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I’ve stated a few times there is a school roughly an hour and a half from me that is ranked nationally for tech schools. They have several manuf programs and even the Chevrolet Dealerships up here in mid Ohio send techs to this school for Manuf cert. I started there and moved to a different city.
The school here in my town is such a joke they literally send mass e-mails to the entire college begging students to register for classes. Frankly I think it’s mediocre instructors. There’s an old guard here that needs to go. Some of the new blood that has come in is simply top notch.
My point being is yes school will give you a foundation. But it’s also what you put into it. MDK22, ETCG, and other have stated that a long with school they read every auto text book cover to cover, often going to the library and reading every book they could find cover to cover in the library also.
And you still have to dedicate some time each week to learning new things, refreshing old things. The one instructor I had in college that was worth his salt gave me a list 15 names long of amazing youtube channels he watches over and over. This man has been in the field for 40 years. And he still studies.
Most importantly tech school education is something no one can take away from you. Associates degree or just certificate, you earned that paper. Be proud of it. Same with ASE’s. I don’t care what people say, you study for those test, you earn those badges. Be proud.
I’m not sure what was said before my post because I’m lazy and I didn’t read them all. Hopefully this bit of rambling helped you some.
Quick update for those that care.
The service manager is losing his mind. No one knows why. He has been written up for calling techs “fucking clowns” in front of customers.
He and the operations manager have decided all spark plug jobs now pay two hours. And any oil changes that take longer than an hour on Saturdays are free.
I expect a mass exodus.
And yes I already left. Went back Toyota. I’m calling that home for a while.
I called my old shop and had my old job back 20 mins later.
That shop makes the “apprentice” look like a low turn over rate.
Either way what’s done is done. My buddy got his tools moved for free, and he’s doing a lot better in life now.
He’s looking into a lawyer. The issue is lawyers are interested in how much they will make from the case. If it’s not 6 figures they consider it a waste of their time.
He has had a hard time coming up with the money to get his tools moved. Today the operations manager called him and told him to get his box moved or they’re going to push it outside to the curb.
I found the RO of the car he “blew the engine” on. I contacted the customer and they say their engine never blew up, and the work my buddy did was fine. No problems in any form.
I think my boss found out because he called me on my way home asking me to see him in his office in the morning.
I’m about done with that place anyways
[quote=”451Mopar” post=175193]Thank you too, just doing my part.
I have several friends who are veterans, both older (Vietnam), and younger (Iraq, Afghanistan.) Most are doing well, but a few have PTSD issues.
My wife is friends with a lady/family from our church whose husband is on something like his seventh tour of duty!
We help to support the family when we can, sometimes just watching the children so they can have some time alone.[/quote]Damn, thank you brother. You are the glue that forms that brotherhood we always talk about. Civis don’t really get us. I go to night classes for auto school. A guy I’m buds with was a Ranger in the Ohio Guard. Did 11 tours. I saw his promotion picture one time. CIB, EIB, Blue cord, Ranger tab, Medals from his damn nipple to his collar bone. Then more on the other side. He misses a lot of class because of mental shit so I come to the school on my nights off and sneak into the lab with him and show him what we learned. I just hope I’m teaching him correctly LOL!!
My wife is supportive. Sometimes it means a lot of time away between work, school, and my teammates. I know many of us never served together, they are still my teammates.
My cousin was a Marine. Came home, shit got to heavy and things got really dark. I couldn’t save him, so I do all I can to make sure another team mate never sends themselves to Valhalla.
Thank you again for helping our teammates. I’m going to go have a few beers. Maybe 4,maybe 24.
KeithLG is correct VW has quite a bit of equipment for techs. I think HumbleMechanic said if you want to open a VW dealership you have to buy over $250k in tools.
I would just start with what you have, and the tools KeithLG stated. After that buy the stuff you use more than twice a week, or borrow more than once a week.
The Snap ON truck isn’t a rapist van like many of us like to joke. No one forces anyone to purchase their tools. You can get many many good buys on craigslist, offerup, letgo, amazon different sites that let people basically have an online garage sale.
[quote=”451Mopar” post=175126]Sorry to hear that. Seems like management is getting bad everywhere.
I was one of the lucky vets from the late 1980 to early 1990’s[/quote]Thanks for your service brother.
[quote=”Cammed 05″ post=175117]Sounds to me like the svc manager had it out for your buddy and was just looking for an out.
Shitty management is everywhere. The last two dealers down here in south Florida I have worked at (different brands) all have had horrible management. I’m going to talk with another place this week myself.
Does your buddy have family to support or just himself?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/quote]
In all honesty I’m his family. He’s going through some rough times but he will make it. I always have his six.
I hope your job search goes well.
Getting your ASE’s and state certs will put you miles ahead of guys without those certs. We currently have a guy that only studied his ASE’s, has zero trade school back ground and he is a line tech after a 6 month apprenticeship. ASE’s, state certs, and schooling will get you more job offers than you can handle.
You should be able to literally get a pay agreement signed by HR that you will be paid an above average amount for an entry level tech, and an apprenticeship lasting no longer than a year, or less depending on when you feel comfortable going solo. I’m taking core classes at my local community college just to show my employer I am worth investing in, plus I am studying for my ASE’s. For some reason employer’s love to show customers our certs.
