Finally, somebody mentions computers. Right on, Jay. It's not my favorite job in the world, but it pays well. The cool part is that it's mostly hands on what I do. I'm a high school dropout, GED and some junior college classes - English, Calculus, etc. - never got around to getting a degree. Worked in an AutoBody shop, bartender, waiter, detailer... now I fix computers and after 9 years experience, now making 6 figures... not bad. Computer industry looks at 3 things, experience, certifications and education. I got a couple certs under my belt, a friend worked for recruting agency (a head hunter) and she got me my first 6 month job. After that one, got another 1 year contract and so on until I got enough experience to make a counter offer on a permanent job. I've been under the receptionist's desk, when that hag kicked lose her mouse cord. And I've been at the CEO's house setting up his wireless VPN for a fat little bonus on the side as well. I've done desktop support, system adminstration, backups\restoration, disaster recovery and now I'm looking at computer forensics. But that's where I need my education. So far my experience has been that a college degree will get you places like management and head of department jobs, but now I'll need a degree if I'm going up against smart criminals and lawyers. So it's back to community college to work on a bachelor's in Information Technology and to get certified in computer forensics. Sure, I spent nine years getting here, but I didn't waste a 4 year degree not knowing what the fuck I wanted to do. Fedjeffy, drop me a PM if you're interested in any more details. Good luck, ps, my favorite job was tending bar, but it was rough on my liver and brain
It seems to me that this young guy is at a crossroad, When I was young I was sorta in the same mentality... my father said a few things that changed my tune. 1st. if you understand math,you can figure out any equasion. 2nd. learn a trade you can use your whole life. 3rd. knowledge=power,knowledge=money. 4th. it is better to have a job that pays good all yearround than one that pays great for 6 months. He told me these things the summer I graduated from high school, it didn't sink in right away but after about 10yrs. I have a job I enjoy going to everyday that pays decent and has good benifits for my family.
Find a "sugar-Mama" that is happy to have her hubby stay at home with the kids and work on hot-rods..... If I could turn the clock back 15-20 years...... Passion first, what trips his trigger? From my experience the white collar route (CAD, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing engineering) etc. coupled with strong hands on skills that can jump on a mill, or lathe, to prototype, or fabricate would make for a very valuable individual especially in smaller companies, and with some education he could be targeting early on aftermarket industry employment by searching out SEMA or PRI companies, networking and making connections prior to graduation, and trying to get an internship / mentoring / aprenticeship relationship going during school.
Well, I don't know if this is an answer, but here goes. I've been working on special interest type cars for years and have NEVER worn a tool belt. And, most else can usually consist of alternating from standing(removing a part), to kneeling(same) to sitting down(repairing the removed part or welding)
A sure way to kill your passion for your hobby is to make it your career. Think about careers in the power industry...power generation plants, solar, wind. I know a guy that repairs and maintains power generation turbines. Still kinda related to hot rods. Makes big$$. China and India are churning out Mechanical Engineers like there's no tomorrow. Those engineers are coming to the U.S. because of our higher wage and they are willing to work their asses off. In those cultures, there is tremendous pressure to "jump thru hoops for a stupid grade that truly means nothing in the end". You couldn't be more wrong about the grades, they do make a difference. Think big picture. The grade says that you applied yourself, you've accomplished a very difficult task and that you excelled at it. Says something about your work ethic in a format that the world understands. Not the end of the world if you don't get good grades. But if you're smart enough to get it, why not take advantage you can get?? Because....assuming that you are a white male, my experience says that you are already at a dis-advantage in the engineering field. My world is filling up with those Chinese and Indian engineers, and some of the work is being shipped there directly.
The world is changing,constantly.A trade that looks good today can disappear in 20 years.Look at the way manufacturing jobs are being exported right now.Kinda sucks if your trade is based on manufacturing. ------- Knowledge is knowledge. Power is power. Knowledge is only power if you are in a position to apply it. Knowledge = Money only if you can find someone who will pay for that knowledge. How many university grads are driving cabs,and flipping burgers, because society doesn't value their knowledge ? And don't think the world will beat a path to your door if you invent a better mouse trap.
