Is there any wyotech or other auto trade school teachers out there

Looks like it's the same everywere. I was a Apprenticeship Instructor for 12 years. (Auto Body and Paint) Were lucky here because of the work time the students have to put in, before we got them to teach. One thing I learnt for teaching a trade is that you have to have a balance between the theory and the practical work. The theory is the foundation and the practical builds on it. Like everything it swings like a pendulum. I'm back filling in right now after 20 years and the swing is towards the theory side. The apprentices get 12 hours of practical and 18 works of theory a week.
So in my mind this is no good. The other way around is better. Plus the student has to see a finished product, something that they can put there name on. I did that!!! Not welding a welding coupon for 6 weeks.
The bottomline is cost. It's cheaper to put an instructor in a classroom with a piece of chalk, than in a Labclass with $500,000.00 worth or equipment. But is it? The last part of the mix is the student. If they've got a interest and drive. And if they can keep it, they'll do great things. This is a tough business and there aren't many surviours.

I'll stop here!!

The Old Tinbasher

 

It is not as easy as it seems on tv and to stick up for some of the young guys we have had lots of guys with a trial by fire half hour story and they can't figure out how to make a rocker panel one guy even asked me if it would be a good idea to run a fiber glass fender through the wheel people just lack the drive to be good at something most people are happy and content to do a half ass job and bragg about it!! I went to a community college and really didn't want to do collision work and the teacher knew that we butted heads alot but we still get along i left and joined metal meet and all I had really ever fabbed were patch panels at this point and the first metal meet i went to i made a track nose and after that i bought every book and video i could find. it just takes the right person that wants to learn this stuff even if they have bad habbits if they want to do this they will listen and figure it out.

 

you get out of a tech school what you put in, if those kids took the time to learn the baisics they wouldnt be in this perdiciment. I went to a tech school and worked my ass off and tried everything i could to learn everything i could in the short time i was there. my .02

 

I will be willing to bet most of the kids are like the ones that just finished the program I did. We all had the same amount of time to do our projects in class and I was the first one done because while the other kids where off messing around not doing what they where supposed to I would be working and asking questions. I am not saying everyone in my class was off messing around because they where not but a majority of them where. I even had to set up the frame machine for the kid who got selected to be in the skills competition which seemed kinda off to me but what can you do.

 

A friend of mine owns a rod shop. He was looking for an apprentice body man and contacted the body shop instructor in a nearby city to see if he had any promising students. He was advised he had one really good student, he really had it, but he thought he would have to be fired 2 or 3 times because of his attitude before he would be a good employee. Pat.

 

11 years at Jim Russell Racing now I have ProRaceTech.com "adults" only but 18 is still a kid

 

I suspect you care. Many years of silver spooners that thought the maid would clean up after them... some came around but most didn't. I recognize your Logo (avatar) its on here a lot and it proves you actually care about being a craftsman. You are a realist and that will go far in any line of work.

 

I guess I'm beating a dead horse, but this article was interesting. Just thought I'd share.

http://finance.yahoo.com/college-ed...n-hard-times-lured-into-trade-school-and-debt

 

Thanks for sharing. This confirms the experiences of most of the people who posted on this thread. This should be required reading for anyone considering any of these programs.

 

I was almost a wyo teacher

 

i go to tstc in waco tx and i like it. i've learned alot, but i think everyone here knows you can learn all you want, but it's the experience that you need. the difference here is we get a degree, while other places give you a certificate. they dont teach ya bout small block chevys no more cause thats not what most people will be workin on. i'm the exception cause im goin for auto restoration after this. just my halfapenny.

