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Hey guys as I’m sure you all noticed I just joined. Been following the forum for a while just never had an account. Anyways to my question.
I’m 31 years old. I love working on cars. But I’ve never done it professionally or had any real training. Just always in my own car or friends and family.
I’m sick and tired of working behind a desk and I want to actually DO something. And I’m positive that something is working on cars. Due to my age and the fact that I have a family and bills to take care of I really want to skip the school part, I would love to get a job somewhere where I can get some real on the job training and learn the things I don’t know as I go.
So I guess my questions are. Can I get a decent job without going to school? Where should I start? A dealership, Indy, a Jiffy Lube? What are my career prospects if I don’t go to school? If I’m a quick learner is it easy to move up? I’m okay starting out not making much, but how long before I can earn a decent wage, assuming I can learn and take in things quickly?
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You’re looking at a very, very tough road ahead going into the mechanic world. In a small number of cases the stars are aligned just right and things can be fine. In the vast majority of cases it’s never fine, never has been, and never will be.
Getting into the field without a small fortune invested in tools is tough not even counting the fact that someone would prefer a person with some experience. A school may help some but it should be a community college; not one of those hokum for profit deals like UTI, Wyotech, etc. Their only purpose is to force you through with bare minimum training and a mountain of student loan debt.
Their commercials on TV might make it seem glamorous but what goes on there is not what happens in the real world.A fast lube could be a training spot but the pay won’t be that great. If you get into working for car dealers you will quickly learn what shop politics, backstabbing, and getting screwed over on near a daily basis is all about.
If you could get some experience and manage to obtain a government fleet mechanic job or something like that it might not be too bad but those jobs are not commonly open.
I hate to be that pessimistic but I’ve been there, done that to rehash that old cliche’.
To repeat a line from an old 50s era Bugs Bunny cartoon; “You’ll be sorrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy………”.Do you have tools? Do you work on your own cars? How technical have you gotten? Try studying for ASE Certification, especially Electrics and Engine Diagnostics. Not sure exactly which tests they are but getting certified ASAP would improve your chances of getting a job. Besides dealerships you can also try talking to non-dealer garages or even assist independent shade-tree mechanics. I’ve read a bit on the state of the automechanics industry and getting into it. There’s definitely a shortage of automechanics going on. Question is, who’s going to pay you enough and give you enough benefits to stick with it? Don’t want to sound pessimistic but make sure you look into that. Some people are happy with their career as an automechanic. Some of it will be you – how well you understand cars, and deal with employers and customer bs, and some will be the employer – how well they treat you. Good luck!
[quote=”bradley8795″ post=142152]Hey guys as I’m sure you all noticed I just joined. Been following the forum for a while just never had an account. Anyways to my question.
I’m 31 years old. I love working on cars. But I’ve never done it professionally or had any real training. Just always in my own car or friends and family.
I’m sick and tired of working behind a desk and I want to actually DO something. And I’m positive that something is working on cars. Due to my age and the fact that I have a family and bills to take care of I really want to skip the school part, I would love to get a job somewhere where I can get some real on the job training and learn the things I don’t know as I go.
So I guess my questions are. Can I get a decent job without going to school? Where should I start? A dealership, Indy, a Jiffy Lube? What are my career prospects if I don’t go to school? If I’m a quick learner is it easy to move up? I’m okay starting out not making much, but how long before I can earn a decent wage, assuming I can learn and take in things quickly?
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Not sure if you have seen these videos that Eric has produced for his ETCG1 channel but I thought I would pass them on to you anyway. Hope these are helpful.How much knowledge do you have? Any ASE certs? How do you stand tool wise? To be honest those are the questions I would ask myself getting into the business.
Down here, someone with a little shop experience and some ase’s is going to get the job over one of the hotshots fresh out of tech school. Depending on your knowledge, the best thing to do may be to start in the lube lane and find one of the oldest guys in the shop. If your lucky enough he will let you shadow him. I had a few friends I went to high school with run off to a tech school, I took a year and a half hiatus from the auto field and went off welding lol. I came back into it a few years ago and still am farther along than they are. Just depends on the effort you want to put into it man.
I’m assuming you’re from the United States because in Canada, and Australia (as I’ve recently learned) you are required to attend college.
