Well this post got me thinking..I also tell all the young people who ask me about being a mechanic (including my own kids) that there are better career choices out there to make. I worked in dealers for 20 years they beat me up and spit me out... I'm 43 and my knees are junk along with my back...the years I spent flat rate fighting for every cent. man o man.. paying out the ass for health insurance working every other saturday waiting 15 years to get 3 weeks vacation. Hated working on my own cars with a passion. Well I do feet maintenence now for frito lay and compared to the dealer life i love it! I have been there for 5 years.. good bennys and I already have my 3 weeks so I have plenty of time to work on my cars... I would explore all your options and look at it with an open eyes.
also things like a heavy equip mech job working for a construction company are a lot better than flat rate tech the construction industry pays you by the hour and you have a great variety of work, paid for my house and all my loans and only did it a couple years and went back to my own shop
Am 40 years old and started out in dealerships at 15 in the 80s.I loved hotrods and muscle cars and wanted to pursue a field in a career i might be interested in. I worked my way into being a tech and taking the asep gm based program. After 14 years of flat rate burn out and warrenty bullshit, I went to work at a small mom and pop service station in a town of 4000. People were great and treated me well but the day of the small shop filling station has gone by the way side and you eighther update your equipment and building or you lose your franchise and gas supplyer and fall to the wayside behind the minimart grocery gas stations. So i am reorganizing life and going back to school for tech diploma in welding, something I shoulda done 22 years ago..............as allot of guys have said here and seems you chose, dont make your passion your job. In an earlyer post sums it up, for every guy living the dream, working in a rod shop or similar situation there are 10,000 pissed off mechanics-techs living check to check with projects under tarps that havent seen daylight or a wrench in years and children who will get stuck with them when they move on. I may sound a little bitter but at least i got out at an early enough age to change it up. A very good friend of mine in his sixtys been a Tech since he was in high school and probably one of the best Gm techs in the county is stuck at a local Gm dealer. Most people are taking their cars to smaller shops to avoid the big ticket costs, Unless its a warrenty item then the techs get raped for the "book time" 3 to 5 guys standing around the service desk from Dec to March when its usually slow fighting over oil changes to possibly get a 20-25hr book week for the 40 they spend there. He just lost his house to the bank 8 months ago and his daughter couldn't go back to college this semester. Just my experience just my opinion..........
I'm probably way more synical than you are. I went to the school of hard knocks, and I discovered a long time ago that once you start getting cash to do something it is a job not a passion. If turning wrenches is what someone wants to do for a living and they enjoy doing it then in the culture we now live in school is a very good idea. I would look for a school that teaches modern mechanics. There is a ton of money to be earned in the hot rod industry but only if you either own a shop or have a lot of experience and have already made a reputation in the industry. If you are just looking for a job in the automotive industry you need to be up on modern technique and electronics. Hot rod school isn't going to help you in the get a job catagory as a rule. There is another avenue that isn't going to reck your body. Any mechanic that says that wrenching won't destroy your body is being dishonest. You may try design school. You don't have to be an engineer you can study design technology, if you are young there is a lot of opportunity in the field. It would be money well spent and you could still enjoy wrenching your own stuff in your off time.
