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I’ve just finished auto tech school and am in my first garage. Ever.
It’s an independent shop and they have a great reputation. Mainly because of the honest way they do business and their experienced techs. The guy with the next least amount of experience has about 7 years in the field.
I think they mean well and want me to stick around but I feel like I’ve been thrown in the deep end of the job. I’ve never done brakes (outside of 1.5 days at school) but I’m doing them at work. On most other jobs I’m obviously struggling and the guys on flat rate surely don’t want to slow down to help me out.
Are you supposed to feel helpless and stupid when you start at a garage? I’m wondering if I should have taken a job at a dealership. Someone at work told me they worked for Honda for 15 years. His first six months were as a helper, an apprentice I guess. I like the sound of that right about now.
What do you think? Talk to a dealer about starting as a helper until I get the real feel of a working shop, or slog away at this independent shop until I stumble my way to proficiency? Or do I talk to my current boss about changing my job title from service tech to apprentice/helper/floater?
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Well the only one that can truely answer that question is yourself, i started at a dealer as a lube tech while i was in tech school and i would do all the lofs and when i wasnt busy id help the techs to learn i was a lube tech for like 4 months and then i went flat rate. If you dont feel comfortable with your skill set then yes i would talk to him and see if you could apprentice for a while to get the swing of things. Its not easy right out of school. School makes it seem easy then when you get hired its a whole new ball game lol its kinda rough being thrown into the mix of things where its either sink or swim. If your boss is as reasonable as he sounds he might be willing to let you shadow and learn a bit from a more experienced tech, the only other problem is finding the tech that isnt grumpy all the time and is willing to teach you lol
As a young guy, I think it is more helpful to work independent shops but as K5 said, you need to make that choice. The best way to get help as a young technician, is be very eager to learn, don’t disagree with whoever is trying to give you advice. Even if they say something that you know is completely wrong, don’t try to correct them. None of these old timers that have been in the biz 20+ years want to help some cocky young kid. K5 is right, most of them will be very grumpy and don’t like new blood, but be kind, act like you know nothing, and earn your stripes and show them you can learn and do things the right way.
And furthermore, don’t mean to double post but I thought of this. I never went to a technical school. I found a job as a helper, and worked as a helper for about a year. Then I was moved up on my own. When I graduated, thats what I did. A friend of mine went off to technical school, and worked at Acura as a helper…well, he lasted 6 months there until he was switched to flat rate, and is now at an independent shop and is much happier. Just my $0.02
I’ve always thought, or felt that dealerships are great starters in our industry. At a dealership you won’t be thrown into the mix and muck right off the bat. They have a tendency to see what your made of and where your at (for their own selfish reasons).
I’ve always thought independent was and should be for the guys that have a few dealer experiences sincet they’ve earned the experience with more platforms and are able to work quicker and diagnose faster…and on top of that things like pattern failures and tsb’s are ingrained into their minds. Even though you never know what’s going to come through your bay door you’re better able to serve the customers needs with your experience. There is always a Toyota guy, Nissan guy, GM guy, etc…
Ultimately the choice is yours. But it sounds to me like you mat be better served and better serve in a different climate.
That is unless of course you can be someone’s wingman in your current shop, ID stay.both are crap in my opinion, depends on your owner, management….
i had worked at indy shops: some good, bad, real ugly.
dealership: almost same sort…it only depends on you how much you can observe and learn and gain experience…sure u can stay in one place that won’t teach you nothing…just scrub washrooms and sweeping floors because you are lower level tech.
unless you are in trenches…no learning…no gain.
find people who believe in you to grow and succeed for them…i mean either indy or dealer…
probably better off find doing another kind of repair jobs….appliance or heavy or whatever would be..p.s. personal success came from dealership where i was a-hole…didn’t share my life too much..just focus on my job and learning.
Another good way to learn and not have to worry too much about the pay aspect of things is an hourly position. Like for a fleet, or municipality or state agency or something. You’re getting paid from the time you clock in, until you go home. Most large fleets send techs to OEM training classes. And since guys aren’t rushing thru jobs to get paid, the more experienced guys are willing to help you out more. I’ve been hourly since I left school. Working on garbage trucks all day everyday and loving it.
i went to mechanic school because where i live in CAN didn’t even let you work as helper…everyone had to apprentice or you can’t work…they told me to get pre-apprentice class from public college..which i did.
not that anything wrong with working as helper: i didn’t have much choice…people who owned shops told me to do that courses…even to be considered…
i have worked with hacks, pros, incorrect techs…yes, it does take time to learn…most of them were on flat rate and they didn’t want to babysit someone who didn’t want to try to figure out.
at least that’s the way, i learned…sink or swim…when you sink…that’s when i ask for help….we can’t always waiting for help from somebody…figure out and learn i guess…
everybody learn different so you will know what works…and ask help from employer…if they are decent people.
