Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
I have only had the pleasure of working in two shops in my (still growing) career, but each has been a rather good place to work. The one shop, I was still in tech school, did good in class, helped teachers with fixing cars at the schoo, etc. I felt I was ready to fix cars, but my boss really didn’t need me for that job. All he wanted be fore was the shop hand, oil changer, tire and alignment guy. But once in a while he would let me loose to do a break job or some suspension work. That shop though was full of salary guys and was really a great place to work. They were all pretty friendly, very knowledgeable and experienced, and all tried to help each other out. Looking back, I took this experience the wrong way. I looked it as they didn’t trust me, they didn’t think I was ready, they didn’t like me, etc. So I sucked it up and changed oil all day every day until I started to let it go. Then I really learned that if I changed my outlook, my work place can be a really good place to be. So I finished up tech school, bought a big tool kit and got basically laughed at by the guys there because I was so sour for so long, they never though I’d amount to anything.
So I move on to my “first” technician job at a dealership, and I’m doing amazing. Making money, get along with everyone, even made some friends and am teaching some of the lube technicians how to do some stuff. So basically what I’m saiying is. As for etiquette, it’s all about how you work with the people you are around. In hind sight, I was somewhat of an asshole sometimes because I thought I was better than the position I was in. Now that I’m “on my own” as a tech at a dealer, I really found that helping out another tech out of your own time, will really help you out in the long run. I kept quiet at the dealer at first. I didn’t even know anyone’s name almost a month into the job, but I think that my experience and quality of repairs spoke for themselves. I didn’t really need to introduce myself, I’m only here to fix cars, and as long as I can do that, I’m not out to pester anybody.
Now I have great relationships with everyone there. To me, Etiquette is just plain old not being an asshole … listen to the guy who’s been around since the dawn of man – chances are he knows a thing or two and your new school approach might be a little flawed. I don’t like to learn things the hard way … teach me things all day and I’ll listen. Then I’ll take what I’ve learned and mold it to what I already know and become that much better.
TLDR: Don’t be an asshole.
I have only had the pleasure of working in two shops in my (still growing) career, but each has been a rather good place to work. The one shop, I was still in tech school, did good in class, helped teachers with fixing cars at the schoo, etc. I felt I was ready to fix cars, but my boss really didn’t need me for that job. All he wanted be fore was the shop hand, oil changer, tire and alignment guy. But once in a while he would let me loose to do a break job or some suspension work. That shop though was full of salary guys and was really a great place to work. They were all pretty friendly, very knowledgeable and experienced, and all tried to help each other out. Looking back, I took this experience the wrong way. I looked it as they didn’t trust me, they didn’t think I was ready, they didn’t like me, etc. So I sucked it up and changed oil all day every day until I started to let it go. Then I really learned that if I changed my outlook, my work place can be a really good place to be. So I finished up tech school, bought a big tool kit and got basically laughed at by the guys there because I was so sour for so long, they never though I’d amount to anything.
So I move on to my “first” technician job at a dealership, and I’m doing amazing. Making money, get along with everyone, even made some friends and am teaching some of the lube technicians how to do some stuff. So basically what I’m saiying is. As for etiquette, it’s all about how you work with the people you are around. In hind sight, I was somewhat of an asshole sometimes because I thought I was better than the position I was in. Now that I’m “on my own” as a tech at a dealer, I really found that helping out another tech out of your own time, will really help you out in the long run. I kept quiet at the dealer at first. I didn’t even know anyone’s name almost a month into the job, but I think that my experience and quality of repairs spoke for themselves. I didn’t really need to introduce myself, I’m only here to fix cars, and as long as I can do that, I’m not out to pester anybody.
Now I have great relationships with everyone there. To me, Etiquette is just plain old not being an asshole … listen to the guy who’s been around since the dawn of man – chances are he knows a thing or two and your new school approach might be a little flawed. I don’t like to learn things the hard way … teach me things all day and I’ll listen. Then I’ll take what I’ve learned and mold it to what I already know and become that much better.
TLDR: Don’t be an asshole.
Hello my name is Jonathan. I started my automotive “career” as a backyard mechanic working on my first car. That was what started it all for me. My 1985 Pontiac Fiero. That car is a whole story all of its own … so I’ll just talk about myself instead.
