mechanics school?

[deutschman]

-I'm almost done getting my 2yr Associate's in Automotive Tech, here in NC at Forsyth Tech CC. Decient program, pretty cheap (prob $1500 invested total), and that coupled with some ASE certs almost garentees you a good wrenching-job. I work at Advance Auto Parts at the moment (not a bad job btw), where I still pick up a little experiance, but really I'm just working through school.

-Auto mechanics is good, honest (mostly haha), hard work, but it isn't always all that fun, take it from me. I worked for two years at a local Toyoya dealership: starting in the Quick-Lube changing oil, then a Level 1 (tires, brakes, basic services), then a Level 2 (most things except drivability diag and engine overhauls). I was offered more money at a Jeep/Chyr/Dodge-specialty indapendant shop, where I worked long enough to find out that the owner was a Grade-A, industrial-proof Duchebag. So we parted ways, I work at Adavance Auto (not knocking it), but I miss turning wrenches, even with it's drama!

-Cliff notes: you can work at a dealership even without all the fancy certs, and don't leave a good place when you find it.

-Sorry for the life story haha...

life story is good. gives me an idea of what i may be looking at. it turns out just about every carer you look at looks like shit after a while. if you look hard enough that is. i think it comes down to choosing the lesser of a few hundred evils. its like the grass is always greener on the other side thing.
i really appreciate all the life stories, advice, and tips! thanks guys.

[Lsb_E30]

You all are fools. Im in school for 1 year working on formula 3 cars and a year from now i graduate and am gauranteed job placement within 6 months. No requirements other than payment and not being a complete dumbass

http://www.jimrussellusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=61

[DCColegrove]

Listen...

I have been a professional mechanic now for 28 years and have a very strong opinion on this...

If you are smart enough to be a mechanic...You are too smart to be a mechanic.

Am I bitter? ....Yes probably

If this doesn't deter you from the profession :loco: this is what you do...

2 year degree in Automotive Industrial Technology, then go to work for a dealership.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Listen...

I have been a professional mechanic now for 28 years and have a very strong opinion on this...

If you are smart enough to be a mechanic...You are too smart to be a mechanic.

The most correct, from down the line looking back at the begining of the journey comment.

I have never turned a wrench for a paycheck. From Customer Service Advisor, Service Consultant, Service Manager, General Manager, etc. but NEVER did I attempt to get paaid from the physical part of the gig.

To add to Daniel's statement, You will not want to be on a creeper in 17 years with arthritic wrists and lower back pain trying to replace a fuel filter. You can, sit in an office in front of a terminal "advising" people as to what method to repair their car in 17 years without the pain. I don't ever even have to deal with getting the grime out from under my nails, and make a larger paycheck then the Shop Foreman.


Use your brain, let the grunts bust knuckles for money.

[DaveSmed]

Diesel Mechanics, Diesel Mechanics, Diesel Mechanics,........ Did I mention Diesel Mechanics?

Basically if you can work on anything diesel, your going to be needed over some dude that works on a car. A million shit heads and couple hundred good mechanics work on cars, the workforce for trained good techs in the diesel mechanics field is getting old. Yes you work harder but you make more and your job changes every day and slumping economies don't affect you as bad. If you can work on a Caterpillar 980G or a John Deere Harvester you can work on any car...ANY CAR.. Look into the Think Big Program Caterpillar puts on.

And yes, if you are to go into mechanics go Diesel or heavy equipment. You will probably be more satisfied overall (pay/stress), and you will not dread working on yet another car (your personal stock) as do most of the "career" BMW mechanics that I know.

Listen...

I have been a professional mechanic now for 28 years and have a very strong opinion on this...

If you are smart enough to be a mechanic...You are too smart to be a mechanic.

Am I bitter? ....Yes probably

If this doesn't deter you from the profession :loco: this is what you do...

2 year degree in Automotive Industrial Technology, then go to work for a dealership.

QFT, big time......

My story?

High school technical school auto program (all NATEF courses), did extremely well and brought home trophies from diagnostic/repair competitions, most notably the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia's Philadelphia Car Show competition and Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition.

Won a bunch of full scholarships at those, and decided to go to Automotive Training Center. Started to get fed up with the curriculum and the pace (there were kids there who never touched a wrench in their life) and enrolled myself for all of the ASEs (A1-A8 ) and passed them! Suddenly I'm an ASE Master Technician. Leave school and end up at US Airways working on ground support equipment. Very neat group of machinery, like large generators, HVAC units, diesel tractors, jet-start units, etc. Good mix of heavy hydraulics, and diesel in addition to their Ford fleet, which is why I applied since I had a lot of Ford training under my belt. Ended up barely working on the Ford stuff anyway, and gained a lot of experience with diesel and hydraulics. Learned some HVAC and generator stuff too.