Here would be my question to you. Did they teach you the things your doing in school? Are you nervous about working on your own to the point that your work is un-safe ? I own a decent size shop and I hire new techs out of school all the time. I just hired a new one yesterday and I will tell you the same thing I told her and all my new techs straight out of school. 1st. You have to believe in your training but if you have questions ask them that’s how you learn. 2nd. If you feel like your in over your head on a job say something …. your not just working on cars and trucks your directly effecting peoples lives and you have to be responsible . If you truly can’t do a job safely then say so and if need be get some one with more experience to double check your work.
[quote=”bustedbolts” post=89162]Here would be my question to you. Did they teach you the things your doing in school? Are you nervous about working on your own to the point that your work is un-safe ? I own a decent size shop and I hire new techs out of school all the time. I just hired a new one yesterday and I will tell you the same thing I told her and all my new techs straight out of school. 1st. You have to believe in your training but if you have questions ask them that’s how you learn. 2nd. If you feel like your in over your head on a job say something …. your not just working on cars and trucks your directly effecting peoples lives and you have to be responsible . If you truly can’t do a job safely then say so and if need be get some one with more experience to double check your work.[/quote]
i found that personally nothing beats working in positive environment…it’s hard to come by. we won’t know until you get there and work there first…had been both indy and dealer… really depends on people you work with and how environment set up.
i guess where i am in my career that i kind of stop asking question unless i am really stuck…
i am at the point i would know those things…it’s not even matter of not knowing…when you getting pissed at work then,
everything go downhill from there.Wow, funny to see my topic still in the mix. Here’s an update; I asked off flat rate and now am hourly for a little less pay. I have a guy I’m supposed to be shadowing but mainly I’m now doing oil changes, brakes, jumping in to help other guys. I’m definitely getting the hang of how they work here.
Short term goal is to get back to flat rate, maybe 6 months to 1 year. In the meantime I’m alright.
Thanks for the input.
Quick bit of background. Years ago I went to college for an automotive program. Came out found my first industry job a little over a year later at an independent shop. One of the lead techs wouldn’t teach anyone anything, the boss was HORRIBLE. I’ve worked for some real winners, but this guy takes the cake.
Anyway, kinda pursued a different career for several years then decided I din’t like the money or the schedule. Got a job at an independent tire shop. Had some issues of the personal kind ended up ceasing employment there. A few years later I got a job at, let’s just say a place identifiable as “Canadian”, doing tires and oil changes on flat rate. Wasn’t bad until things slowed down, busted a guy scamming from me more than once and made a whopping 80 hours in one month and said screw this place.
Found a job at an independent shop with a near perfect pay system and a metric tonne of support from everyone. We actually have a meeting every Tuesday to share problems and solutions. A tech I worked with at the last place went for his first year apprenticeship a few months after I left and I can confidently say I’m likely way ahead of him. I’ve gotten better training and have had my hands on all sorts of jobs. I’ve gone to more specific training and have access to the every resource out there. The biggest part is learning to put everything together and get an accurate diagnosis. Most techs that work at dealerships are good by repetition, the do the same things on the same models day in, day out. There’s no way you can get as much experience at a dealer as you can an independent shop. Yes when you start everything is new, but eventually you start to see repetition and how things come apart and go together.
If it was easy anyone could do it.
I guess it really just comes down to how much time you can actually put shadowing and being under the wing of an experience technician. Like myself, I work for Nissan as a lube tech and I hardly ever have time to walk to an experienced technician and ask to teach me a thing or two because the fact that the lube rack is always getting packed with oil changes and tire rotations. I am eager to learn but also can wait to learn. It also has to do with the kind of shop you work in. There is a lot to it and how we come about finding our ways to learn and be the best technician in the shop there is. I myself want that, one of biggest and only goals to accomplish right now. I may be wrong, who knows? I am barely about to make my first year ever working in the field and in a shop. There are many many more things I need to learn myself before I can speak the real thing. I will admit, I don’t really know much and even after getting an education I still feel there is tons that needs to be learned. With time that will come. I know I get it, we all want the best paying job and I can agree 100% on that because who doesn’t want more money on a profession someone chose to do that they like?
But to answer the forum discussion, I would stick with dealer. Again, I have yet to see how the system works and I want to be able to fish out ways to get where I want to be. Not that I would not consider independent shops, for me it is more of will I be able to find a great repair shop that values their employees as much as they value their customers and treat them with the value they deserve, going for both employees and customers.
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