When I was 18-19ish I started college for Automotive Service Technology at Baker College in the metro Detroit area. I got good grades and ended up being hired by the school as a work study to run the tool room. I gained some very good rep working there, and earned myself a very good friendship with the lead teacher/foreman/dean/the guy who makes decisions. He somewhat because my mentor for the year and a half I worked there, and I learned LOTS just from him, let alone my schooling. I ended up taking every automotive class available at the time and just recently graduated. About half way through my degree, I got a job at a small independent repair shop near my house as their “lube technician” but oh boy was I so much more than that. I was their alignment guy, oil change guy, tire guy, garbage guy, floor guy, helper, service writer, car porter, lite duty technician, etc etc. However, I was paid very poorly. I worked extremely hard, always had a great attitude, but was constantly dragged down by my co-workers and boss about “wasting money” on my education when “they can teach my everything I need to know”. The lead tech there went to school himself, and he told me to my face that I am wasting time, and that he regrets wasting his own time.
Fast forward until about 3 month before I leave, I invest about 4-5 thousand dollars into a snap-on tool kit for work. This was great, because now I didn’t have to borrow other people’s stuff all the time, it made me better at my job etc, etc. As great as that is though, my boss never really understood why I would buy that many tools for doing the work he had me doing. I didn’t even get uniforms until a month before I left … I was highly unappreciated and not treated very well. But my boss was ignorant to the fact that I wanted to make something better of myself than his “alignment/tire/oil change” guy. I invested in my job, even as low paying as it was. He never seemed to appreciate my efforts though, it was “never good enough” so to say.
I don’t want to completely taint my experience though. I did learn allot about working in a shop, and about working on cars period. Just plain old, working hard, fixing cars type stuff. My schooling was always there in the background, but I was never allowed to know anything. I had to always consult my boss or another technician with everything I do. Mind you, as I am going through this job, and even before then, I have ALL of my state certifications minus manual and automatic transmission. However at this point, I have been through every single automotive class my school offered. My boss still did not value my education what so ever.
So the day comes, my mentor calls me up, and tells me this dealership is looking for students from my school and he wants a good guy to put a good name in for the school. The dean of the program, and my mentor both recommended me to the service manager of my new job, and I was hired in as a flat rate technician. They offer me full benefits, 401K with 2% contribution after a year, time off after a year, and a full time position with two bays. I am making average 40-50 hours of flat rate time a week, and tripped/quad rippled what I was making at my other job.
But here’s the icing on the cake for me. When I went back to my old job to pick up my last check, my boss asked me how I was doing at the new place. Oh my gosh was the look on his face priceless when I told him I clocked 40 hours my first week on the job. My first week as a flat rate tech, I clocked 40 hours. My boss’s lube technician left him, and went to be a service technician at a Chevy dealership and is making that many hours! It still puts a smile on my face.
So, in the end scheme of things, my new boss at my new job loves me, I’m making decent money, my degree is valued, and they want to train me in everything Chevrolet and they’ll even reimburse me for my ASE tests that I pass. My state certification renewals are also taken care of.
My little old snapon tool box is now full, my Mac Maximizer tool cart is also full. The best of it all, is I work less than a mile from my house. So I have absolutely commute, and the gas to get there is ridiculous.
Call it a success story. But college educations work, but it’s a hard career to get into. You’ll be constantly “proving yourself” to everyone you work for.
Eric your videos are inspirational, and I quite enjoy watching them, however I do get impatient sometimes with your extreme use of hand tools to remove every. single. bolt while filming. I get extremely impatient, but I know why you do it that way.
Thanks Eric for what you do. It has helped me make it through my previous job, and boosted me in my new one.
Hello my name is Jonathan. I started my automotive “career” as a backyard mechanic working on my first car. That was what started it all for me. My 1985 Pontiac Fiero. That car is a whole story all of its own … so I’ll just talk about myself instead.
When I was 18-19ish I started college for Automotive Service Technology at Baker College in the metro Detroit area. I got good grades and ended up being hired by the school as a work study to run the tool room. I gained some very good rep working there, and earned myself a very good friendship with the lead teacher/foreman/dean/the guy who makes decisions. He somewhat because my mentor for the year and a half I worked there, and I learned LOTS just from him, let alone my schooling. I ended up taking every automotive class available at the time and just recently graduated. About half way through my degree, I got a job at a small independent repair shop near my house as their “lube technician” but oh boy was I so much more than that. I was their alignment guy, oil change guy, tire guy, garbage guy, floor guy, helper, service writer, car porter, lite duty technician, etc etc. However, I was paid very poorly. I worked extremely hard, always had a great attitude, but was constantly dragged down by my co-workers and boss about “wasting money” on my education when “they can teach my everything I need to know”. The lead tech there went to school himself, and he told me to my face that I am wasting time, and that he regrets wasting his own time.