Got sick of working every weekend and holiday (Any time the planes fly, GSE is manned. 24/7 365.) since I had low seniority in the union, and took a friend's advice and got into a dealership. (He went to UTI and did the dealer and private shop thing) Ended up at a freshly built state of the art Toyota dealership. Started out ok, but soon found myself running out of work. I quickly learned what the holiday season means to car mechanics.... It means you're broke. I quickly found I strongly disliked customer work and having to run around and get everything approved (while on your time) instead of just fixing the damn thing. I was used to being a US Airways mechanic working on US Airways equipment with an open parts room. If you thought a truck needed a battery, you went back and got a battery off the shelf and put one in. To top it off, you were paid hourly, and got overtime for over 40 hours a week. At a dealership, you spent so much time waiting for approval, looking stuff up, arguing over warranty crap, and waiting at the parts counter ON YOUR OWN TIME I simply couldn't stand it. I wasn't making nearly as much as I was before, and I had to put up with six times as much bullshit as well as starting to hate working on cars.


Now I work for a crane rental place. My background in heavy hydraulics, diesel, and electronics came in handy. I get to work on 550 ton capacity all terrain truck cranes, rough terrain cranes, industrial cranes and maybe soon tower cranes. Back in a fleet setting, no approval needed to change burned out lightbulbs, working on stuff thats pretty damn cool and fun to work on. (There's actually room! well most of the time anyway...) And this is not old technology stuff either, these cranes (much to my surprise when I started) are full CAN bus, have complex safety and automation systems, use Mercedes Benz engines/transmissions, have full computer controlled hydraulically adjusted suspension systems, as well as multiple selectable driveline configurations. Strangely a background in German car repair helps, as those big all-terrain cranes were built there. (Kinda cool when you see a set of Bosch "smiley" ellipsoids on one)

The work at the dealership was pretty much changing parts, what separated a good mechanic from a bad one was knowing what parts to change. Sadly all that you got paid by was how many parts you could change in a day that resulted in a working car for the customer, and thats only if they OK the work. We got a half hour for diagnosis if they didn't want anything done.

The work at both diesel shops was a lot more diverse. Lots of fabrication (welders, plasma cutters, machine shop stuff, etc. all for you to use to fix their equipment) making parts work in cases where you cant get the original, and making the machines work better than originally designed in some cases.

My friend I mentioned earlier? Now works at a heavy truck shop. ;)

Diesel is where its at, for job satisfaction and of course, the money. :)

[deutschman]

QFT, big time......

My story?

High school technical school auto program (all NATEF courses), did extremely well and brought home trophies from diagnostic/repair competitions, most notably the Automobile Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia's Philadelphia Car Show competition and Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition.

Won a bunch of full scholarships at those, and decided to go to Automotive Training Center. Started to get fed up with the curriculum and the pace (there were kids there who never touched a wrench in their life) and enrolled myself for all of the ASEs (A1-A8) and passed them! Suddenly I'm an ASE Master Technician. Leave school and end up at US Airways working on ground support equipment. Very neat group of machinery, like large generators, HVAC units, diesel tractors, jet-start units, etc. Good mix of heavy hydraulics, and diesel in addition to their Ford fleet, which is why I applied since I had a lot of Ford training under my belt. Ended up barely working on the Ford stuff anyway, and gained a lot of experience with diesel and hydraulics. Learned some HVAC and generator stuff too.

Got sick of working every weekend and holiday (Any time the planes fly, GSE is manned. 24/7 365.) since I had low seniority in the union, and took a friend's advice and got into a dealership. (He went to UTI and did the dealer and private shop thing) Ended up at a freshly built state of the art Toyota dealership. Started out ok, but soon found myself running out of work. I quickly learned what the holiday season means to car mechanics.... It means you're broke. I quickly found I strongly disliked customer work and having to run around and get everything approved (while on your time) instead of just fixing the damn thing. I was used to being a US Airways mechanic working on US Airways equipment with an open parts room. If you thought a truck needed a battery, you went back and got a battery off the shelf and put one in. To top it off, you were paid hourly, and got overtime for over 40 hours a week. At a dealership, you spent so much time waiting for approval, looking stuff up, arguing over warranty crap, and waiting at the parts counter ON YOUR OWN TIME I simply couldn't stand it. I wasn't making nearly as much as I was before, and I had to put up with six times as much bullshit as well as starting to hate working on cars.