This is my experience. It’s just like yours. I left engineering and started trying to crack the glass ceiling of working in the auto field. What I’m going to say will be the exact opposite of what some say, but it does seem that many people just repeat what Ericthecarguy says because they are afraid of looking different or have no idea what they are talking about so they just repeat others say.
1.) you will need experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s Jiffy Lube, Valvoline, a tire shop, or an independent shop. Without some decent time changing oil, and other light maintenance you will find it very very difficult to find work in the field or a get a job at a dealership.
1a.) I recommend Valvoline, Jiffy Lube and small places like that because they take people with little to no experience and train you. Also I’ve interviewed at 5 dealerships before I was offered a job and each service manager told me “get a job where you can get experience changing oil, and other light maintenance work.”
Their big thing was ‘all it takes is to little, or just a little to much and you can destroy an engine’.
2.) School can help you get a job when you have no experience. Some, SOME, shops will take schooling over experience and start you as a lube tech. Many shops however prefer experience over schooling. All shops prefer experience.
I know Eric says you need to attend school. I somewhat disagree. You don’t need to attend community college. You can teach yourself with textbooks just like Fopeano and ASUWarrior.2a.) some schools have good programs and some don’t. I know the school in my city is an absolute joke and on the verge of being shut down. There’s a auto school 70 miles away that’s nationally ranked and has about 7 manuf training programs. If you attend school take the theory and operations classes. This will give you a basic foundation if you are the type of person that can’t teach themselves something. Take the basic classes. Brakes, suspension, steering, alignment, basic engine course.
It does you literally zero good to take a class on rebuilding race engines if you can’t diagnose a brake issue. 99% of this field is your ability to figure something out on your own. If someone has to explain something to you over and over, holding your hand this is the wrong field for you.
As someone else mentioned dealerships send you to training. So you are getting paid to be in the “lab” aspect of college classes, and paid to be in the classroom portion with dealership training. I learned a considerable amount while working as a lube tech and shadowing techs when I had no work.
3.) ASE
This part cracks me up. You need to try and get your ASE in suspensions, and brakes. That’s it. You won’t touch an engine or electrical issue until you’re a B tech. Yes you’ll do a spark plug job, maybe a valve job/valve gasket work but you won’t be diagnosing a piston slap, or a rough idle issue.3a.) You will see far more brake/suspension work then any other work besides oil changes. These see the most attrition and abuse. This circles back to studying brakes, alignment, and suspension books before you jump into building 572 nitrous big blocks.
4.) Tools. This is the most misunderstood and biggest bullshit I’ve heard. I worked with a Master tech that had a wall locker, and a mid size Marco box. He turned about 90 flag hours a week and never borrowed a tool. I asked him how he was able to turn so many hours with so little tools. He told he he spend 10 extra minutes moving a part instead of having a $300 tool to move around that part. Fopeano touched on this.
4a.) I have about $4,000 in snap on tools and that will last me well into my tenyur as a B-tech. I won’t need tools for about 5 years, seriously. I bought a bunch of stuff really early and honestly 99% I won’t need for a while. But I wanted to have it so I could tackle jobs with B techs and learn, plus grow into my set not try to purchase and catch up.
4b.) You don’t need to purchase those tools up front, or all at once. All you literally need is a decent 1/2″ impact, and a harbor freight or craftsman set that has a decent mix of standard and metric. Roughly about $400-$600 start up and that will cover you very well. Yes you will have to buy tools, but you will buy tools as you grow into more important roles. While making more money. MDK22 has an excellent post about tools, how snap on is also made by inversion rand and so on. If you do your research you can get very high quality tools for a great price. I knew techs that bought Harbor Feight pro level and they swore on their mothers chastity that their st uff was as good as snapon.
Some techs need $30,000 in tools and a bachelor’s from wyotech. Some don’t. The only person that can answer that is you.
If you have any other questions or need any other help ask here or PM me.
If you don’t already have tools, one really good way to get the truck brands without paying those prices is to look at pawn shops. I’ve been able to find some good stuff for half the price or more. Same with Craigslist.
I understand where you are coming from I have been shade treeing since I was young finally got tired of my job and started officially running a small mobile mechanic business. As far as tool I have about $500 invested a good complete 3/8 and 1/2 socket with matching metric and ASE sets, A set of open end wrenches, a good set of screw drivers, jack stands and a reliable jack. With these basic I have done transmissions wheel bearings replaced rack and pinion steering and a lot of other jobs in the last month or so. So you don’t need great tool go to auto zone still has a lifetime guaranty and works may not be Craftsmen or matco but they work.
