Off Roading Forums banner

OT Working as a mechanic???????????

2K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  markr1001  
#1 ·
Long story short after 5 years of college to become a shop teacher I've realized I need to get ASE certified to teach autos in a decent program. I know I should have figured it out years ago that I should have become ASE certified so I can teach in a NATEF certified promgram (NATEF is ase's teaching "division" and NATEF = funding for shop progrmas), but I've just "discovered it" now. I could probably get a job teaching autos at a high school in a non certified promgram but a certified program has better job security and funding. I'm student teaching in a certified program and the autos program brings the vo tech center 75 grand a year. I figure If I don't get certified now it will be harder down the road.


From what I understand to become ASE certified you need to pass the tests and either 1 year in the field and an assocites degree in autos or 2 years in the field. I'm 3 classes and an intership away from an assocites in autos so I'm thinking I'll finish up my assocites, work for a year, and try and find a teaching job fall '09.

Any advice for getting into the field? I have a fair amount of exeriance working on 4x4's but almost 0 experiance on anything new/ front wheel drive/ modern electrical/ fuel injection. The autos program I went through in college sucked (didn't learn a thing, pretty much a place to use a hoist and free welder/ torches). I have a pretty decent set of tools/ tool box. It looks like i'll be moving to the Boulder CO area in May when I guraduatate (that's where the girl friend is starting a job next month). What's starting pay for an inexperianced tech? I'm guessing I'll probably start as oil change b!tch and move up from there? What type of shop would be the best to get experiance for teaching/ ase tests at? I'm thinking an general repair shop would probably be best.

Any other advice? This is my own "mess" but it will make finding a job near the girl friend a lot easier and getting real world experiance will help me teach my students better.
 
#2 ·
Here's my .02. I was searching for a sales job when I got hired on as a service tech at the local GMC Dealership. Started doing the "Quick Lube" rack, installing add ons to new vehicles and worked my way up from there.

I was hired in 1991 and left in 1996. The local dealer sold both light and medium duty trucks. By the time I left for cop work, I had acquired a huge amount of knowledge spanning the entire light duty (pickup and van) to medium duty (school bus, garbage truck, grain truck, parking lot sweeper and on and on) and even spent some time working on over the road heavy trucks.

I became the jack of all trades and because no one else wanted to work on them, I also got most of the GM (and other brand) cars that came in for repair, and all of those dang school bus repairs and inspections.

I learned a ton and it's still paying off. From Rockwell axles to the 4.3 and 5.7 TBI motors, to the computer controlled FI that runs both the diesels and gas engines. Manual truck trannies, the 700R4 and even some service work on large Allison autos.

Also, at the time GM did much of it's own training through a tech school college about an hour away. They sent me there for an in depth electrical course and continued updating training for most, if not all of the above mentioned applications. Not only was the training free, but I got paid and drove the customer taxi to and from the center.

In my five years there, I may not have learned everything I need to know about any one vehicle (although I am pretty close on the 88-95 K series), but I learned a good deal about many different vehicles and drivetrain systems. I don't know that I would have had the opportunity at a smaller private, or "car only" dealership shop. :D
 
#3 ·
The biggest thing to remember when working on someone elses front wheel drive, new, expensive, electronic laden, car...
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

NO SAWZALL!!!:neener:

Just kidding Andy! When I got ASE certified (Master Auto tech) we didn't need 'time in field', but I did graduate from Wyoming Tech, so that may have been the qualifier. Get the ASE books to help you study before the tests. The hardest one for me to pass was the A/C service test...study, STUDY, STUDY Good luck Andy, you'll do fine.
 
#4 ·
You'll be OK. Being a collage kid you already know how to eat roman noodles.

All the tech's around here are STARVING because no one pays money anymore. Even the dealers suck. You can make $30 hr........whoop dee doo........when most are lucky to knock 15hrs down a week. It's TOUGH where I'm at. I have a buddy that is an awesome wrench. Last two jobs were service manager for a BIG dealer in Cincinnati and then a service fleet manager for a big company in Dayton. Man was making 6 digit figures. Now unemployed........losing his house....and can't find a job. No, let me change that. He can find plenty of wrench jobs (even at the dealers) for $10-$15 an hr. Thats not going to save his house.:(


Let me finish by saying that I'm REALLY good in the fields I do and wrenched for years. (dealers included called me asking advice) I'm not in that field anymore because I JUST COULDN'T MAKE GOOD MONEY DOING IT.

Sad but true ................................at least in my neck of the woods.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the info Dave, the plan is only for a year to get the time in, I can scrape by on $10 an hour. Otherwise it's teach in a program that doesn't require ASE certification and turn wrenches for 4 summers till I get my time in. I have some filled out autos teacher applications sitting on my table for non certified programs, problem is they are all east of the Mississippi. We'll see what happens between now and ay.
 
#6 ·
Sorry I didn't see this earlier, I'll give you my opinion but the best plan will be up to you..

If you are currently still going to school and you want to get a head start trying to get in your time you could go to a Firestone, PepBoys...etc, that has evening and weekend hours and work part time, it counts toward your time needed for certs. The dealer is a great job if you can get in and your pay will be higher at most dealers than independent shops, no promises though.....but they often don't offer evening and weekend hours. You should be able to negotiate working as a basic mechanic at a Pepboys because of your training but that will also depend on how many mechanics are available in your area vs how many jobs there are.

Dave
 
#7 ·
my advice from taking 5 years of school and having 3 fresh teachers... work more than a year in the trade. then when people ask you questions, you can answer from experience and not hve to look it up in a book to answer. your students will respect you alot more with a few years of practicle expereince. trust me we didnt respect the teachers that had no expereince, every answer was out of a text or the net... hell we could have read it, we wated actual stories

just my .02