asking all vendors and employers

[red97tib]

Alright, these are some concerns I have been having the past couple of days. I have been accepted to go to UTI, now they are just waiting on me to call and say I will go. My problem is with the after school career life and such. I got my family, mostly grandparents, throwing a fit saying UTI is just a waste and I can get the exact same education from my community college for less money. So I'm asking all our vendors and employers on these forums what do you look for in prospective employees in the automotive field? Do you put people who went to a tech school on a higher level than the kid who went to the community college? Would there be a difference in pay or position for both graduates? Do you overlook the community college kid when you see a tech school graduate? I know my community college takes like 2-3 years and you take all the BS classes like history, science, ect. At UTI all you do is study cars for the whole course, there are no side classes. If you had to hire 1 new person in your shop for basic repair jobs and such, and 2 people applied, 1 community college and 1 UTI graduate, a work history dealing nothing with cars, who would it be? Is UTI worth the travel over my community college here in Iowa?

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Well, later down the life line. I plan to open a Performance Shop.

If I had a to choose between someone with a general education with moderater tech skills or someone with no general education but great tech skills, I would hire the person with the general education. Mainly because most of successful buisness have some kind of general knowledge of business support and alot use computer based systems. In addition, those are more likely to move up in the business into managment postions or be leaders in general.

You can never go wrong with a college degree. EVER!

 

[the_mork]

While I'm not directly in charge of hiring I am part of the process and our company will generally prefer the more general education and even though my experience comes from the construction industry the skills and educational opportunities are very similar. General education (associates degrees) demonstrate a minimum level of competence that a person can communicate both verbally and in written form with a clarity and conciseness necessary for a professional environment as well as having a basic mastery of a broad range of subjects. The bs subjects that have nothing do with your field are important because they show an ability to learn things on your own and be successful in motivating yourself. I don't know about Iowa, but Wisconsin community colleges are generally held in pretty high regard in the area, I can't speak for other areas of the country but I've heard that even elsewhere places like Madison and Eau Claire are respected. In short the general education is likely to be more valuable in the long run but you will probably make more money (at first) coming from UTI, pretty much any skill needed to do a job can be learned on the job, but few companies are going to teach you how to do independent research and the other skills required to transition from being a good auto tech to being a good manager. Both will give you a better opportunity for you and your family but when it comes down to cost and hardship I think the community college would be the better choice for me, plus when you get tired of cars you can always come back for another 2-3 years and get your associates in anything you want.

 

[KGB Pilot125]

I think you would be happier going to the community college. That way you can learn a lot more than how to rebuild a small block, weld and paint. Learn how a business runs, learn quickbooks, learn excel. hell if you even learned how to balance a checkbook you would be ahead of 80% of the 20 somehting that come in and apply at our stores. BTW our stores consist of 6 automotive repair facilities and 7 quick lubes in 4 states.

 

[red97tib]

Ok guys, it's not like I'm an idiot when it comes to common sense stuff. By my junior year of high school there where no more computer classes I could take because I hd taken them all already. I started college straight out of high school as a computer tech, but realized I can't sit behind a desk and look at a screen all day long. I can balance a check book perfectly fine, I just get lazy with it and stop writing shit down. So it's not like the only thing I would know would be mechanic stuff, I would say I'm a pretty well rounded guy.

 

[DGajre777]

More and more people are graduating from college. The chances of someone with a 2 year degree (or 4) and being a UTI grad will probably be higher.

I know a guy who left school to go to UTI, graduated from UTI and now is back in school. Take it for what its worth... I'm not a vendor or an employer.

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

I will tell you as a shop owner, and from what most of my peers tell me.... UTI and the likes mean nothing to us. Hell I don't know many real bad ass shops that even have an ASE certified tech. We care about someone that does quality work in a set amount of time with great attention to detail. We bring in people on a 1 week trial and if we see what we want then we bring them in.

If you want to work at a dealership then these schools are worth while, if you want to work at a shop make sure you learn the basics, do all of the work on your own car that you can and form good habits from the start!

Best of luck to you. I read your other thread and it sounds like you have quite a bit of tough decisions coming up.

