I can tell you why experienced isnt always better. Your a,b,c techs dont have any drive 95% of the time and that means a crappy attitude and bad habits. I manage a shop and was a tech for ten years. I know lots of guys that have 10,15,20 + years that are out there and wouldnt hire a single one of them. Some of these guys were lucky to work places that put up with there BS. I have found some young guys that had heart and the will to learn and now would work circles around some of these OLD TIMERS.
If you want to try working on cars you just need to prove you want it bad enough!! I will always hire a guy if he shows he really wants to learn. It takes time to become a good tech and It takes years for most of us to figure it out. Anyone can turn turn a wrench but it doesent mean they should be doing it for a living.

 

You have to search hard being inexperienced and start from the bottom. Speaking from working at a corporate and private shop, private is the way to go. I'm working 50 plus hours a week doing tires and oil changes but having done the same at corporate its a lot better.

 

Absolute truth.

 

^^Oh yeah, they think they are above everyone. When I worked at Sears I watched 5 techs come and go in under a month because they were hired as an alignment tech but were too proud to do batteries and tires. In this business you are never above any job. I don't care if you are a master tech you might have to do medial work. The ones that refuse don't last. You don't need certs to work Im proof of that.

 

Make sure you like this line of work eventually it will take a toll on your body. Ive been doing it 20 years now and im 36. My advice look into the State jobs and Public utilities as they have apprecticeship programs to train you with pay. Also there are dealership programs at local colleges to maybe look into. I started by sweeping the floor at an engine machine shop to just hang out and watch.

There are high paying jobs in this field you just have to know the right places too look. I was a State of CA employee for 7 years making about 50k a year now i work for PG&E making 90k as year as an Equipment mechanic with no OT. I dont have my ASE certs i do have my CA smog license and just hands on training. Good luck on your career!

 

I'll share a few things, but you have to listen carefully.

Backstory, I am a 40 year old married for 20 years dad. My shop celebrates an eight year anniversary March 1st. I have been a tech since I was 17 years old. I started as an $8 an hour grunt and I topped out eight years ago as a $150k a year 100 hour a week Master Tech.

First thingh you need is passion. Few choose to be a tech and make a living at it. You truly must enjoy doing it. If grease and grime aren't your thing, not the career for you. If you don't possess a logical analytical brain, it is not for you. If you are thinned skin and/or are easily irritated, it is not for you. You have to enjoy it.

I got into the trade in 1988 when my 69 SS396 needed an oil pan after hitting something on I95. I was quite happy delivering pizzas for $750 a week before that. But for some reason I could just play. Cars and systems just made sense to me. And like anything else, if you know how something works, you can fix it. Kind of explains the divorce rate in the country, doesn't it?

I started as a third shift guy at a 24 hour roadside rapist shop but quickly developed a set of morals and left to work for a chain tune up shop. Hated that so I found a nice independant shop that paid flat rate at a good rate. The idea that you could bill more hours than you actually worked completely intrigued me. It was all uphill from there.

No formal training and at 20 years old I was killing it at around $1200 a week take home for 46 hours worked a week. Do I have your attention yet? I always had cool fast cars since then. I learned as I went and always made best use of the information made available to me at the time. At first it was Motor manuals and of course that led to CD Roms which was THE coolest thing ever. Now I am a Mitchell 1 and it is all online.

It is a steep learning curve and I found out quickly most bosses are ********, so that is where thick skin is required.

My ASE certification was led by a boss who mistakenly said he would give me $100 for every one of the eight available. Big mistake. There are many reasons why one does not finish high school. Mine were deeply personal. NOT a dumbass. I studied and in two nights I walked out a Master Tech, and a base salary of $800 plus $21 an hour flat rate. At a gas station. That went south due to a remodel into a C store. From there to a big independend where I flew to the top of that shop at $32.50 an hour and a set of keys. No where to go from there so it was time to tap some of my savings and open my own which is a decision I have never regretted.