 

Maybe it is not the school but the attitude some of the current generation have. As most of us older dudes remember, giving up was not an option. Mommy or Daddy wasnt paying, we were. No worky, no eaty, no car, no place to live . period. The determination we had is not something you learn in school. It was instilled in you from birth. If you didnt understand something you searched till you found out what you needed to know. If you didnt like where you worked, you worked there anyway and didnt leave til you had another job. If it took two years to find it you worked two years. And when you worked you tried to do your best. Even if the boss was a wiener That was besides the point. Your work was who you were not who he was.
It had nothing to do with what school you went to or where you trained. It was you leaving your mark in this world on your trip through. I taught trade school for 7 years during the hi intake periods (Jan to may.) I had bums, I had drunks, I had druggies, I had folks who could barely read and write because of handcaps but I also had some real good dudes. One guy. now running his own shop in T O .got 100% on my engine exam. I used to tell my students you cant flunk a course you are really interested in. It is impossible. I still believe that. Auto mechanics is not and never should be a career choosen because you cant do anything else. It should be your passion. Any live, breathing indivual should know you cant get a job building hi reving Small block chevies or hemis or t bucket etc without sending a few year doing repairs on a few autins , toyotas etc. Some would tell me they were just hands on. Well you could train a monkey to do hands on. That is not what the job is about. It is about figuring out what is wrong or what needs to be done before you unlock your tool box even and being right. The drudgery is the repair and the joy comes from finishing the job and firing it up for a test drive and knowing you made the right decisions. Guessing at repairs is not being a mechanic. It is being an idiot. If you know how it works you can figure out what is wrong. The more you know about how it works the easier fixing it will be. For instance in a no start conditon the words "Suck squeeze bang and blow should be constantly on your mind as you search for the cause. What is missing or occuring at the wrong time should be your focus. Not try this then try that.
I personaly think no one should go from school to Hi-perf or hotrod work. You need a few years of experience first in "THE REAL WORLD" . Your hobby can be hot rods or racing but there is too much to learn to expect anyone to be an overnite expert. And with only a year of school that is akin to overnite. We have still apprenticeshup here in ontario. In fact we were the first place to ever license mechanics. The two best friends a fIrst year apprentice has are the garbage can and the shop broom. If he showed promise there soon he was allowed to actually touch a car or two. If he couldn't run a broom I sent them pacKing. Not in a year but in a couple of days. Did I ever fire someone who later went on to become a good mechanic? Nope. A bum is a bum is a bum. What you see is what you get.
I taught several specialties but most often Engines Electrical and Fuel systems. Some fellows became very successful. More so than I . That pleases me. It is more about character than anything else i think. I am now 44 years after i started. I am about to renew my ticket. Probably for the last time. I was never sorry i choose this career. Don

 

A buddy of mine taught at Wyo Tech in Laramie & Sacramento and in the last few years we have road tripped to many events on the West Coast. Jimmy would often wear his Wyo Tech jacket and I was amazed at the number of students and graduates that we run into. Many of these kids were working on high profile cars at the nations best shops, Troy's, Foose, Pinkee's, Richard Graves & Bobby Walden to name a few. Jimmy admitted these were the best in their class and that most of the students were not well prepared or diligent enough to learn what they payed so much to do. That is echoed by another buddy who taught high school shop for 30 years, that only a small percentage of kids are serious about hard work and studying. Philosophically we can bitch about the world going to the dogs (wasn't that written a wall in Rome 2000 years ago?) or we can look around and see all the great that shops that are coachbuilding from scratch what hasn't been done since the 30's and realize that these are all young guys with a passion that we share for automobiles. And that's my best Barry Maguire imitation!

 

I am not trying to be an asshole but read your post if you filled out an application like this no degree or certificate would get you an interview in most places.

 

Well eddy i have had 3 people from wyotech, ASOM,and another of the top of my head and guess what there wasnt one who could dissassemble a engine without asking how its a disgrace to have to pay that kind of money and then try to go get a REAL job with the skills you think u have but dont,I se it all the time.Also i think most of the teachers are teaching in theory and have not been hands on as some of us guys out here in the real world.Where are the next rodders,body guys ,Engine builders,machinst and even construction workers gonna come from? WHat you have said is true they cant even tell you what tool to start with etc a dam sham. I am looking for a Tech right now and cant find anybody they tell me they are not parts cleaners,maintence men etc when they have to clena up there mess and they want 25 an hr Thats more than i make! and i still do all the above kids today watch to much american chopper and hot rod I mean most of them guys were parts assemblers anyways. the guys that did the fab and body work i am sur egot paid well and should cause they were good but man the others were useless IMO enough i got to get to work and read the rets of the 5 pages lol