Currently I go to McPherson College. I sometimes ask myself whether I’d do it all over again. While jobs are hard to find and most shops that I’ve heard of think there the absolute best and way full of themselves, and that no one will be as good as them, but that’s another issue. When you graduate the problem is that these shops think that you know everything, but after graduation you still need training. Just like a plumber, electrician, and any other job skill. The fact that people that hire Wyotech and McPherson grad and that don’t know anything, even on this post, involves them choosing the wrong person, the fact that they still have to learn, and my previous statement that they are full of themselves. I know many graduates of both Wyotech and McPherson that arent worth anything but I know that are going to be the best in the industry, after they gain on the job training. So just decide whether you want to repair cars at a repair shop (UTI), restore cars and get a 2 year certificate (WyoTech), or 4 year degree learning restoration (McPherson). The fact of the matter is I still have a bachelors degree and i ever have to have a career change I could do it.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
I've been a Wyotech instructor for 4 1/2 years and every time this subject comes up I end up thinking the same thing...did the people flaming the school really WANT to work hard at learning? I will tell you this and put good money behind it. 99% of the people that badmouth tech schools are the same ones that don't listen to instruction, don't try hard in the shops, and expect that somehow they can just be injected with knowledge and skills, party, collect their diplomas, and become overnight sensations and millionaires. Sure, it's ok to dream about what is going to happen after you finish school; but to hear so many of these kids talk about how all they want to do is "get sponsored" makes me cringe. Get sponsored for WHAT? For most of us LIFE IS NOT EASY. Unfortunately, all we see on TV is how people are getting "rich" quickly in this business. They should make a video starring a lot of the guys who've posted here about slogging it out for years and barely (or not) getting by, and require the recruiters to show it to prospects. I hate to say it, but a lot of the students we are getting are too dumb to just look around at the men and women packing a lunch in every day and DOING this kind of work.
UTI is a waste too.. best to get your feet wet at a community college and get a job somewhere and work your way up.. in this day and age, unless your top of your game your gonna starve if ya think your only going to be a fabricator.. the bread and butter and big money is still fixing grandma's caravan. but being in a shop that can do it all is where its at.. at least thats the way I see it.
I am 40yrs old and graduated from McPherson in the early 90's. I thought I could start building on my own as I felt and had been made to feel I had the knowledge and business sense to do so. The bottom line is I didn't have the customer service skills to say no or manage my time. I eneded up taking a job at GM on the managment side and now I'm with a dealer group. My ability to get on with these companies had nothing to do with restoration technology degree but the fact that I also got a BS in industrial/manufacturing technology. Most everybody I know that has been sucessful on the fabrication and restoration side has learned it the hard way. You can't "buy" experience or talent and unfortunatly anyone that has ever heard of the speed channel talks a game of shit like there some kind of Arlen Ness with nothing practical to back it. So as a shop owner or customer you gotta test them and weed them out. Pedigrees from a tech school don't mean jack.
Hmm.... 100 grand for Mcpherson school, or take 20 grand and build a nice shop to build my own cars and gain fist hand real to life knowlege. Option two is sounding better and better to me.....
Automotive industry is wide and varied. I have friends doing very well for themselves after going to Pitt State. Plus, you are a 15 minute drive from the HAMB Drags!
I read all the questions and answers in this post. Personally if you want to do something in life....do it. I am a retired body man / fabricator with 50 +/- years experience. I learned the hard way. Started in my backyard at 13. Got a job in a real body shop by accident at 18. I had taught myself enough to catch the owners eye as promising. I started as a disassembler and moved to priming parts etc. I eventually learned to do body work correctly,learned to do lead work,gas weld,hammer weld,mig weld,paint. Moved onto frame straightening and eventually ended up running that shop for 15 years. Had several small shops of my own. It has been a good paying job. I have been a car/bike nut all my life. At 64, I'm still as enthused about cars/bikes as I ever have been. I still enjoy building and repairing. Just not as healthy as I used to be. The point is, don't let anyone rain on your parade. Find a way....and there is money to be made in this business. I'm even going to get the chance to pass my skills on to one of my sons....life truly is grand.
"I’ve been looking at schools since high school, about three years now.... hasn’t seemed that long.... anyway.... " What have you been doing the past 3 years since high school? That's 3 years you could have been in college and graduating next year with a degree. Then join the service, go to OCS and you'll have the start of a good resume. No time to just sit around. Your youth will pass you by quicker than you think.
