrong pond, wrong bait.We blast generic job-board ads and expect top performers to bite. They don’t. They move through referrals, reputation, and communities where your shop rarely shows up.

2) Leaving beats staying (on paper). Great techs flirt with opening a shop not because they want payroll headaches, but because it promises three things they’re missing: respect, control over income, and real growth.

3) The 3-circle gap (why they quit):

Respect: Real open-door policy, not lip service. Clear communication, decisions with tech input.
Money: Competitive comp that tracks value, not tenure. Transparent paths to higher earnings.
Growth: Personal AND Professional training, tooling, and a ladder beyond “turn more hours”. Great employees want to go with shops that want their life to work inside and outside of the shop.

When all three circles overlap, two things happen fast:

Retention sticks. People stop taking recruiter calls.
Attraction turns magnetic. You stop “hiring” and start selecting.

The “shortage” mostly exists in shops trying to win with one circle (usually Money) and hoping the rest will sort itself out.

If you want fewer resignations this quarter, start here: audit your Respect–Money–Growth overlap. Then replace job-board spam with proof—tech-facing videos, team-led referrals, and visible systems that make great techs say, “Yep, I can thrive there.”

The future isn’t about convincing kids to join the industry—it’s about building shops worth joining.

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