So, in short, my advice. Skip expensive schooling and go hands on. Find an independant to start at and realize the only way up in this buiness is to move to a different shop. If you are good, word gets out, and finding employment is not that hard. Get your two years practical experience and go for the ASE certs. That is what employers look for. I could care about an UTI or Lincoln College diploma, sho me proof of proficiency through the ASE system. It takes a few years to make money at it, but if you are truly passionate about the trade, your paychecks will reflect it. Anyone who tells you to run away is either no good at it, or they suck. Again, ASEs are the first thing I look for when hiring a new tech. The gleam in the eye is the first thing I look for in a helper/apprentice.

Andy

 

In 1988? Almost 40g's a year? Delivering pizzas?

 

Keep in context, back then, there were no Dominoes, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut was a sit down resturaunt. At that time I had a two year old S10, a 78 400 4 speed TA, and a 69 396 Velle. You would be amazed at that you could buy out of a guys driveway back then. But the most memorable was a 69 Roadrunner. 383 4 speed car with a 3.55 Sure Grip that needed a battery. $400. Drove the snot out of that one for almost a year before I scored big by selling it for $2300. Damn I am old,.

 

Yep everything this guy says is true. ASEs will get you places, but by no means do you need them to start. And be confident. I got my job within 5 minutes of walking in the door.

 

ASE just means you are book smart. Anyone that is good at taking multiple choice tests can pass these exams. That is really all they are. But yes unfortunately, chain shops require those bs certifications for raises and such. You don't necessarily need them to get in, chain shops just won't trust you right away and will look at you as a liability for a while. This also depends on how much experience you have other than ase. I would say that the shittiest concept about this field (passenger car and truck) is that all these shops expect you to have more and more skills to adapt with today's vehicles, but they don't want to pay you anything to have those skills and tools to do it. If you think about it, you need skills in: plumbing, hvac, electrical, welding, hydraulics and wrenching; all to just survive in this field.

Sort of like the quote from swat, "if you like long hours and getting dirty for low pay", then this field is for you. You REALLY need to enjoy wrenching and getting dirty to enjoy this field, and not just working on cars you like. Working at a chain shop, be prepared to work on all makes and models that are 10+ years old, some of which are ready for the junkyard; and if you live in any state that get snow, get ready to deal with rust and corrosion. You will quickly hate certain manufacture's after discovering how ******* stupid some of their designs are. Cough* ford* cough. Which reminds me of the other saying, "the mechanic fucked the engineers wife". Resulting in making the mechanic's life a living hell on some designs.

Yea you can make decent money in this field if you are very good at diagnostics and very fast at replacing parts. In today's time, to make a career out of this, it is very important to have good diagnostic skills. IMO, the only thing good about school is getting tools for 50% off tools in most cases. But other than that, no school can teach you everything about their field. They teach you the theories and basics, the rest you learn on the job. What you put in, is what you get out. You really need a positive attitude in this field or you will not survive. I pretty much had to unlearn what I was taught in school in order to be faster at replacing parts.

If you are starting from scratch, be prepared to work a few years at damn near minimum wage as a tire/lube tech, and be ready to spend easily $20k+ in tools over a couple years if you plan on turning this into a career. Management really doesn't give a **** about you, you are expendable. To them, you are just another pig in the stall; if you don't meet their standards and start causing them to lose money, you are gone. Anytime you take away money from a shop, you are gone. All chain shops care about is money and productivity. Forget about leaving when your shift is over. Chain shops love to take in more work then they can handle. Which means all the mechanics get to stay hours upon hours after their shift is done to complete the work that the salesman and management took in. Management doesn't give a **** about you staying late either, because they already made money on the job and can leave whenever they want. Expect to work 12-15 hour shifts on weekends.

It's all about finding the right shop. By that I do not mean a chain shop. All chain shops are good for is gaining experience. Your top mechanics are only making $20/hr at the most, that's with 8+ ase's and decades of experience. Find a nice privately owned independent shop that only has a few employees total, one that doesn't advertise or specialize in $20 or less oil changes. To make money in this field, side jobs are your best friend. Just be smart about it.