darkk, happy to hear I'm not the only one! I spent almost 30 years as a body tech. I made good money, liked the work and developed a set of skills that would be hard to master as just a hobbiest. I've been teaching collision repair for ten years now. Many of my former students are doing very well. Some don't make it in the trade. Some don't stay. It's demanding work. You don't start out making big bucks, but again, the guys that have a good work ethic and are a good fit for the trade, are usually making journeymen wages within two years of school or less. Guys without the work ethic won't do worth a shit no matter what they choose. Hot rod building is a different deal. There is not nearly the demand as for collision techs. I tell my students if that is really what they want to do they'd better be in the top 5% of the class, and I recommend they spend 5 years or so in collision repair to develop their skills, then pursue their dream of building cars. Expect to make considerably less than they could in collision. I did, but the hot rods are for art, and although it eventually paid me fairly well collision repair kept the bills paid. As for school I recommend community college, but I'm a little biased! Our program is 6 quarters,& takes two years. It's about a grand a quarter plus tools (about 2 grand, but it's tuff to get a job without them). I don't think that's a bad deal for a trade with plenty of demand, good pay and benefits (at least here in Spokane) All you guys bitching about never making any money, I just don't understand. I find it hard to believe that Spokane WA. is somehow ahead of the rest of the country in technology, pay, and working conditions, but hell maybe we are. I also don't get the whole "go to work for a shop and learn on the job". Around here that's almost nonexistent. I don't know of any shops collision or mechanics that will train. It simply costs too much, takes too long, and both trades require a huge amount of technical knowledge that is almost impossible to learn on the job. I deal with body shops daily, they all say the same thing. "We can't afford to train a guy only to have him go to work for the competition".
While going to the autobody program I got a part time job at a landscaping place/nursery to get me by while at school. When I got done with school I was offered a full-time job there. I took it until something better came along. Well, within the first year, I was making 15 bucks and hour and had insurance. Now its just enough money to want to stay b/c I will start out at so much less somewhere else, but not quite enough to be able to get a house with a shop and get out on my own. Plus, the insurance it a major plus. Right when I started I found out I was type 1 diabetic. So I gotta have it. That also ruled out the Military Idea. B/c it was def an option up until that point.
I graduated from Mcpherson 2 years ago, and it is very true; you know enough to be dangerous. Also you get out of it what you put into it; some people caught lucky breaks and got great jobs and others, not so much. But from my limited experience I can say this, its better to have a job that pays and keeps cars as a hobby. The few shops I have worked at I can say this about, it was always the same story, get it done faster and for less money. Which gets old fast and will make you dislike working on cars for customers.
Wow, didnt expect to have this thread mean so much to so many guys on here. Lol. I have been attending my local community college since highschool, and looking at auto schools on the side. I have to say that Ive read all the responses on here, mostly, and Ive been thinking about what else I would want to do for work, mostly with my hands... Gunsmithing has taken a lot of attention in my mind. Also my sister, of all people, told me about a two day course to be a "phlebotomist", or like a blood technician person making good money at a hospital. I dont really know what way to go from here. Anyone know of any tech school names that offer gunsmithing, just a shot in the dark but a shot.
I always answer these questions the same way. Seriously consider a 4 yr TECHNICAL (Engineering, Industrial Tech, etc.) degree. I was like the OP and spent a few years at the local community college trying figure out what to do. I finally decided on Mechanical Engineering. I transferred to a 4 yr, finished the degree a few years later and now I work as a Test Engineer for a power sports manufacturer. I design, build, and implement test fixtures, testing methods and practices. I get to travel all over the country riding ATV's and snowmobiles (and get paid to do it). I am working on the latest and greatest technology, and alot of what I do relates nicely back to my hobby (I built my own rotisserie, english wheel, and many other tools). The biggest benefit is that I make a bunch more money then the guy slinging mud at the local body shop. Most TECHNICAL 4 yr degrees are in very high demand right now, and will continue to be for the next decade or so. For me it was well worth the extra college time. Good Luck and keep looking forward.
Whoa, thanks for your input FrozenMerc. Im kind of burning out on school rite now but reading what your doing, is kind of painting a better picture for me. Thanks! BTW, anyone know anything about gunsmithing? PM me if you do, please.
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