Going to trade-school

[strayfe]

Hey, I'm a big DSM lover and own a laser myself. I don't know too much about cars as it is and always rely on mechanics or a friend with experience to help me out. My comfort zone pretty much equals taking out an air filter and replacing it.

Anyways I've enrolled in a 6-9 quarter class for automotive tech. Basically it is a course that gives associate of applied tech degree. I am wondering, has anyone else here gone to a trade school that can tell me how much you end up getting out of it. Would any of you say just going for an assosiate is not enough experience if you've started out 100% green?

Anyways, any info on some people with experience with this kind of thing is greatly appreciated, I cant wait to start and I just wanted to hear with some other dsm'ers what they think of it. Oh yeah, and the school I am going to [Clover park] is supposedly one of the best for automotives in the state. Apparently it's one of the places alot of auto shops really like getting employees with a background there.

 

[habitatguy187]

I was checking out Lincoln Tech but had 3 people say it wasn't worth it, plus the hours were ridiculous. I think it really depends on the school itself, so if you could somehow try to find some people who graduated from there and see what they said about it.

 

[bagged420a]

Seeing that if all your comfortable with is changing air filters, then this class can help you out a bit.

 

[habitatguy187]

Seeing that if all your comfortable with is changing air filters, then this class can help you out a bit.

, yeah he's not kiddin. It just sucks that there are A LOT of people on here who know enough about cars to be certified mechanics, but they can't get a job because they don't have the paper that says, "I'm certified". Guess you have to pay to play.

 

[UGOT8UP]

I hope that you don't want to make a career out of turning wrenches, please this is not a job that you would want, go to school for something else.

I've been a technician for over a decade now, I've worked at new car dealerships, mom and pop shops and even worked on helicopters for the Army, I just got lay-ed off from John Deere, I've got around $80,000 in tools that I own right now, I've spent more that that though, some people have sticky fingers. Too keep current with times and replacing lost tools you will spend over 5k a year on tools, the work is hot and hard, if you become a book time tech than you will definitely be working your ass off, having a sore back and bleeding fingers with permenate grease stains.

Money is good though.....as long as you are good and have no come-backs, and can hustle the work in and out. This is all I know and I am to old to go back to school to learn a new skill that pays aswell, I've been turning wrenches my whole life though.

 

[nuclearr]

I know the school around me is a good one they do a lot of hands on work rebuilding cars, each class has to build a complete engine. They can even take on personal projects. A lot of the work the do is either donated cars or cars people bring in to be fixed for less than what a shop would charge. But they do not teach about one type of car but many so you don't get into as much details about a particular type of vehicle. It is also mostly normal mechanics work not much in the way of tuning unless you go some where like UTI that has a tuner program.

 

[strayfe]

I hope that you don't want to make a career out of turning wrenches, please this is not a job that you would want, go to school for something else.

I've been a technician for over a decade now, I've worked at new car dealerships, mom and pop shops and even worked on helicopters for the Army, I just got lay-ed off from John Deere, I've got around $80,000 in tools that I own right now, I've spent more that that though, some people have sticky fingers. Too keep current with times and replacing lost tools you will spend over 5k a year on tools, the work is hot and hard, if you become a book time tech than you will definitely be working your ass off, having a sore back and bleeding fingers with permenate grease stains.

Money is good though.....as long as you are good and have no come-backs, and can hustle the work in and out. This is all I know and I am to old to go back to school to learn a new skill that pays aswell, I've been turning wrenches my whole life though.

I want the skills for more personal reasons. I cant stand looking at my own car and not knowing what the hell to do with it and some of it's problems. Also, having an assosiates in (ANYTHING) makes you more desirable for just about any kind of job because it tells employers that you have the drive to learn what they have to teach.

 

[oldman420]

This is the way i see it. If you love your car and want to work on your car don't become a technician. Both my roomates are automotive technicians and i can tell that sometimes they really regret it. It's because they work on everybody elses junk all day long and when they get home the last thing they want to do is wrench on their cars. On the other hand i'm a 3rd year parts technician, I can hang with the big boys when it comes to automotive knowledge and even have developed a pretty good knack for the electrical side of things. Also when i go home at the end of the day and i finally get off the computer I liove nothing more than wrenching on my car. They make about 80,000$ a year as journey men where as i will only make 65,000$ after i go to school this year, so the money isn't as great. I will tell you though that i for sure have more energy when i get home and i don't have the back and shoulder problems that they suffer from. So in conclusion i would say that you should spend some time in a shop and see if you like it or not. If it's not for you their are other jobs in the automotive industry where you can still learn but avoid the pains of actually being a mechanic.