 

I've taught at both a trade school and a community college. There are differences, too numerous to mention. Trade schools have money and it shows, this money helps bring in the business by way of state of the art facilities, recruiters and air time. Community College has little money and it shows by comparison. The trade school I worked for spent the majority of time in the classroom and little time in the lab. s a result, students did not learn many basic operations performed in the shop. The community college spends more time in lab and students get more hands on experience. We also spend time in the classroom as well, it is important to teach theory, but you need both to learn and retain. The main problem I see, however, is that students can only get out what they put into their education. The majority of students try to get by with doing as little as possible to pass. I tell my students when an employer calls me about a reference, to ask the student for a copy of their transcript. That will tell the tale of what kind of student they were and what kind of employee to expect them to be.

 

I think it is the same at all tech schools. They will put you though to get you through the program because they are there to make the money. The problem is that the students have to really want to learn what they are there to learn, or they will just go through the motions and not retain it.

I went to a tech school for electronics in 1987-1988. I was exposed to so much in such a short time, there is no way to have retained it all. I am sure it is similar in all tech schools to a point. I was really interested in the subject matter though, so I did fine and and when I went on to do computer stuff and then to be a network administrator. All the while continuing my education on my own.

I don't think you can expect too much from a tech school because you are only there for a short time. You are only going to get introduced to how things are done in that short period. There is no way to gain 5 - 20 years worth of knowledge in one year from scratch. A lot of this stuff has to do with developing technique, and developing separately for each different thing you do. That takes time.

I would expect basic skills to have been learned during that time though.

 

im a wyotech daytona grad
i think it is all about what you the student wants to get i know tons of guys that dident do $hit in class every day.every day i did as much as possible so i could learn as much as possible.
sometimes i listen to the bad about wyotech and wish i never went but i know i got a relly good start on being what i want to be. i think it is up to the student and it show all the guys that dident do anything every day in class they dont have jobs or dont have good jobs and the few that were busting a$$ every day all have atleast decent jobs.

 

not tryin to be one either but, this aint a application, is it?



dave, too bad your not near central texas. i need a job and i unlike most my age understand that you have to start at the bottom.


alot of schools do charge out the ass. but the one i got to doesnt. i get an associates degree for around 8,000 before tools, and uti dallas charges 20,000+. we also have snap-on and matco tool sets there for dirt cheap. no, its not a roller filled up, but its enough to get you started.

todd says it really well.

 

I am a Wyotech Grad, 4 years ago when I went to Wyotech I had never touched a welder or a grinder, I was 19 and all I had was passion. A year and a half after graduating I had my first piece of metal work on the cover of Street Rodder. I was towards the top of my class and in fact many of my friends from tech now work at Rad Rides for troy and I'm currently working for Bobby Walden with another Wyotech Grad.

Bottom Line, the school is what you make of it and you get out what you put in. lots of kids see the commercials (me included) and think wyotech is gonna turn em into the next Foose. The reality is they train you to work in a body shop. If you have a chance in hell of working at a hot rod shop you need to work you ass off and have 200% dedication to your goal, anything els will end badly.

Local community colleges are good but like i mentioned above, because of my time at Wyotech I know grads in allot of the best shops in the nation I wouldn't get that in the local school. But the instruction is probably just as good

Wyotech got me started, If i didn't go there I wouldn't be where I am. If your looking to get into a hot rod shop and you think tech is your answer, BE PREPARED TO MAKE YOUR SELF THE BEST.

 

as a student at Los Angeles Trade Tech City College . oh and by the way its free with finacial fee waiver. Brian Ferrere is my instructor, talk about master painter, ask away and he will help you . he shares everything he knows and there is no secrets on how to do it, as long you are willing to learn and hands on. NO offense to Wyothech, some of the student go there, and then they also go back to trade tech due to poor instruction on how to.. and then find out they just got taken, and they could learn the same thing or even better trainned at a Community college.