If FedJeffy decides to apply himself, and if he doesn't have an attitude, or feel a sense of entitlement he will have a leg-up over the Chinese engineers in my opinion. The Chinese are well educated, many with Masters Degrees, but as engineers most I have seen lack the creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit that the Western culture possesses, and it makes them very envious. But that being said, when hiring, first impressions - Attitude, personality, body language, appearance, are extremely important. Not just education and qualifications. If you decide to go out on your own which it sounds like you have passion for the same applies.
thanks again for all your help and guidance whether i seem like an unappriciative young punk with an attitude or a person with goals that just needs help. thanks for your advice
It's actually great that your a "frustrated father". That means you actually care and want to see your son prosper. These days you see way too many screwed up parents who are so focused with their own problems, self inflicted or other wise, their kids end up with no direction in life. Heres a link to a web site with a ton of information that deals with motivation, career choices and dealing with humans in general. The author gives a great blue collar perspective. http://www.motivation-tools.com/
Jeff- I'm 22, and half way to a dual Mechanical / Nuclear Engineering degree. I've been where you are. I spent 3 years as a laborer, a year as a diesel mechanic, and a year as a welder/fabricator. There are very few people that I go to school with that have any "real world" knowledge with regards to Engineering. That's an advantage that you have that very few other people do. Use it. It's a really fun major. Spend some time talking to people who haven't been blessed with the same opportunity as you, going to school isn't an option for everyone. Don't take it for granted. Good luck, and take it easy with the motorcycles.
take it from me....go learn something that will make you money! i am tuning 30 this month and its a eye opener. i am the same as your son i wanted to do what i want when i want. i have no health problems but i always wated to work on hot rods for a living. so i quit school and went to work. i have gotten some good chances and used them . i now work at a hot rod shop in washington. BUT i make a shit wage and life is a lot harder than it should be. i do what i want when i want now but only with help from my girl and company i work for. if he wants to be rich and enjoy this hobby GO TO SCHOOL!!
Doesn't matter what you do for a living. It helps if you enjoy it but nobody will hire a young kid with no experience. Needs to get his foot in the door somewhere and work hard. Don't expect $75,000 a year just starting out especially w/out a degree or experience. Work hard and it will pay off, unless the company you work for sux.
An open letter to my son, fedjeffy... Dear Jeff: Welcome to the HAMB. It's nice to see you've come to play with the big kids. Here's a suggestion: (and I know you eagerly await suggestions from your old man) Go back through the posts, and read the biographies of the folks who took the time to write their ideas on careers for you. Please note that not everyone here looks like Jessee James (though he is a HAMB member) talks like John Milner, makes millions of dollars on the backs of others like Boyd C, nor draws and sketches like Chip Foose. No, this is a truer cross section of the hobby than you'll find on TV or anywhere else. These are the real people of hotrodding. People with real careers, real mortgages, real families that have found a way to fit their love of old cars into their real lives. When others were out partying, they cracked the books in school. When they needed to invest in their future, some sold beloved tools and projects to make it happen. They approached life without delusion, but with goals, a positive attitude, and a belief that what they really wanted would come to them if they focused their energies long enough. And it did. So why did I ask these people to address your situation? Because they can do what I can't. They can give a wider perspective on the world, while sharing my values and interests. (And to you, my HAMB friends, a very big THANK YOU.) So, Jeff... if you won't listen to me, listen to them. Quit making excuses for yourself - a broken back, ADHD, my parents divorced, etc. -- and go MAKE IT HAPPEN. By the way, if you don't think college helps, you couldn't have written that post of yours two years ago, lousy spelling, punctuation and all! (Note that spell check is free! Use it.) I love you, man. --Dad.
