FIFO Diesel Mechanic Jobs

Can you get a FIFO diesel mechanic job without mine site experience?

In September "Australian Recognized Trade Certificate" and "Minimum 2 years mining maintenance experience" sat together on one contractor's ads, another asked for "1-2 years post-qualification experience", and an agency's ad named the machines: "Experience with CAT, Hitachi, Komatsu machinery required". A truck mechanic from a transport yard has the trade; what the ads are checking is whether you have worked on mining machines, which are bigger, and to a mine's rules.

The first FIFO job for a qualified mechanic

In a video about his job, a diesel fitter said it took him over two years to land it, coming from another industry where he was a mechanic. The turn came when someone helped him put the skills he already had into words the mining industry recognised: "I had those skills already. I just didn't know how to put them down". Within a day of having the new resume he had four job offers, and the resume page has the layout.

The other door is a Perth workshop that sends its mechanics to site when a client needs them. In September one ad was built that way, and two others ran workshop and site crews under the same roof.

FIFO heavy diesel mechanic apprenticeship: where the ads are

None of the seven FIFO apprentice ads that gave a pay figure in October 2026 was for heavy diesel; the nearest was GetCareers' mechanical fitting apprenticeship, on 8:6, eight days on and six off, out of East Perth. Most mining apprenticeships are based in a city workshop or a mining town, and the apprenticeships page has how the intakes work. A heavy vehicle apprenticeship with a truck dealer or a transport company in your own city is one road, and the mine comes after the certificate.

How do you get a FIFO diesel mechanic job, step by step?

With a diesel trade, in WA

1. Have your trade papers ready; field service work also wants an HR licence (the full list).
2. Rewrite your resume in the words the mining ads use, naming the machines you've worked on (how one fitter did it).
3. Try the Perth workshops that send their crews out to sites, since they take mechanics without mine time (the first job).
4. Base yourself in Perth if you can, though several contractors fly fitters from any capital, and two from New Zealand (where they fly from).
5. Apply to contractors, mine owners' crews and labour hire firms together, and ask for the roster you want, because this trade often gets a choice (rosters).
6. Once you're offered the job, the employer books the medical and drug test, then the inductions and a check on the machines you'll work on.
7. On site, expect a four o'clock start, services by the hour meter, breakdown call-outs and on-call weeks (a typical day).
8. Later, move onto a mine owner's crew, into field service, or toward planning (where it leads).

From another state, or overseas

From another state, look for the ads that fly from every capital, which several contractors do. A Queensland coal mine also wants Standard 11 and a coal board medical, which the employer pays for.

From overseas, the visa comes first: some ads offer sponsorship, and the foreigners page covers the visa side.

How do FIFO diesel mechanic jobs work, and who hires?

Three kinds of employer advertised in September. The maintenance contractors, Mader and Epiroc among them, put fitters on a client's site or in a field service ute that moves between sites. The mine owners advertised for their own crews: Fortescue ran an expression of interest for heavy diesel fitters, Northern Star an underground HD mechanic "Kalgoorlie Residential or FIFO ex Perth", Mineral Resources a heavy vehicle fitter at Onslow. Labour hire sat in between, Fetch with "10x Heavy Diesel Mechanics" for a gold project on 2:1 and Programmed with HD fitters.

What the ads ask for

Most ads ask for:

• The trade certificate, Certificate III in Mobile Plant Technology or in Heavy Commercial Vehicle Mechanical Technology; one ad named it, and the others just asked for the trade
• A C class driver's licence, and an HR licence on a field service ad
• Time on mining machines, with the makes named: CAT, Komatsu, Hitachi, Sandvik, Epiroc
• Full working rights; one heavy vehicle ad offered to sponsor a 482 skilled work visa

After the offer, the employer arranges:

• A pre-employment medical and drug screen
• Site inductions, and a VOC (verification of competency) on the machines you will work on

Nice to have, and what each one gets you:

• Dogging, basic rigging and forklift tickets: one contractor's ad said "Be paid accordingly for having the right qualifications"
• Underground experience: several ads were for underground fitters and asked for it by name
• Auto electrical skills: two ads hired fitters and auto electricians together, and a fitter interviewed on YouTube called electrical faults the most frustrating part of his job

Where FIFO diesel mechanic jobs fly from

"Flights from ALL Australian Capital Cities!" ran one contractor's ad in September, and "Flights from AU/NZ capital cities" another's. In October a Darwin company advertised for heavy diesel mechanics too. A fitter in Melbourne or Hobart applies to the ads that say so, and the Melbourne and Tasmania pages have what flying from there involves.

FIFO diesel mechanic rosters: the trade that gets a choice

Many trades take the roster in the ad, but in September the diesel fitter ads offered a menu: "FIFO 8:6, 7:7, 2:1, 2:2 Rosters + MORE!", "Rosters 8:6 7:7 2:1 2:2 3:1 4:2" and "We can customise your preferred roster". One gold miner's own crew offered 8:6, 7:7 or 2:2, and a generator contractor ran 15:13. The rosters page has what each one takes from the year, and several of this trade's ads offered even time, 2:2.