Fast forward until about 3 month before I leave, I invest about 4-5 thousand dollars into a snap-on tool kit for work. This was great, because now I didn’t have to borrow other people’s stuff all the time, it made me better at my job etc, etc. As great as that is though, my boss never really understood why I would buy that many tools for doing the work he had me doing. I didn’t even get uniforms until a month before I left … I was highly unappreciated and not treated very well. But my boss was ignorant to the fact that I wanted to make something better of myself than his “alignment/tire/oil change” guy. I invested in my job, even as low paying as it was. He never seemed to appreciate my efforts though, it was “never good enough” so to say.
I don’t want to completely taint my experience though. I did learn allot about working in a shop, and about working on cars period. Just plain old, working hard, fixing cars type stuff. My schooling was always there in the background, but I was never allowed to know anything. I had to always consult my boss or another technician with everything I do. Mind you, as I am going through this job, and even before then, I have ALL of my state certifications minus manual and automatic transmission. However at this point, I have been through every single automotive class my school offered. My boss still did not value my education what so ever.
So the day comes, my mentor calls me up, and tells me this dealership is looking for students from my school and he wants a good guy to put a good name in for the school. The dean of the program, and my mentor both recommended me to the service manager of my new job, and I was hired in as a flat rate technician. They offer me full benefits, 401K with 2% contribution after a year, time off after a year, and a full time position with two bays. I am making average 40-50 hours of flat rate time a week, and tripped/quad rippled what I was making at my other job.
But here’s the icing on the cake for me. When I went back to my old job to pick up my last check, my boss asked me how I was doing at the new place. Oh my gosh was the look on his face priceless when I told him I clocked 40 hours my first week on the job. My first week as a flat rate tech, I clocked 40 hours. My boss’s lube technician left him, and went to be a service technician at a Chevy dealership and is making that many hours! It still puts a smile on my face.
So, in the end scheme of things, my new boss at my new job loves me, I’m making decent money, my degree is valued, and they want to train me in everything Chevrolet and they’ll even reimburse me for my ASE tests that I pass. My state certification renewals are also taken care of.
My little old snapon tool box is now full, my Mac Maximizer tool cart is also full. The best of it all, is I work less than a mile from my house. So I have absolutely commute, and the gas to get there is ridiculous.
Call it a success story. But college educations work, but it’s a hard career to get into. You’ll be constantly “proving yourself” to everyone you work for.
Eric your videos are inspirational, and I quite enjoy watching them, however I do get impatient sometimes with your extreme use of hand tools to remove every. single. bolt while filming. I get extremely impatient, but I know why you do it that way.
Thanks Eric for what you do. It has helped me make it through my previous job, and boosted me in my new one.
This will be a heck of a first post, but I might as well let ‘er rip! I was enjoying this thread so much I figured I’d join in.
Brace yourself.
I work at a Chevrolet Dealership in Detroit Michigan. Mind you, we in the shop often joke about our demographic area and how there are very strong stereotypes about the people who live in the area. With that in mind, allow me to continue.
So I jump in this customer’s 2010 Camaro SS. His complaint was an INOP HUD, and “check squealing brakes”. So I test drive it, hear the brakes squealing from the rear, pull it in my bay and get out the tech 2 and start running the codes. While I’m waiting, I examine the work order once again, and then glance over and look in the cup holder and notice the bottom was full of bullets. That kinda disturbed me, but I figured what the heck, maybe he’s just a marksman. Moving on about 30 minutes, I’m looking at fuses and wiring and things and I open the passenger door and see blood all over the seat and running down the side. So I had a mini heart attack that I just touched the inside of a crime scene car and call a co-worker over and then she freaks out too. So I call another technician over. He freaked out even more. He’s like “holy crap man, good thing you’re wearing gloves- I’d refuse to work on that!” – So I call my service manager over, and he told me to just throw a seat cover on it and fix the car.
So moving forward, I dig into the car a little bit more and ended up having to call the customer and ask him some things. Turns out his dog was recently neutered and his incision area had developed a leak and he took the dog to the vet in that car and hadn’t had time to clean the car up. Or so he says.
Either way. I will NEVER forget that car. I was incredibly happy when that car left my stall. I ended up having to call TAC and they told me to replace the HUD unit. Which involved a four hour dashboard removal.
Fun stuff I tells ya!