Mr. J. Sometimes gifts arrive in strange packages. Ryan, our founder, has created a one-of-a-kind place for the exchange of ideas. More than Ideas get tossed around here. Read up, do a search, look up Member HAMBAndy's threads. More likely the ones written by MovingViolation. You'll get a picture just how much help each person who lurks, joins and posts or joins the Alliance does. The HAMB mirrors something of what the "working world", when it serves, tries to do. I slowly discovered just how much my heated discussions w/the Old Man, came out of my being so much like he was. Too soon, he and his gifts, were gone. If you have a gift, now is the time to find where it, and the world's needs cross. Money does pay rent, buys fuel, but for more than a few, it becomes a consolation prize. Being really good at something lets folks find out what you are capable of, find the right form, and you won't regret the sacrifices it asks. If there are 30K folks here, you won't find one, more helpful than the "Dude" who offered you advice. Each and every one of us has had our days brightened, or been teased, even out of our shell, by Denise. Best-of-Luck, Pitman
I know that there is a great deal of talk on here about how being a Correctional Officer is not really a great job in terms of the stress and the shit you have to put up with. Let me give you this instance. I graduated from University of New York with a degree in Architecture and a minor in Public & Urban Policies. My brother on the other hand dropped out of High School and joined the Marines he then went on to become a Correctional Officer at Green Haven in New York but transferred to Attica where he has been for a couple of years to be closer to our home of Buffalo New York. Today I currently work at a publishing company as an Art Director where I put in a ton of hours in front of a computer. If I get to take a vacation I always end up paying for it either before or after because I am always playing catch-up. I love my job and I am glad that I had the opportunity to go to school and learn design so that I can work in areas that I find suitable for me in life. BUT sometimes I look at my brothers job and say "damn that guy has the life." He can come home and not worry about deadlines and go on vacation and just have fun. He takes off what seems to be 150 days a year by swapping for holidays. Who can say that? He loves his job and is on track to retire by the time he is 55. I on the other hand probably will be working till I am 75 unless I invest really wisely. I know that I could not do what he does because I woud get tore up in a place like Attica but I do admire the fact that he can and nobody has better stories then those guys. If you can hack (no pun intended) a Correctional job and would enjoy that type of work I think that is great. Because at the end of the day with all my education and such I am still the one that is going to be coming out one step behind due to what rest on my shoulders. I would like to get to a point where I can punc in then punch out but that is just not how my job works. Deadlines always loom over you. So I guess What I am saying is that education is important and can only help you in the end. Whether be BLUE collar or White Collar they are all respectable nessesary in making our world work properly. Just make sure you enjoy what you do and are proud of it and that is all that matters.
Jeff, These folks have offered you "Pearls of Wisdom" yet you seem to have an attitude. If you still live with your parents, suggest you move out and try making it on your own and find out what it really costs to live and the limitations you will face in the real world of work. By the way, you owe HotRodLadyCruiser an apology. Too bad you can't join the military where you would quickly get "squared away".
19Fordy has a great point, too bad the military is beyond you. Just a note on injuries. Not too many years ago while serving as a Medic in the Australian SF I had a parachute malfunction. I broke my back in three places, my hip, both ankles, all my right side ribs, right wrist and fractured my scull. It sort of slowed me down a little........ No longer could I play soldier with all my mates so what did I do? I got down on my knees (OK, so this was 12 months latter when I could walk again) and thanked every single god I had ever herd of for the simple fact that I had risen off my arse and obtained a degree when I had the chance. Now I work in the medical field and make considerably more than most people I know. Yes I was one of those kids too once that thought it was all a waste of time, I was gonna join the Army.............. who needs school? I did. I do. Your old man has his head screwed on the right way, if you only listen to one person here do your self a favor and make that someone your father. Doc.
Awsome Doc. I had kind of stopped watching this one for all the selfish, useless garbage that'd been added to it. But you are exactly right.
my kid will be 22 this month and he is a licensed massage therapist. i'm proud as hell of him and damm near went crazy trying to get him to complete his journey to where he is at today. education is what you make of it. more of it never hurt anyone. just imagine waking up at 40 starting your shift on graveyard and having to say "hi welcome to macdonalds can i take your order please! or worse at 65(retired) saying: "hi! welcome to walmart!" oh! thanks for waking me up, yeah i was having a nightmare!