What is the FIFO heavy diesel mechanic salary?

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

To see what any of those comes to over a swing or a year after tax, put it into the FIFO pay calculator; the salary page has every job side by side.

The phrase to look for is "super paid on ALL hours worked". An ad with that line pays super on the full twelve-hour day. One without it may pay super only on ordinary hours and not the overtime, and on twelve-hour days that gap grows fast.

A salary is the other shape of the same money, with leave and sometimes a bonus scheme in it, and a lower hourly number once the hours are counted. In September the mine owners' own ads mostly gave no figure at all.

What does a FIFO diesel mechanic do all day?

A typical day for a FIFO diesel mechanic

A diesel fitter who works a fortnight on and a week off walked through his day on video. He is up at four and in the mess at twenty to five with his offsider, grabs his crib for the day, and shares a ute for the fifteen or twenty-minute drive to work. He takes a breathalyser test at the office, then goes to the morning meeting with the supervisors. The operators are told their machines, and "because I'm a fitter, I'll go into the workshop with the other boys and that's where we get handed out our tasks for the day".

The first job on a service is the fluid samples, taken with the engine running on the machines that need it: "they got to be clean and a correct volume so that they can go off to a lab". Then the machine is locked and tagged and the rest follows. A 250-hour service is a sample, air filters, grease and an inspection; a 2,000-hour service drains and refills every fluid and changes "at least a dozen filters or so".

Two breaks, around nine and one, come when the job allows. He starts packing up at five and heads back to camp at half past, then it's dinner in the mess and bed by half past eight. Every second week he's on call for breakdowns.

Breakdowns, field service and underground

The workshop day is the planned work. The rest is the breakdown, the truck that stops on the haul road or the loader that stops in the pit, where the fitter and the service truck go to the machine. The field service ads are that job full time, "a fully equipped LandCruiser ute across WA mining sites", moving between clients. Underground is its own branch, on the smaller, lower machines that work in the dark, and its ads wanted underground experience.

One diesel fitter on video said he was mainly held up "waiting for parts to arrive", because "they're high value items".

What are FIFO light vehicle mechanic jobs?

Some of the October ads came from the mine owners themselves. Northern Star wanted a light vehicle mechanic at its Kalgoorlie gold mine, living locally on 7:7 "or FIFO from Perth", and a Pilbara lithium miner offered 8:6 or 7:7 from Perth. Mader wanted light vehicle mechanics for the Pilbara on "8:6, 2:2, 2:1 + more", and a Port Hedland workshop offered a 4:2 roster "from any capital city".

The trade is the light vehicle one, a Certificate III in Light Vehicle Mechanical Technology, though one October ad also took a diesel fitter's trade. Toyota came up most in the ads, with Hino, Isuzu and Volvo light trucks. Their advertised rates are first read for pay in December 2026. Light vehicle mechanics can move across too: in September a diesel generator company on 8:6 asked "Are you an LV or truck mechanic?"

What is it really like working as a FIFO diesel mechanic?

The workshop has no air conditioning. The same fitter put the hard part in winter rather than summer: "the wind howls through your workshop and even your seven layers of clothing isn't keeping you warm while you're lying underneath a truck". Summer is "stinking hot", and the flies are "a plague". He had worked in forty degrees and minus forty before, and still named the cold workshop first.

What he liked was the crew, "welcoming" and "inclusive", and the shape of the year, nineteen weeks off on a 2:1 once leave is counted. He doesn't drink on site because he wants to wake up well at four, and his site expects the same, with a breathalyser every morning; the ads add a drug and alcohol screen before you start. If the swing gets harder than the work, Lifeline is 13 11 14, any hour.

Where does a FIFO diesel mechanic job lead?

The first year on a contractor's crew is a reference the mine owners read, and their own ads are the next step, with leave and a bonus scheme. Field service is the other direction: your own ute, a run of sites, and some of the higher hourly rates in September's ads. One fitter, asked on camera about his dream job, named fleet planning. That means scheduling the services from the machines' own data, a desk job that wants a fitter's knowledge.

Leaving site: the Perth workshop ads say what it costs

The boards carried the exit as well as the entry. In September "Leave FIFO behind and enjoy a fully equipped workshop" ran one Perth ad, and another, "Tired of the FIFO rat race? Join the SMS team in our growing High Wycombe workshop", at a lower hourly rate than the same company's site job. A fitter's trade travels: the is FIFO worth it page has the sum for deciding when the lower rate and the nights at home are worth more.

Is a FIFO diesel mechanic job right for you?

Three honest questions

1. Have you worked on a digger or a haul truck, or only on road trucks? If not, expect the first job to take longest. A workshop that sends mechanics to site, or a contractor that takes workshop tradespeople, is the way through.
2. Which roster, and does the ad offer it? This trade gets a choice. Pick the roster before the rate, and answer the ads that name it.
3. Is the super on the whole shift? If the ad doesn't say it, ask, because the difference over a year is real.