Got my Smog License today...

[M3 Ryan]

Hey guys-
Well, I have been very busy with work and last semister I took all the necessary classes to obtain my EA (enhanced area) Smog License for California. I am very excited about this, as it gives me an edge at my dealership to get more hours and stay with the times. I just got back last week from a 3-day Hunter Wheel Alignment Certification class in Livermore. This means that now I can do alignments at my work (they make you take the class, so 5 of the 11 techs can do alignments, and only 2 of 11 can do smogs, myself included).
Anyone else have their smog license? It is a great thing to have if you are a technition as it enables you to do many more divibility related problems and smogs are gravy. We get 1.5hrs to do a two-speed idle test which takes all of 15min to complete.
For those interested, you need your A6, A8 and L1 ASE's, a basic smog class, OBD 2 update course, BAR 2005 Update course, an enhanced class for dyno useage and finally the Smog licensing exam. I spent a total of 140 hours on smog classes over the couse of 6 months.

[Jarvis]

Congrats.

Don't you need A6 and A8 to even be able to test for L1?

[MR 325]

A friend of mine got his a couple months ago. It was my understanding this costs a couple grand to get, is that right?

[Il Duce]

congrats man!... O/T hows your M3 doing?

[M3 Ryan]

yes, the a6/a8 are pre reqs to getting your L1.
I went through the city college, so the total cost was around $1,000 for everything. Hopefully my work will pay some of it back now like they said they would.
Snap-On and other companies offer the course and it costs over $5k with them and takes about a year of classes on the weekend. I am not sure about others, but the way I did it was the cheapest and was relitively fast although it feels like it took forever...

[parkerbink]

Congratulations!

[EtaSport]

Nice man. How many of your ASEs do you have? And what school did you attend?

Im at LTI right now in Columbia, got 14 months left in Automotive, and hopefully I can get into Step after that. It all doesnt seem too bad, any suggestions for getting in? What do you think of the work?

Sorry to hit you with all the questions.

[T.Dot E30]

Hmmm. Almost anyone here in Ontario can take the course and write the test for our emissions testing.

and im still too lazy to do it, I will thou, for fun.
I dont have time right now, since im in full-time uni. + 2 jobs.

Automotive is more of a hobbie, dont plan on making it a career.

[rede30]

And you can make all that money back by passing all our e30's for a small price. hehe

Dustin

[bimmer8604]

I *think* can get get most of my Smog requirements out of the way at school, as I am getting my EPA 609 for A/C here next week. I dont know if I plan on staying in California for my carrer so I dont know if I'll actually get my smog license. I also plan on getting quite a few of my ASE's out of the way in the next few months as well.

And you can make all that money back by passing all our e30's for a small price. hehe

Dustin

Haha, And get imprissoned and fined up the ass for cheating on smogs....

Glad to hear you are doing good at the dealership Ryan. My plans have changed, and now that I'm working at a Porsche shop(911 Designs) I'm looking very heavily at PTAP, and they are looking at me :-).

Kyle

[M3 Ryan]

Kyle-
That sounds great man.
To answer some questions, I have all A1-A8 ase's and my L1. I like the work, it is fun and can be challenging every now and then which keeps it interesting.
I never went to STEP, my dealership was going to send me, but then they decided to send me to individual classes while I worked as a tech. This is working out fine for me now as I get to make lots of money and go to classes in between (and I get paid to go to classes, at STEP you have to pay for everything yourself).

[bimmer8604]

Kyle-
That sounds great man.
To answer some questions, I have all A1-A8 ase's and my L1. I like the work, it is fun and can be challenging every now and then which keeps it interesting.
I never went to STEP, my dealership was going to send me, but then they decided to send me to individual classes while I worked as a tech. This is working out fine for me now as I get to make lots of money and go to classes in between (and I get paid to go to classes, at STEP you have to pay for everything yourself).

Your paying for STEP? Damn. I can go either into STEP and have the dealership pay for it, or go to FasTrack(elective STEP ~8k or so).

Ryan, how many hours do you normally put in a week(flat rate)? Just curious.

Kyle

[M3 Ryan]

Your paying for STEP? Damn. I can go either into STEP and have the dealership pay for it, or go to FasTrack(elective STEP ~8k or so).

Ryan, how many hours do you normally put in a week(flat rate)? Just curious.

Kyle

No, no no. That I meant was, IF you go to STEP, that you pay for your room/board and expenses. Now, I just get sent to classes for a week at a time, they pay me 8hrs a day, my hotel, meals, fuel and a rental car. Much better than paying it all myself.
I flag around 75hrs on a good week, 55-60 on a slow-ish week. My best pay period was 195hrs for 2 weeks, worst was 111hrs (last pay period).

[EtaSport]

That sounds good. Thats awesome you've got all your automotive ASEs. I guess you just need the experience to be a master tech. So you are already on flate rate? You've probably worked the dealership for awhile though. The Step instructors told us students get hourly for a few months before switching. Their average is 18.94 per hour with 100 percent placement. The highest starting was a 25/hour offer. Still not bad at all.

[golde30]

75-50 hours a week is freakin good man...massive OT im assuming...i thought only entreprenuers like myself worked nasty hours like that (only b/c i dont pay myself OT....LOL)