Who the hell's gonna hire you unless you've been to some sort of school? You need 2 years shop experience to get the ASE.
I considered the APEX tech's mechanics school when I left the Army but it was $14,000...which I suppose is not too bad considering it also includes all the tools.
You live in NY right? Walk into some repair shop and tell them you know your shit. You will get hired. I actually tried to get hired at a dealership, the guy said I don't give a shit where you went to school, that car has a no start, lets see what you can do. I solved it and I got a $12/hr apprentice job (didn't take it, but I never went to auto school). I do know my shit though.
Of course, you have be motivated to learn all this on your own.
What kind of dealership was this? A used car dealership?
My friend's a mechanic, taking the ASE test in May. He really wants to work at a Chevy dealership but they would not even speak to him until he had 2 years experience and a clean driving record (got a speeding ticket or something). He's been working for Sears Auto in the meantime, and even they required some sort of trade schooling to get hired.
This is upstate NY. It was a BMW/VW dealership actually. I have an engineering degree though, They needed someone to do diagnostics. They would have hired me as "oil change tech" but I would have been a trainee making $11/hr or so.
Also, you think all those Russians and Mexicans fixing cars in Brooklyn spent 50K at wyotech? They learned the same way I did, and went around to all the shops for work. Believe me, if I still lived in brooklyn I could have a job fixing cars by the end of the day. And I never went to school either. Then from working there you have your two years experience for the ASE.
Yeah but you were talking about working at a dealership - of course at any regular shop you're gonna get all kinds.
I actually perfer going to Sunset Park brooklyn to let mexicans or chinese work on my car. There's no bullshit - "It'll be $50 to fix this" and it's fixed. Done.
I still say it depends on the dealership. People start as oil changers there and work their way up. You will make shit for the first few years but it beats wyotech.
Posted 3/16/2010 8:04 pm
You can take classes at a community college for 20-30/semester hour and get the ASE certification. Same with pretty much all of the other tech schools.
"When Andrew Newburg called the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Ore., to seek information, he was feeling pressure to start a new career. It was 2008, and his Florida mortgage business was a casualty of the housing bust. An associate degree in culinary arts from a school in the food–obsessed Pacific Northwest seemed like a portal to a new career.
The tuition was daunting — $41,000 for a 15–month or 21–month program — but he said the admissions recruiter portrayed it as the entrance price to a stable life."
From what I understand, the chefs that do the hiring at restaurants avoid the cooking school graduates. It's easier and cheaper to hire a someone at an entry level and train them.
Posted 3/16/2010 8:07 pm
Laugh if you want, but Drifterbee has an engineering degree from UCLA and he also went to a trade school to become a car mechanic.
I have NEVER been able to understand this mentality.
I had a college roommate, Masters in EE, smart as Hell, can do math all day long. I get into his car and his ignition is hanging down. I asked and he said "this piece fell off" and points to it sitting in his ashtray. I look at it, it's hard plastic and is threaded. I look at the ignition and guess what, it's threaded.
It took me all of 20 seconds to line it up and thread it back together. I told him man, you have to overcome that paralysis.
Posted 3/16/2010 8:33 pm : Edited 3/16/2010 8:34 pm
I went to North Valley Trade School in 1980. 3 semesters at $40.00 each.
Studied commercial art/screenprinting when we had to paste up by hand.
Sign company contacted the school looking for an apprentice. I left with my certificate of completion and worked at several companies always learning what I could on the side.
In 2001 I got tired of working for the man and set up shop at home. Have the usual peak and valley moments but have never been out of work.
I don't intend on going back to the 9 to 5 if I can help it.
When did I say people shouldn't rely on plumbers and mechanics? Link? I'm calling a plumber this week. You can't beat a good plumber when there are roots out on eth backyard clogging your sewer line.
In this thread I suggested that people irresponsibly throw money at problems, like not having job skills, they way they give money to a plumber.
Is that what's confusing you? That I used "plumber" in that sentence? Let me help you out.
I was using a simile, sort of like a metaphor, but a more direct comparison. It's a very common syntactic method.
"Well, that right there separates the sheep from the goats.
Lots of Americans are more comfortable simply handing their money over to someone else to "fix" the problem, the same way you give money to a plumber."
They learned the same way I did, and went around to all the shops for work. Believe me, if I still lived in brooklyn I could have a job fixing cars by the end of the day. And I never went to school either. Then from working there you have your two years experience for the ASE.