I would be inclined to hire and work with Dad here. I am finished interviewing young kids and dealing with their shitty attitudes. The Entitlement Generation is really really bad. Stay in school and learn something that will make someone else money for the time being, then if you get pissed off knowing more than the person that gave you a chance. Then start your own business. Good Luck. -Jason
Awsome thread from a father for his kid............. I always said i wouldnt go the path of my father. I became a pilot for a comuter airline and loved it...........but got good and hungry doing it. So i left the cockpit and went back to what i knew next, asphalt. It does me good and i get to learn from the best......my old man. We have had falling outs but all part of family business. And the time with my family is worth a lot to me. As for your son...................education is king. He loves old cars and hot rods...............so does this guy Chip Design comes from passion. Design the damn things and work your way to your own shop. My only suggestion is to make sure he doesnt forget his roots.... Leon
Wow. So, in the abridged "story of my life", I could tell you about a rotten childhood, divorce, SERIOUS A.D.D., and all of the other things that should have placed me directly into the correctional facility of your choosing, but instead, I have this amazing life. I had the fortunate experience of going to a "bad boys" school at the age of 13. My major advantage was a staff that was very well versed in seeing personality types and guiding them towards a carrer field that might be right for each Kid. Personally, My personality type was "Bad attitude, hands on, mechanically inclined", so off to the Auto shop for me! I tell everyone I don't have a college education...this is more or less true. While at the Ranch (Cal Farleys Boys Ranch for those interested, the first of it's kind) I did everything I could to utilize what I had within my grasp. By the time I graduated, I had an A.S.E. Master Technician Status, AND an I-Car Gold Certification. those two tools made it very easy, at a young age to get a job pretty much anywhere in the carrer feild I had Chosen. Add to that a whole slew of various college credits ( I took Summer school every year I was out there to make it so that my entire senior year was pretty much Auto Body and Auto Shop) and I had a "Leg Up" on most of my peers. I immmediately took a position at a real, true to life Custom shop...and spent the first 6 moths taping off "peelers"- Remember the dreaded peeling white g.m. truck fiasco of the early 90's? Suffice to say I will never forget them. The Jobs avalible to me have always been nothing short of amazing-Ken Hensens Rod and Body, F/X Sport trucks, A.C.S. in Tallahassee florida (best memory there-going to Wendy's in a half primered Countach, driving through the drive through, and paying for my meal in quarters. Ha!) Ovaho Performance, all of which led me here...My own shop. Crushproof. (Yay!) February 2nd is our 5 year anniversary. Am I a millionaire yet? Nope. Do the bills get paid? Yep. Has it been easy street? Oh HELL no, but we have fun, and if the trends continue, We are fast on our way to making serious money. Would I reccomend my own personal walk of life to anyone else? Not ever. Tell the kid to take his ass to school. Get a College education (and no, an english major will NOT do shit for him.) and apply himself. Unless they figure out tomorrow how to fully repair his back, in this industry, he is officially FUCKED. He will be bent in half by the time he is 30. guaranteed. You see, Television has glamorized the unholy hell out of building cars. This work is NOT easy, and the hours are LONG. I have met dozens of guys who are just sure they are the next Jesse James, Brian Bass, Cole Foster, or Gene Winfield. what they don't see on the Discovery Channel, or T.L.C., is real, muscle straining, back breaking, blood drawing WORK. The Entitlement Generation, as E.F.C. so eloquently named them, have tools within thier reach We didn't have 20 years ago. There are college programs you can utilize to build a solid carrer that simply didn't exist when I was at thier age. His possibilities are endless. The idea that an aversion to books will somehow make him a great mechanic is off, too. My most important tool in my shop is THE LIBRARY OF OLD CRAP. (affectionatly termed, might I add) Without the ability to utilize it, every other tool in my shop is USELESS. I don't think the physicality of this work is right for him. Storm King makes alot of great points. I can say that Military Service was not for me, but aside from that, his game plan seems right on. My only other thing to add is this...Riches and Wealth are 2 distinctly different things...I am Rich.
