The Technician Career Choice.

[Corey]

I just turned 21 a few months ago. I am in college for automotive, and I’ve got one more year to go before I graduate.
As of right now, I’m part of a Chrysler program, and work at a Mopar dealership.
After I graduate, my local BMW dealership promised me a spot in their STEP program if I come to them with a degree and promising results (which is no problem).

I did not know how to jack up a car…and I didn’t even know what a ratchet was until I was almost 19. It’s insane to see how far I’ve come.

However…lately…I’ve been burnt out.

I am in auto trans class right now…and there is SO much to learn. It got me thinking…
Why do I want to be a tech? (Thoughts are explained later.)
When I first started going to college and told myself that this is what I want to do for a living, I was beyond motivated. I was the top dog in all of my automotive classes.
Once auto trans class rolled around, I’ve kind of lost motivation…

I like working on cars. I like modifying. I like doing big jobs and then having it run perfectly after. I like being able to say that “I” modified my car and didn’t pay someone else to do it.

However…I feel like the profession is a bit of a joke.
Yes, it’s hard. It’s damn hard. But, I feel like techs don’t have to be as good as they used to be. Instead of using a DMM to diagnose a charging system, you just put a machine on it and it tells you what’s wrong. Seems like that’s how it is for everything. I feel like we’re just pawns of the engineers…which makes me feel degraded and less respectable.

A car comes in the shop.
Put the scan tool on it, go online, and see if there is a post about it so we can fix it.

7/10 times, the problem has already happened, and we can go in and just fix it. That’s how I feel the profession is. Look up what’s wrong, print the instructions, follow the instructions, and fix it. Anybody can follow instructions and fix something…

Flat-rate is a joke. Tell me…who is the better tech? The one that can fix anything? Or the guy that can pull 50 hours a week because he does new car preps and brake jobs all week?

I’d rather do the tranny, engine, and electrical work for a living, because that actually takes a brain to do. However, it doesn’t pay **** because it’s usually warranty. So, why would I want to do that?

It’s honestly stupid.

I don’t know. Hoping someone with more experience can change my insight on stuff and make me not regret my career…especially since I’m $10k in the hole to it (from buying tools).

I’ve only been in this career for about 1.5 years…so, it’s not REALLY too late. But, getting that 10 grand back would be rough.

Thanks.

Edit: I’m not sure why this thread posted in this topic. I could have sworn I was in the correct topic for this.
Feel free to move this.

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

A lot of good points have been brought up here and to be honest I’ve felt burned out myself from time to time. I see that a lot of the problems with the automotive industry have been pointed out in this thread but how about some possible solutions. What can WE do to help change the industry so that we get the respect and pay we deserve. One part of what I set out to do when I started ETCG was to help people with their auto repairs. Another part was to help raise awareness of what it is to live and work as a technician in todays market. I’m not joking when I say I’ve felt the way you’ve felt. Now that ETCG has some popularity I’m hoping to bring attention to these very issues. I’m not saying I’m going to change the industry overnight but I’d like to be a mouthpiece for those of you that are struggling in the field right now. So I pose the question to the group. What do you think we could do to help change the industry for the better? What do you think ETCG can do to help toward that end?

[Corey]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=57283]A lot of good points have been brought up here and to be honest I’ve felt burned out myself from time to time. I see that a lot of the problems with the automotive industry have been pointed out in this thread but how about some possible solutions. What can WE do to help change the industry so that we get the respect and pay we deserve. One part of what I set out to do when I started ETCG was to help people with their auto repairs. Another part was to help raise awareness of what it is to live and work as a technician in todays market. I’m not joking when I say I’ve felt the way you’ve felt. Now that ETCG has some popularity I’m hoping to bring attention to these very issues. I’m not saying I’m going to change the industry overnight but I’d like to be a mouthpiece for those of you that are struggling in the field right now. So I pose the question to the group. What do you think we could do to help change the industry for the better? What do you think ETCG can do to help toward that end?[/quote]

I think the warranty pay needs changed, ultimately.
I feel like the only way that’ll happen is if manufacturers start losing a lot of techs…and I doubt that will happen.

Like I said…I enjoy working on cars.
However, I don’t enjoy the part where it’s…
Car comes into the shop…
Go on the internet and see if someone else has had the same problem.
Print out the directions and follow them so you can fix it.
I feel like anybody can do that and that it takes no brain work (however, not EVERY car follows this pattern, of course).

I’d rather be the guy that solves the very complicated, unique problems, and posts about them.
I want to be the one that is paid to sit there and trace a wire…rip apart a transmission and look up why it failed…etc.
Being flat-rate, you don’t want to spend all day looking for a problem. You’d rather go look up what’s wrong so you can fix it and get paid. Not my cup of tea.

[Ed]

[quote=”coreychristianclark” post=57298][quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=57283]A lot of good points have been brought up here and to be honest I’ve felt burned out myself from time to time. I see that a lot of the problems with the automotive industry have been pointed out in this thread but how about some possible solutions. What can WE do to help change the industry so that we get the respect and pay we deserve. One part of what I set out to do when I started ETCG was to help people with their auto repairs. Another part was to help raise awareness of what it is to live and work as a technician in todays market. I’m not joking when I say I’ve felt the way you’ve felt. Now that ETCG has some popularity I’m hoping to bring attention to these very issues. I’m not saying I’m going to change the industry overnight but I’d like to be a mouthpiece for those of you that are struggling in the field right now. So I pose the question to the group. What do you think we could do to help change the industry for the better? What do you think ETCG can do to help toward that end?[/quote]

I think the warranty pay needs changed, ultimately.
I feel like the only way that’ll happen is if manufacturers start losing a lot of techs…and I doubt that will happen.

Like I said…I enjoy working on cars.
However, I don’t enjoy the part where it’s…
Car comes into the shop…
Go on the internet and see if someone else has had the same problem.
Print out the directions and follow them so you can fix it.
I feel like anybody can do that and that it takes no brain work (however, not EVERY car follows this pattern, of course).

I’d rather be the guy that solves the very complicated, unique problems, and posts about them.
I want to be the one that is paid to sit there and trace a wire…rip apart a transmission and look up why it failed…etc.
Being flat-rate, you don’t want to spend all day looking for a problem. You’d rather go look up what’s wrong so you can fix it and get paid. Not my cup of tea.[/quote]

Perhaps I have over simplified the issue you feel here, but surely if you don’t want be the guy that downloads the answer and follows a list of instructions, then just don’t. When the car comes in diagnose it using your skills rather than google.
Perhaps things are different for me in England, but when a car comes in for diagnosis we only use google/forums as a last resort, the scanner comes out the box more than often, but there is no shame in that.
I admit that I have only been in the trade for about 2 years, but I try to stay away from google for answers, preferring to learn solutions to problems myself.

Having said that the trade as a whole in England is seen as a lower grade of work than other trades, ie. sparkies/plumbers etc.. and I think that the trade is majorly affected by quick fit garages and rip-off merchants with monkey attitudes, creating work for themselves on customer’s cars when they’re quiet.

[Author]

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