Now I work for a crane rental place. My background in heavy hydraulics, diesel, and electronics came in handy. I get to work on 550 ton capacity all terrain truck cranes, rough terrain cranes, industrial cranes and maybe soon tower cranes. Back in a fleet setting, no approval needed to change burned out lightbulbs, working on stuff thats pretty damn cool and fun to work on. (There's actually room! well most of the time anyway...) And this is not old technology stuff either, these cranes (much to my surprise when I started) are full CAN bus, have complex safety and automation systems, use Mercedes Benz engines/transmissions, have full computer controlled hydraulically adjusted suspension systems, as well as multiple selectable driveline configurations. Strangely a background in German car repair helps, as those big all-terrain cranes were built there. (Kinda cool when you see a set of Bosch "smiley" ellipsoids on one)

The work at the dealership was pretty much changing parts, what separated a good mechanic from a bad one was knowing what parts to change. Sadly all that you got paid by was how many parts you could change in a day that resulted in a working car for the customer, and thats only if they OK the work. We got a half hour for diagnosis if they didn't want anything done.

The work at both diesel shops was a lot more diverse. Lots of fabrication (welders, plasma cutters, machine shop stuff, etc. all for you to use to fix their equipment) making parts work in cases where you cant get the original, and making the machines work better than originally designed in some cases.

My friend I mentioned earlier? Now works at a heavy truck shop. ;)

Diesel is where its at, for job satisfaction and of course, the money. :)

wow! i give this the "most helpful" award 0f the week! thanks man! i read the whole thing twice.

[Ral]

No.

If I were to do it again, here's what I would do:

Get an AA from a CC

Enlist in the Air Force. I **think** you go in as an Officer due to the AA. Learn hand-to-hand combat, discipline, and a respect for freedom. Get in excellent physical shape. Let the Government pay for your undergrad work. Learn a trade or become a pilot. Get the GI Bill and run. Of course, when I was your age, we weren't in the middle of a war...

+1. all services are looking for good maintainers, you work with some of the best people you will ever meet, on some of the coolest stuff you could ever work on. (at least, in the AF/Marine/Navy air divisions- but I'm a bit biased.) you will need a 4-year degree to become an officer and there's a longer time commitment in being an officer.

I chose the Navy and would still do it again.. the hours suck, and you'll be away from home a lot, but the culture is a lot different than the Air Force. Difficult to explain but it's true. I'll let some other people on the board jump in that are currently enlisted.

[der affe]

Dave's post sums it up in a nut shell. even body work at a high end dealer is crapping out now. the money just isn't there any more. good thing i just spent $1000.00 getting recert'ed to ICAR platinum and my ICAR welding and structural welding re-upped.
(ICAR is the body tech equivalent of ASE's)

[deutschman]

+1. all services are looking for good maintainers, you work with some of the best people you will ever meet, on some of the coolest stuff you could ever work on. (at least, in the AF/Marine/Navy air divisions- but I'm a bit biased.) you will need a 4-year degree to become an officer and there's a longer time commitment in being an officer.

I chose the Navy and would still do it again.. the hours suck, and you'll be away from home a lot, but the culture is a lot different than the Air Force. Difficult to explain but it's true. I'll let some other people on the board jump in that are currently enlisted.

i was actually thinking about joining a force like the navy for a while. i think it would help me a lot, but it hard with a hippy dad and mom living in san francisco! i don't think they would support that. i think my mom even went so far as saying "over my dead body" lol!

[kronus]

An acquaintance of mine went to a trade school for fabrication and mineral drilling. Currently, he maintains and assembles drills set up in remote locations. (last I heard from him, he was somewhere in the north of Canada) Since he's hired as a contractor, and is one of few people who know how to do what he does, he pulls in about $15,000 per month.

[scabzzzz]

Nashville Auto Diesel College

NADC

[eshghehBMW]

An acquaintance of mine went to a trade school for fabrication and mineral drilling. Currently, he maintains and assembles drills set up in remote locations. (last I heard from him, he was somewhere in the north of Canada) Since he's hired as a contractor, and is one of few people who know how to do what he does, he pulls in about $15,000 per month.

got any more info. on this??

what sort of work is involved? what's his position? what you gotta do/deal with?