I thought they were too complex and not worth the effort. But after fixing a few, I see they're just another puzzle. Plus, customers really appreciate someone who knows their stuff, lol.
Just another puzzle" is a pretty big stretch. Those hybrid jobs eat up so much time for what you get paid. You fix a couple and feel smart, but then the next one has a weird new problem that takes three hours to diagnose. That's time you could have spent on two or three normal, easy jobs. Some customers do appreciate it, but a lot just see the final bill and get upset it wasn't faster or cheaper. The stress of that unknown factor never really goes away. For a lot of us, that complexity is still a very good reason to avoid them.
Doubt every hybrid job ends in a three hour diagnostic nightmare. Gain enough experience and most fixes become pretty routine. Every repair field has its random time sinks, not just this one.
Have you found that to be true across all makes? In my experience, once you learn the common failure points for a specific model year, a lot of those hybrid issues become way more predictable. It's just like any other new system we had to learn, from direct injection to all these complex modules. Sure, you still get the odd one that makes you scratch your head, but that happens with regular cars too. The fear of the unknown does fade after you've seen enough of them.