I`m a out of work Harley mechanic and I`ve been thinking of trying to get on with a rod/custom shop. Do you guys ever hire people without experience and teach them or do you prefer they come from a trade school? When i was younger I was into muscle cars alot but lately I`ve been interested in the older rods and custom cars from the 30`s,40`s and 50`s. I don`t have any experience working on these cars so I`m wondering if it would be a waste of time trying to get on with a custom shop with little to no expereince. I do have some metal fab experience but I`m not a pro by any means. Thanks guys.
In my shop I have experienced guys except for one youunger guy who is eager to learn and has an innate skill. Dont know how old you are but if you are older than 30- Id say forget trying to work in a custom shop' becuz you think its cool, always wanted to , think you could' the list goes on and on and Ive heard them all. If you were as good at custom stuff as you think- you would already be working on your own rides and be well known for it or have your own shop. If someone did decide to take a chance on you - I would hope they: 1) give you a hands on interview , doing what you will be doing in the shop 2) get references from ANY job you had on yoru work ethics. Those are just two for starters. If you dont know anything as you say about customs, then you will probably be starting at the very bottom- pushing a broom and cleaning the toilets- and we shop owners always need to know from past employers what your attitude is like when you have to do stuff like that. You would be so sruprised at the number of tech school grads I have had who were 'shocked' we didnt have a cleaning crew and they had to pick up afer themselves!!LOL I for one wouldnt hire you- My shop is smaller and extremely busy- I dont have time to teach someone everything but rather to guide the talented artist int how we do it....Id suggest looking for a bike shop -or go out on your own for HD mechanical. good luck with your decision.
It will be a hard sell to get yourself into a job without a lot of experience here. The worse the economy gets, the "leaner' the operations have to become. That means getting rid of people who are marginally good for your business, and keeping the ones who have multiple talents, are good, and fast. Of course this means that there is usually not time to teach anyone the ropes. nless it's family, I wouldn't bother, either. The time you spend (waste?) teaching new guys how to do things, many times, is lost, either because they never catch onto the quality, rhythm, or workflow of the shop, or, if they're good, they move on. I cna't tell you how many guys I've tried to teach, and they just never got it, even if they were "really into old cars". Just wasted my time teaching, then re-doing their work most of the time. Once in a while you get a good one, though...like 57 FoMoparjoe, but he's going to be a big shot someday........ So unless you can really impress someone with your skills, knowledge and work ethic, it's going to be tough to change fields in this economy!
Thanks for the input guys. Unfortunatly I am just over 30 but I`m not interested in working in a shop because I "think it would be cool" or any of the other reasons listed. I`ve always loved cars but I`ve never had the monet to buy the tools needed to do custom work and when i was younger I didn`t like the older customs. I was all about the muscle cars and how fast I could make them. I made the mistake of getting into the motorcycle industry because now the industry is falling apart and in my area even if your good it`s tough to find work at a shop. I`ve been doing it for 7 years and I`m tired off the lack of work at shops that claim they never get slow and as soon as you start and get them caught up they realize they do get slow, they just took on more work then they could handle with the guys they had. I`m interested in getting on with a custom shop because I had the chance to work at a bike shop that let me do some metal fab and I really enjoyed that part. I appreaceate the input guys.
do a build on your own,if it's good then you can establish a rep.rep gets you in the door.if you don't have the tools,get with some hambers close that's willing to let you learn and get hands on....do it right and who knows.
Thats good advice but unfortunatly it`s going to have to wait for a while since I`m not working right now. It`s tough to find work outside of your field these days unless you have the exact experience they are looking for. I`ve got a car lined up to build when the money is there so at least it`s a start.
