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I’m going to be training two guys for my shop. Aside from all the technical stuff I know there will be some things I may overlook tips easy tests etc. What do you wish an old timer would have shown you or told you if given the chance? I know a lot of us were thrown to the wolves,I know I was, that being said. Give me some ideas to plant and things I may overlook so my little sponges can soak up and grow. (well I hope they’re sponges lol)
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I am a third year technician. The guy that trained me during my apprenticeship was very uneasy with showing me some of his tricks and shortcuts that he had learned over the years…It was only until I changed shops and some of the old timers were a lot more willing to give me some advice at better ways to do things…I think the guy that trained me didn’t want anyone else doing jobs as quickly as he could! I wish he would’ve been more open to me with all his knowledge.
Yeah I’m hoping to get these guys up to speed so I can just troubleshoot, figure the more they know the easier my life will be lol
After 45+ years in the trade I wish some “old timer” would have showed me how to become a Gynecologist…. :silly:
Funny you say that, I always say I’m not a gynecologist but I’ll take a look LOL :woohoo: some days I kick myself for dropping out of engineering school. My girlfriends youngest son is taking auto mechanics in school…I told him to run, take home ec lol
Awesome suggestion Karl! Thank you very much I’ll draw me up a lesson plan! That is brilliant and easy way to weed and seed!
OK…one of the largest problems I ever had was knowing what the -“not dirty”, “car owner”- really was hoping to fix. I try to redirect the customer away from self diagnosis, “needs a tune”, “trans is slipping”, “I know it needs brakes, been 4 years now”. Get correct info, spend a few minutes having him/her show, listen, drive, tell, whatever it takes. If you are having a 3rd party do your service writing and the scope of the job is out of the norm, it would be nice to be able to move the repair order writing/consulting up a notch by being able to ask a master/senior tech to help. I know or hope that these types of diagnosis don’t make up a majority of the weekly business, but, if you hope these types come back for all of their other needs these need to be done accurately, and at a game/fair price.
Just had an old customer call and tell me their trans was slipping…felt bad, know he is broke. Happy ending, a drive down the block, a minute in front of the garage, clogged cat! His diagnosis took a hit his wallet didn’t.
Just saying.100% agree with Karl.
I’m the lead tech where I work and the only time when I feel bad for the apprentice is when you have so much work that you need to dictate their task as NOW I don’t want you to take your time to understand the why we do it this way. I want you to do this as this vehicle needs to be out of the shop by 5p.m.
It’s the reality that I they need to understand and we need to explain them diplomatically. There is one thing I told them tho is that I will never give them the answer right away when we have the time for it as the little mouse in their head need to run. There is also other scenario when I don’t have the answer myself and they assume I should be there to tell them what is wrong. The only thing that they can learn from this particular case is how a tech will approach a problem the most efficiently (time wise) and can conclude that in any case before starting to strip everything apart as you can be misconduct toward a wrong diagnostic. ALWAYS GO BACK TO BASIC.
Einstein was saying: If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
So compare to pretend I will find it then explain it. I will show you how I will diagnostic with the best of my knowledge and hopefully that will motivate you to do the same as you being part of the shop team. That has to be your motto even if you don’t have the experience.
It’s kinda nice when you feel like a big reference, but that is stressful when the shop sees you a mechanic god when they are wrong as you are just a human being doing its best with the knowledge and material to work with. Some tech are moody as they want to share information to a tech as long as the tech is willing to stay, and I feel the same when you share stff that took you 7 years to get comfortable with when you know they won’t say in the trade andor will go work for the competition across the street.
But at the end we should all want to share as much knowledge cause it sucks less when you know where you’re doing!! 😉
Maybe a word or two about not trying to overthink a problem would help also. Sometimes it’s easy to be a bit overwhelmed from the start or after getting into a problem initially and thinking the problem is a lot more complicated than it actually is.
I’m guessing you are paying hourly. That helps a lot to teach instead of the flat rape.
Think about when you were new. Think of where you are now. You want to just do diags, and have them be parts changers. Remember that sometimes you want a day off. Also remember they have invested in themselves and will continue to do so in their tools. They need to learn and grow, and with the attitude you have expressed I think they can. They have an experienced mentor.
I would say that instead of just giving them the “change this part” deal tell them WHY it needs to go. If there is time allowed bring some of the more promising ones with to show HOW you find the culprit. You can show them diagrams and explain symptoms, show them how you test things and why you are doing it. This also gives you a chance to pick their brains as to how well they truly grasp electrical theory and how to read diagrams. Maybe you can help them with things they are not certain of. It helps them to bounce ideas off of the guy who has been there, done that.
They will come to you with dumb questions sometimes. They will make dumb mistakes and especially if they feel pushed to get things out faster than their knowledge lets them. When, and not if, that happens you need to look at it on a case by case deal but try not to snap on them. Explain what they need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. If they are getting gun shy and worried about being out on their ass they will not be forthcoming about mistakes and the people who find them will be your customers. A mistake that happens in the shop doors can be corrected, a mistake that makes it outside the doors can be disaster for your reputation.
Show them the right way to do the job, and you will not initially get to have your full time in your bay as you are certainly babysitting. But you need to check on them and be ready to answer questions. Explain the theory of operation behind the part that is being changed and why it was defective. Do that and you will be grooming true techs, not just parts changers. It is the right thing to do for them and it feels good to see them come into their own. One day you may want to hang it up and those guys will be making you the money. Those guys will be training the next crop of greenhorns. Make sure you prepared them for that.
You will also want to bring over some of the special tools you have used to make life easy and show them how to use them. Let them know you expect them to not rely on your box, but they don’t know what they need to buy unless they try out what the pros use, now do they? If they show respect to your box let them in. If they show disrespect you need to question whether they should be inside the shop in the first place. I do it that way and it has worked out. Some items I have were fabricated by me because I couldn’t find anything on the market that did what I wanted or I knew I could duplicate a $500 tool myself with basic machining and welding out of scraps. Those things I let them use whenever needed and it reminded them not to be a total slave to the tool truck. An innovative mind can often make the best tools for themselves.
Above all, patience is needed. Start coming down too hard on them and they get jaded, which leads to more mistakes and nobody needs that. You’ll figure out soon enough who has promise and you can nurture that. Maybe try every couple weeks to meet up with them after work, perhaps on Friday just to have a quick drink or something. Just to remind them that we are all human. Congratulate them on the week and tell them what you hope happens next week. Get to know them, what’s going on with their kids, women, etc. You can establish trust while retaining respect and have loyal employees.
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