 

[red97tib]

Yeah, just a few. Mostly, it's the decision to go that is killing me. That and with everyone breathing down my back about 1 thing or another, nothing seems to be getting easier.

 

[livedsm4g63]

Yeah i was in that situation then i decided to come to UNOH in ohio a couple years ago. my associates degree is in automotive/high performance and then i think im getting my B.A. degree in business because my associates degree can transfer as a specialized studies. id look into it.

 

[chavez408]

My friend went to philly (were from california). He went away for like two years to study in wyotech. Now he came back and worked at a shop for less than 6 moths. An old mustang ranch He hurt his back and now his working at a bike shop (bikecycles). He is making minimum wage with no college degree. He can't ever work on cars again. And he has no school on his background. I would vote on community college.

 

[TurboTiger]

UTI, Wyotech, and other places that advertise on TV are really only good for stupid people or people that don't know anything about cars.

Direct quote from my buddy that went to Wyotech in Sacramento. If you're intelligent, it's a waste of money.

 

[Avionixx]

Dude even stupid people had a hard time passing when I went there, but I agree; it's really best for people who have no clue about cars.

 

[the_mork]

Ok guys, it's not like I'm an idiot when it comes to common sense stuff. By my junior year of high school there where no more computer classes I could take because I hd taken them all already. I started college straight out of high school as a computer tech, but realized I can't sit behind a desk and look at a screen all day long. I can balance a check book perfectly fine, I just get lazy with it and stop writing shit down. So it's not like the only thing I would know would be mechanic stuff, I would say I'm a pretty well rounded guy.

Certainly, but thats all the more reason to go to a college vs a tech institute though both are good and you shouldn't feel like one or the other wont be a benefit but they are VERY different institutions one focuses on getting a job today while the other focuses on giving you lifetime opportunities, its just a different focus. As often as not a degree doesn't show what you've learned or any skills that you have but instead that you have a dedication to your field, and an associates degree specifically really is usually a slip of paper that allows you to "prove" that you aren't one of those people who can't make coherent complex sentences or balance a checkbook, the difference is usually less notable but I'm sure you know when you are trying to get a job all you have is a couple of sheets of paper and 10-30 minutes to prove to someone that not only are you a good candidate for a job but that you are the BEST candidate for a job so what you know you know isn't important unless you can get all you know out in 30 minutes in which case you should either be a politician or look for a minimum wage job. An associates degree is probably 20 minutes worth of explaining so you end up trying to get the job with 30 minutes when another guy has 50 or more, so what you have to decide is how much a degree from a tech institute proves you know. Also like I said before you need to consider not only the job you want to get with the company but also the job you want to have with that company in 5 years, then again with 10 years, and once more where you want to be around when you retire.

 

[Defiant]

I started college straight out of high school as a computer tech, but realized I can't sit behind a desk and look at a screen all day long.

After a few years of it -if it takes that long- you may realize you can't turn another goddamned bolt, or buy yet another specialized tool to do a job three times.
What the hell, you could become a wealthy internaweb "expert". Or, you could just choose to enjoy these few decades we get, and do whatever the hell you want to do.
I'm not a big fan of expensive technical schools. The shops I'd worked in weren't big fans of their graduates, either.

 

[red97tib]

After a few years of it -if it takes that long- you may realize you can't turn another goddamned bolt, or buy yet another specialized tool to do a job three times.
What the hell, you could become a wealthy internaweb "expert". Or, you could just choose to enjoy these few decades we get, and do whatever the hell you want to do.
I'm not a big fan of expensive technical schools. The shops I'd worked in weren't big fans of their graduates, either.

Special tools, , I'm a DSMer, I'll just grab my BFH and a can of zip ties and call it a day.

 

[Red97Eclipseboy]

Being local to a UTI school, UTI is a bleeding joke around here. The kids who go there are really bad with cars, they're arrogant, (why, no one knows) and don't get looked at any higher than a community college kid.

Plus, it's TERRIBLY expensive. One of my co-workers graduated from UTI, and our district manager came in to interview him for a second-assistant manager position, and the DM asked him what spark plugs are factory for GM. Justin's response... "Champion?"

Come the hell on!?!?!? Who doesn't know that it's AC Delco? Wow.

UTI=huge waste.