I'd keep trying if I were you. 2 years ago I used to do I.T support, and hated it. After alot of 'soul searching' I decide i wanted to get into metal fab and blacksmithing. I did a short course in blacksmithing and had been fabricating parts on mine and friends cars for a while. I looked on a blacksmithing site and scored a job at a place that was willing to train me. I had to travel, and the pay was bad, but it was what I wanted. 2 years later, I now work closer to home for more money doing a job I love, i'm 43. No doubt it will be hard to find a way in, and the pay will be low, but if it's what you want, you'll find a way.
It all depends on how many $$$$ you'll work for! Wanna get your foot in the door? Be able to lay down nice welds. There's always gonna be a shop looking to pay under market rate for a talented welder. Always. good luck
So true. What skills do you have to offer the potential employer? you say you used to make muscle cars run faster, so can you do engine work, exhausts, transmissions? What custom fabricating skills do you have? It's going to be hard to find a job for sure, but if you have some killer skills to bring to the table and a good work ethic and are willing to start at the bottom both in pay and in role in the shop there are opportunities out there.
I don`t mind starting at the bottom, done that twice so far in 11 years. Yeah I build my own engines and they ran good but I wouldn`t say they are special just well thought out. I have a friend who does all my trannys and I always just had the muffler shop do my exhaust since I didn`t have a welder back them. Over the years I have had some welding experience with ARC and MIG and about 2 hours of TIG. I`ve installed a MII crossmember on a 57 chevy truck along with boxed front rails, made some custom brackets on a chopper at one of the shops I worked for and just some general repairs needing to be MIG welded. I`m a self taught welder so I`m not perfect and have been thinking of taking welding classes to get certified even if it`s just for my own use I`d like to learn the correct way of doing it even though my welds come out pretty decent. I might just keep it a hobby till i get more expereince and see what happens. I`m doing side jobs on bikes so maybe I can pick up a good welder and stat doing custom stuff like brackets or whatever to get some expereince till I can afford a car to start on.
I'm in a similar boat. I'm 36, and like neilswheels, I'm tired of doing a dull job for (little)money, not because I like it. I'm a sculptor who is into cars, but doesn't have experience working on them for a living. Custom building is a perfect mesh for me. I'll be bending, welding, manipulating, building art until I die. Being able to make functional art (cars) would be great. I'm unemployed too, so building my own car is not possible right now. I don't know about you, but I think in general, the older one is, the less likely they are lookie-lous. I'm certainly not. I'm looking for a career, not a job, and old enough to understand starting a new one starts at the bottom. I talked to a guy here who used to work in CART, has retired, and builds hot rods. He told me pretty much what I was hoping not to hear. He said you have to have the skills. Tig welding is 100% essential. Mechanical skills, obv. He told me to learn CAD, which I am doing at the local community college on Saturdays. I've borrowed a combo arc/tig welder from a fellow artist, and am practicing on that (have my own mig). He said the Wyotech/UTI type schools aren't worth the money. He did say LA was the land of custom builders, and there might be a rather small chance someone might hire one with more desire than skill, provided one can show that. Being in CA, you might have a shot at one of those. GL
Hey come on, you taught me how to drink really good beers and I learned that one well and do it good and fast and you still redo that portion of my work all the time. lol. Joe already is a bigshot, he's 1-0 as my lawyer!
the Harley dealer here in Lancaster might be hiring. they always are running ads for mechanics. My experience in running shops has shown that alot of the guys that come in and say they can do it all really cannot. it amazes me when these guys come out of some tech school as a "master tech" and cannot do even basic things. I always gave the guy that admitted he couldn't do everything a chance. At least he is honest, and the right guy that can learn and become proficient is a great asset. Give yourself some credit, though. working on bikes is something significant, and alot of that knowledge can be applied to cars. All you can do is apply to the shops. All they can do is say yes or no. You aren't going to find out if you don't give it a shot. Good luck.
Did you read my mind? Luckily now I have a pretty good crew but I agree - many people talk the talk but cant walk the walk . I have gone through a ton of help because they didnt match up to what I really needed or what they said they could do. Hopefully- you will find something that you love to do so you can do what you love . Good luck
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