Want to be a BMW tech? Info inside.

[turbo_negro69]

I just have no desire to do what I do for a hobby as a living. I'm sure I would end up hating it.

Besides that, most of the people that start going off about how they want to be BMW Techs have this delusion that they're going to always be working on cars that are owned by people like us. WRONG. 99% of the cars you're going to be working on are either owned by complete assholes or total fucking idiots who don't even give a fuck about the car, they just drive it because of the name.

QFMFT!

[WillisE30]

I just have no desire to do what I do for a hobby as a living. I'm sure I would end up hating it.

Besides that, most of the people that start going off about how they want to be BMW Techs have this delusion that they're going to always be working on cars that are owned by people like us. WRONG. 99% of the cars you're going to be working on are either owned by complete assholes or total fucking idiots who don't even give a fuck about the car, they just drive it because of the name.

You'd be surprised how wrong that statement is. Granted enthusiasts like us reprsent the lunatic fringe, but most BMW owners are driving the cars because they enjoy they way they drive more than a Mercedes or a Lexus. There's stuck up idiots in every group but I would have to say that there's more BMW owners who do take joy in their cars for the finer qualities they posess than those who own them for the cachet associated with the roundel.

[turbo_negro69]

I work in Marin county, Mr.anderson's statement rings true x100. you'd be surprised how many customers i get that don't know, or care about anything else. the only thing they know is that Mrs.jones down the street just bought a new X5, so she doesn't think her 325i is worth fixing when she could just trade it in for a new 5 series.

[browntown]

I hate people the end

word of the day, you can put it on my tombstone: MISANTHROPIC

Yeah I'm really into this car hobby thing, till a couple hours of busting my back under my car, and I always say the same thing: no way I could do it for a living.

Good buddy of mine was a mechanic seabee in the navy (odd job for military -- worked on diesel bigrigs in combat zone in the phillipines with a loaded m16 within reach at all times), had a lot of fun and can turn wrenches 10x better than me. Now he's back in school and will always attest, turning wrenches as a career is much harder than desk work. Granted the guy has had more project cars than anyone I know: 88 vette, 1st gen mr2 (I totalled -- long story), 1st gen dsm awd turbo, delsol with crazy race motor and integra brakes/driveline, chevy s10 that is getting a sr20det, etc. All for hobby, he worked at a shop last summer and although it was easy for him, he refuses to do it as a career.

Education, education. Easy for me to say I know. I went to an ivy league school at 17 and got it done pronto. You'll regret not going to college later in life. Stereoinstaller1 has an excellent rant on the subject somewhere. He's a self-made man with a ton of skills and still can't get the job he really wants without a degree. His options are narrower than someone with a degree.

I'm younger than some (turn 30 this year), but as I age I doubt some of the decisions I made when I was 20 more and more. One thing we tell our eight year old though, is that college is not an option. It is a requirement. Hell I already feel held back for not getting my MBA, by the time our children are older grad school will be a requirement for the good jobs. Scary I know.

[/old geezer scotch fueled lecture]

[george graves]

go back to school even if at night

Blunt - he was a engineering major - show me one school that you can get a engineering degree doing it at night..

[blunttech]

Blunt - he was a engineering major - show me one school that you can get a engineering degree doing it at night..

Blunt Tech university offers night courses in engineering. we have openings on our west coast campus actually. i could put you in contact with one of my career counselors if youre interested in getting out of the "cinnabon" game

[dirty30]

Been in the car business for four years now, service writer, parts, dispatch... I know ALOT of people at various shops and I've come to a conclusion. The cry babies either suck at thier job or aren't putting forth enough effort to learn the cars to make it easier on themselves.

[WillisE30]

Been in the car business for four years now, service writer, parts, dispatch... I know ALOT of people at various shops and I've come to a conclusion. The cry babies either suck at thier job or aren't putting forth enough effort to learn the cars to make it easier on themselves.

Double true.

[Digitalwave]

I just have no desire to do what I do for a hobby as a living. I'm sure I would end up hating it.

I don't think this is true for everything. Photography is a hobby I turned into a "job" and I love it every moment I am doing it. I love shooting for fun still too. I also love wrenching, but I KNOW thats something I'd get sick of after a month.

[Ray Smoodiver]

I don't think this is true for everything. Photography is a hobby I turned into a "job" and I love it every moment I am doing it. I love shooting for fun still too. I also love wrenching, but I KNOW thats something I'd get sick of after a month.

Do a job you love, never work a day in your life.

[aaron.j]

Been in the car business for four years now, service writer, parts, dispatch... I know ALOT of people at various shops and I've come to a conclusion. The cry babies either suck at thier job or aren't putting forth enough effort to learn the cars to make it easier on themselves.

I KNOW the cars inside and out. It is not complex or hard to do. I work next to guys who are 30/40/50 and they are always complaining about how they hurt. I have to walk into that environment every day. It is my future if I don't do something about it now. Oddly enough "service writer, parts, dispatch..." you have never been a tech. I never said It was hard or that I am not turning enough hours (i.e. suck at my job) I said its a pain in the ass to be slowed down by the inneffiency of others when the techs are the only ones on flat rate. I also said service writers are waffleswaffleswaffleswaffless.

[hugh jass]

torque stix

haha, i forgot about that.

[Jand3rson]

I don't think this is true for everything. Photography is a hobby I turned into a "job" and I love it every moment I am doing it. I love shooting for fun still too. I also love wrenching, but I KNOW thats something I'd get sick of after a month.

That's true, I meant it more toward working on cars.

[equate975]

Hmm what you just did is EXACTLY my plan lol. Except the drop out of college part.

This is my last semester of required classes for a liberal arts degree, I then just have electives to finish it off. My plan is to then do an automotive tech degree that will count twords my electives in liberal arts, and at the same time get me that degree, 2 for the price of 1! :P

Then I want to goto STEP, and just get a job at a dealer just to have a job, then I hope to dick around in my own time and come up with something awesome and sell it, or open up my own shop. But until then the dealership wages will pay for the cost of living and whatnot.

[dirty30]

It is my future if I don't do something about it now. Oddly enough "service writer, parts, dispatch..." you have never been a tech. I never said It was hard or that I am not turning enough hours (i.e. suck at my job) I said its a pain in the ass to be slowed down by the inneffiency of others when the techs are the only ones on flat rate. I also said service writers are waffleswaffleswaffleswaffless.

I never said you sucked at your job, I was merely stating an observation I made over the course of four years. Techs are either whining ass babies or straight forward reasonable people that don't complain because at the end of the month they are getting a larger paycheck than the vaginas in the shop. You seem like you fit well into that first category.

-Ryan

P.S. I was, without a shadow of a doubt, a huge waffleswaffleswaffleswaffles when I wrote service. It felt great making more than the techs on my team too.