As far as getting hired places I have been interviewed and rejected 7 times by large dealerships because of limited experience. By experience they do mean the basics like jiffy lube and the like just to get in the door.I am personally studying up for ASes not because I plan on taking them but becasue there is a lot of valuable diagnostic knowledge in the study materials ( that you can order on line for about $700). That being said I know people who can tell you exactly where to look in their fancy computer to find what sensor says there is a problem but have no idea how to access to affect the repair.
My honest suggestion is shade tree it for a while put your self out there for a few months make certain it is something you want to do for real work even if it is just changing peoples brakes and spark plugs.There are going to be days when you do not make anything or that big job does not bring in nearly as much profit as you because be cause of broken equipment un-forseen problems and the like. Make it through a few of those days and then if you still really want to turn wrenches find a local independent shop they are far more likely to hire someone without ase certification as long as you got tools and common sense.
I will say even though I am doing some pretty big job with basic tool I am saving for a good impact and a compressor If i had owned a impact cordless or other wise it would have saved me hours in the sun. Do not get me wrong I am not claiming to be a tech i am a mechanic I diagnose with experience and a bunch of techniques commonly considered shade tree, this works for me But i do lack a lot of knowledge in the more electronic side of things I will never own a $3000 scan tool or have my own bendpack two post hoist ( still jealous). That is something you do have to consider if you want to work on most of the newer cars you will get a lot of knowledge from schooling.
Good luck with your choice do not get disheartened to soon give your self a chance mistakes are learning experiences some of them are just more expensive then others.
[quote=”tryingnot” post=142344]I understand where you are coming from I have been shade treeing since I was young finally got tired of my job and started officially running a small mobile mechanic business. As far as tool I have about $500 invested a good complete 3/8 and 1/2 socket with matching metric and ASE sets, A set of open end wrenches, a good set of screw drivers, jack stands and a reliable jack. With these basic I have done transmissions wheel bearings replaced rack and pinion steering and a lot of other jobs in the last month or so. So you don’t need great tool go to auto zone still has a lifetime guaranty and works may not be Craftsmen or matco but they work.
As far as getting hired places I have been interviewed and rejected 7 times by large dealerships because of limited experience. By experience they do mean the basics like jiffy lube and the like just to get in the door.I am personally studying up for ASes not because I plan on taking them but becasue there is a lot of valuable diagnostic knowledge in the study materials ( that you can order on line for about $700). That being said I know people who can tell you exactly where to look in their fancy computer to find what sensor says there is a problem but have no idea how to access to affect the repair.
My honest suggestion is shade tree it for a while put your self out there for a few months make certain it is something you want to do for real work even if it is just changing peoples brakes and spark plugs.There are going to be days when you do not make anything or that big job does not bring in nearly as much profit as you because be cause of broken equipment un-forseen problems and the like. Make it through a few of those days and then if you still really want to turn wrenches find a local independent shop they are far more likely to hire someone without ase certification as long as you got tools and common sense.
I will say even though I am doing some pretty big job with basic tool I am saving for a good impact and a compressor If i had owned a impact cordless or other wise it would have saved me hours in the sun. Do not get me wrong I am not claiming to be a tech i am a mechanic I diagnose with experience and a bunch of techniques commonly considered shade tree, this works for me But i do lack a lot of knowledge in the more electronic side of things I will never own a $3000 scan tool or have my own bendpack two post hoist ( still jealous). That is something you do have to consider if you want to work on most of the newer cars you will get a lot of knowledge from schooling.
Good luck with your choice do not get disheartened to soon give your self a chance mistakes are learning experiences some of them are just more expensive then others.[/quote]
Come join us in the technicians only forum. I’d love to share some stories and advice.
Hey guys I just wanted to say thanks for all the great advice, it’s been a while since I posted on here so I thought I would just bring you all up to speed.
Tomorrow I start my new job at Valvoline. I plan on trying to do this for 1-2 years. I have also enrolled in college at Fullerton College here in California. The course is 2 years and will give me an Associates in Automotive Science. So in 2 years when I graduate, I will already have 2 years experience as well, so I will be able to get my ASE Certs and hopefully on to a good dealership.
Once again thanks for all the great advice, I may update this thread from time to time to kind of keep a record of how things are going.
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