Education is very subjective. I’ve seen dealerships hire people with zero experience and then train them to change oil, do basic flushes and other simple things to help the ELR.
I’ve seen dealerships that only hire people with previous experience in express work. Sometimes it’s as small as Valvoline/Jiffy Lube Tire Shops. Then move them up to flat rate lube techs. Brakes, tires, alignments, flushes, suspension work.
Others have hired people with zero experience, but they have their associates in Auto Repair. Sometimes you don’t even need an associates, just the core auto classes. These guys can sometimes just get thrown into the pit, and sometimes they will apprentice with master tech for 90 days.
Recently my dealership just opened another dealership right next to us. Apparently General Motors can’t sell Buick/GMC and Chevy out of one store. So we now have a Buick/GMC dealership and one parking lot away we have a Chevrolet dealership.
The reason I bring this up is because we’ve had to take 22 techs and suddenly fill 45 bays. We are hiring guys from Grismer, Firestone,good year and other manufacturers. Some places don’t require schooling, just experience in the field. Firestone is a shop that typically trains you as you work.
More about schooling.
ASE’s are important to some manufactures, dealerships, and some don’t care about ASE’s. Sometimes ASE’s supplement formal technical training. Hiring managers see that you have the ability to pass an ASE test then they feel like you have the knowledge. At least the theoretical; side and you don’t need technical school. Some places require both, but give you times to study for ASE’s and attend school part time while you work.
There are varying degrees on school. I’ve said on here a few times the local auto school in my area is kind of a joke. Their funding is under a microscope and there are so many dealerships around they literally have to compete with dealerships that offer OJT. However about 30 different shops have called our school looking for technicians of any and all skill levels.
A school I attended before moving to this area is ranked top ten in the country. I know that GM, Chrysler and Ford sends their techs to that college for manuf training. They also have GM ASEP, Honda PACT, FORD MLR, Chrylers ASSET programs. You work for a semester and go to school for a semester.
It might be in your best interest to drive a while to attend an amazing school. However good or bad the school you can and will get out of it what you put into it.
Many good techs have purchased text books and studied while working in shops. If you get down time find a tech that likes to explain things and teach. Some techs will take you under their wing if you do their shit work for them. One example is balancing their tires on the tire machine while they do brakes.
If you don’t understand something in a book you are reading some techs will try to help explain it. Sometimes you can find some answers on youtube. Eric, Scanner danner, Engineering explained and other channels are great resources.Grabbing parts for techs and taking their stuff to them really helps. I know I’ve been in the middle of things where I can’t stop and suddenly I get a call over the intercom that my parts have arrived. Magically an hourly shows up with my parts. I always ask them if they would like to do the work while I watch so they can learn some stuff. Some guys will mop my bays while I’m at lunch and I grab them to teach them things even if I don’t need an extra set of hands.
Some people, no matter how much you help them, or go out of your way to learn from them simply will not help you. Sometimes they want to get their job done, crush the book times for flat rate. While others see you as a threat. Why pay a master tech $30 an hour to do brakes when they can get a $12 hourly guy to do the brakes. Some techs are just shy, and old school. They won’t talk to you or joke with you until you have earned their respect.
Keep in mind these guys came up old school. They weren’t talked to like we are today. The guys that trained them were rough dudes, and weren’t easy on them. So earning that respect can and will be difficult.
My first year I spent 2 months doing nothing but oil/rot. Then after I felt comfortable doing that I asked techs to show me flushes. PS, BF, transmission, Coolant you name it. I spent about 2 months perfecting those. Then I moved on to brakes, alignments, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs. I never really had an apprenticeship or any one mentor me for my first year.
My second year I found a tech that saw my desire to learn and how much effort I put into understand and picking up new things. He started to mentor me and answer and questions I had. We still work next to each other to this day.
[quote=”Tech 1″ post=167125]First post and after reading how many lube techs are onboard I decided to ask a “how do you do it” (I was persistent). The subject is brand new ATF and how do YOU get the level correct and how much time do YOU spend on getting it right? New ATF is so hard to see, almost invisible on the stick. Hard to get right espically on long dipsticks.
About me. I am retired after 40 years (Hey it did not say retired technicians are not allowed). About the screen name I chose (I know people will say “who the heck thinks they are “Tech 1”). Back in the days of OBD1 at GM Dealers guys were constantly running around asking “do you have the Tech 1” (it is a scan tool). My smart reply usually was (unless in fact did have it) was “no, but I am Tech 1” it kinda stuck.Hope to hang out here some.[/quote]
I was just using a tech 2 today at work. I got a smile when you mentioned tech 1.
I am so deeply sorry for your loss. I’ve been off the forum for a bit dealing with work stuff. I hope things are better for you.
[quote=”LS1king” post=171193]2000ish Chevy cavaliers….have to go through the wheel well or preform some acrobatics from under….. Lol…..
97-02 4runners….just a really bad spot through the driver wheel well.The new buick enclaves/gmc terrains with the 3.6….. Under the exhaust manifold in the front….motor mount gets in the way if your going in from the bottom
The new Ford f-150’s with the eco boost…. Now… It’s not a bad spot per sey, but Ford engineers decided to make a “drain funnel” for you…. Only problem is it doesn’t work all too well and you end up spilling oil all over the floor because there’s two drains[/quote]
Had to deal with everyone of those. Good god I hated them then, and now.