Thank YOU, Lux Blue. You are spot on as well, riches and wealth are two very different things. (having my preference though, I'd choose both!) A book I use to direct my life tells me that of all the things I should seek, wisdom is number one. Then it say s all other (good) things will be added to me. Wisdom shouldn't be confused with knowledge just as money shouldn't be confused with wealth. The easiest path in life is rarely the best one.
So it has been a few years since this thread has been looked at I am sure. I am the topic that started this whole thing and I am sure none of you care at all, but I just wanted to revisit this post to explain where I ended up in the six years since. Lets start with I have had several jobs in may different industries since that terrible day when I broke my back . It has been so long yet has gone by very fast in the same sense. I believe the first job I had after this post was working in retail at a Oakley store selling sunglasses. I am very glad I got a discount however even though I was the number one sales person the one and only month I worked there I did no settle to be a low paid hard worker. SO I QUIT. I started at the junior college in town and found that it was gratifying to learn something I cared about. It is just too bad that was something that did not apply to THE REAL WORLD as my old man would say. My next job was doing something I thought I would love, building hot rods. I worked out of a guys back yard building cars. I just found out the hard way, how shady working in a guys backyard could be. I rarely got paid on time and when I did it wasn't always the proper amount. SO I QUIT, after about two months. I then decided I would go to work as a real hot rod builder in a real life shop working on high end cars. Boy was I excited, only to find out it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I did get paid on time but not what I was promised when I was hired. I had to replace the quarter panels wheel wells and trunk floor on a 57 chevy convertible in lees than a week to earn my job. I got it done in three and a half days so I was able to stay. Well I still wasn't happy. SO I QUIT. I found a job I thought would be quite fun and very different, which was driving a street sweeper and water trucks. That was fun while it lasted. The economy took that one from me. I then met a great guy a car show who wanted me to drive his Fiat. Real steel car btw. He happened to be the maintenance manager at K&N filters. Now I am sure you think this is the dream job. It started as the opposite of that. He told me he would help me get this job so I would learn the hard way why I needed to go to school. I did not enjoy my first two months there. At the end of the second month I was asked if I wanted to work in the composites shop. I said hell yeah. Little did I know the composites shop was attached to the RACE shop. I thought this IS my dream job. I got to build scoops for the best pro stock cars out there and work in the same building as a whole bunch of race cars. Well the boss of the race shop is an asshole so every time I went over there he would yell at me. So I became friends with his boss by doing side jobs at his house so I could hang out there after work and learn some stuff. Oh did I mention they have an engine dyno in there shop too. I then became friends with the full time engine builder they had, boy was I lucky. Well my ADHD kicked in and I wasn't getting paid a penny over 11.25 an hour. SO I QUIT. He quit his DREAM JOB, you might say. NO I just didn't want a JOB anymore I wanted a career. I got a temp spot at an AEROSPACE company. Some might say that was crazy because I was full time with benefits at K&N. However I wanted more. Cut to the chase I am Now a SR. Technician at that fancy Aerospace company and own a 5 bedroom house. I still own my dragster along with the 67 C-10 tow vehicle and a 1933 plymouth 5 window coupe. Don't tell your kids they need to go to school to get what they want out of life.They just need to follow through with their dreams. All it took for me was never giving up on myself. I knew I could have the things I wanted without sacrificing the things that meant the most to me. I am getting married next year to the girl that STOOD by me when nobody knew if I would ever walk again! Time has flown by since my dad posted on this site about a lost kid. Well here I am telling you to never give up on yourself. Even if you are 60 years old like my dad. It is never too late.
Here are two pictures of HOW I PLAY. I have been afforded the ability to race in one of the most prestigious races in all drag racing a few times. The MARCH MEET. which is partly why I wanted to build cars. my dad started taking me there when I was in my early teens and I never thought I would race there. Much less in a 6 second 200 MPH car like The blue one pictured.
The Jalopy Journal