I dunno, that is just my experience for being in the field for 5 short years. I guess another plus side is all the tools you buy for your job, you get to keep for yourself. If you play your cards right, I've heard that you can write them off in taxes as well. I discovered this field wasn't for me and wanted something more than a 9-5 job,

 

I have to ask, what's so wrong with UTI that has everyone saying such bad things about it?? I ask because I've been in the Army for 5 years now and I HATE it. I love working on car's and am currently doing a motor swap on my 99 SS by myself and it's going flawlessly. After I get out the Army I really want to go to UTI since there is one in Tampa close to South GA where I'm from. Please tell me the reasons and experiences ppl have had with this..srry not trying to steal the OP's thread here.

 

The fact that i worked with several at sears and they knew no more than I did from hands on experience and they are out 30k

 

There were Dominos around back then. Perhaps not in your area. I remember camping out for three days waiting for Monsters of Rock tickets and surviving on $5 Dominos medium pepperoni pizzas. Drawing that kind of pay in that time period seems awfully unbelievable.

 

yeah well one thing is I would'nt be paying for it out of my pocket, the Army is lol. I am alsoalot different than most of the kids who got out of high school and went to UTI cause they liked the F&F movies, and thier parents needed some where to send them after high school. I myself have been working on cars since I was atleast 14 and have been around racing, and done alot of racing myself. I live,breathe, eat ,****, cars and racing. I would take ALOT more out of that school than 90% of the ppl who go. I know I want to be around car's in some way ,shape, or form for the rest of my life and want to learn everything there is to know about them. I think if I was to go to that school I could really learn alot, and retain it. What do you think?

 

that school sucks. I know people that have gone and said it's all book work and no hand's on. Lanier tech has a motorsports program in GA which is a lot more hands on and you have to apply to get in. take a test, go through interviews etc. weeds out MOST of the idiots they can but still have to accept people for the numbers. I think 15 people a year get in.

 

I went to UTI and am not one of the idiots that went there. Most of them probly wont go into the field. If you want to work on cars and learn then it wasnt bad at all. Been out in the field for 5 years now, Worked on school buses for 4 years and now for the last year in a small repair shop. Probly got 20k in tools and is all paid off. So keep that in mind if you seriously want to work in the field you are going to spend $$$ on tools your first couple of years. But wont sell my tools I love them and still more to buy and love.

 

see, that's what I wanted to hear. First hand experiences on what the school was really about about and what it did for you and your life in general. Altho small repair shop is not what I had in mind, was aiming a lil higher but hopefully that shop pay's you well as some of those shops can..most don't tho. I would love to hear more about you time in the school and what you learned.

 

I went to the small repair shop to learn more on all types of cars I have worked on things from a 6.0 Powerstrokes to audi and benz so trying to be well rounded. Working on school buses for 4 years thats all I knew besides performance so still young so I said screw it work on cars for awhile. likely go back to heavy duty equipment or larger trucks. You get out of the school what you put in. There are some dumbass ppl there but then there are some knowledgable ppl. So Listen in class and do the lab work and you will learn. Go out in the field and you will learn more real quick. I dont regret it.

 

thanks so much for that info

 

Why do you hate the army so much? What is your mos? Do you just not like the mos you signed up for, or just don't like the structure of the army way of life?

You mean you love working on cars that you own? There is a big difference between working on your own cars that you actually like and being forced to work on piles of **** that were designed by a 22 year old on oxycontin.

IMO on the UTI and other expensive tech schools, most of the kids that attend those schools don't really take the education seriously. No school is going to teach you everything about the field. You learn so much more on the job, especially in auto motives, then you do at school. Yea the top dollar schools give you an opportunity to get into high end luxury european cars; but I, along with most mechanics out there, ******* hate working on those cars as it is.

Kinda funny, You are getting out of the army and are getting into the automotive business. I got out of the automotive business and am going into the army. Assuming you joined right after high school, I bet we are close to the same age as well.