School?

Russell, Finish community college and get your AAS. Then go on to a four year school and get your 4 year degree with a work study program which will get you into a full time job. Then your masters. If you can hack it civil engineering is a great choice as it will provide you with a very good income and also allow you enough discretionary income to play with cars. In today's economy you better be making at least $50/hour to do the things YOU want to do. And that number will only go up as inflation gets worse. That's why folks become doctors and lawyers and other highly specialized professionals.

 

I'm going through an aviation mx program here in town. They teach us most of the same things that you will learn in auto school.

 

I got my AAs at a local community college -The first day in my first class the teacher told us all to march out that door if we were there because we loved working on cars as a hobby .He had a good point the knowledge and the AAS has gotten me farther along than some of my buddies theat went on to the "wyotechs & UTI's" that did not get them the AAS and got them into a debt that was hard to try to overcome and in turn held them back further bittering them about their decision to wrench - but what then do you get into as an alternative ?

 

Hired the mcphearson kids as well as a wyo techr neither one was any where ready for the real world. head full of hotrod tv. They teach them just enough to be dangerous . not ready for 14 hr days and projects that last past their attention span.
Mark

 

Good point burnn....
Thinking I may like the schooling as far as to know what im doing with my hands. But im thinking about keeping the wrenching as a hobby. I like working on cars, and I want to keep it that way. I have already gone through a lot of the steps that you guys are telling me to go through. I worked at a local, independent shop just as a general helper. extra set of hands moslty. But i think after working there, a warehouse-which i lost that job the 13, last monday- something behind a desk, crunching numbers, not knuckles just may be the way for me. maybe not civil, mechanical maybe. thermal dynamics sounds cool.
Thanks again to all the advice
Russell

 

good luck

 

Thanks everyone! I've got a lot of info to mull over now. Got exactly what I was hoping to get with such the open topic. Thanks again everyone!
KomoG2

 

Thought I would bring this post back up rather than start a new one. I am 23 years old and kinda in the same boat as the original poster. My highschool had an AutoBody program that I majored in for all 4 years(multiple hours a day) and after highschool I went to a local tech school for a one year autobody school. I learned alot and for the last few years have painted cars on the side here and there for extra money. When I went into the program I had no intentions what so ever to work in a full time body shop. Doing insurance work all day long and turning wrenches on new cars was not what i wanted. I wanted, and still want to work on older cars. I have been looking into going to the Mcpherson Auto Restoration school. Its olny 3 hours from me, but cost $20k a year and is a 4 year deal. Any advice from some of you guys on how a person like myself could get into working in a restoration shop or something related? I am in a dead end job now, and hate every minute of it. I need to take a step forward toward what I want to do, but don't really know where to start.

 

Just fall over in a shopping center while texting, sue the place for 28 million and live a life of luxury.



No?


Ok, you are probably better off with an apprenticeship at a smaller shop, work through the week with one day a week at school.
Sounds like all these big name schools are aimed at the remove and replace jobs at the local dealership rather than a true mechanic.

Or better yet, find something you will earn good money at, get into that and save working on cars for your 'hobby' so you will continue to enjoy it. I got into the medical field and it pays well, is not half as difficult as everyone thinks it is, is more useful in the garage than you will ever realise AND I STILL ENJOY WORKING ON CARS!!
I spent a year in a panel shop doing auto body repair, the A model I had at the time did not get touched at all in that year.
Think hard about this mate, think very hard. Job fulfillment is important but not as important as being able to support yourself.

Doc.

 

Thanks man. I have thought about this for the last 5.5 years since graduating highschool. Honestly, the only thing I enjoy doing is messing with cars. Currently, I live at home, have no shop to work on my cars, and have a job I hate,lol. I cant even think of something I want to do. There is nothing out there I have thought of, that I can picture myself retiring from. But, I also dont want to burn myself out on cars. What a predicament.

 

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure it pays well - This can be an expensive hobby!

Best of luck!!

 

Thats the problem. I live in south east kansas. The economy has taken its toll. Not any jobs avail, plus none of them pay good.

 

Wyotech has become all about the money anymore. A few years ago a Wyotech rep tried to bribe my auto teacher into sending his students to wyo with a commission. He straight up kicked the guy out of the shop. From what i've heard and seen Lincoln Tech in Denver seems to be a good choice.

 

As A UTI Grad school dont mean shit unit you get some years under your belt. A green mechanic is a green mechanic, when you can put that education together with real life experiance is when it makes a differance. That being said I now run a fleet shop and I would not hire anybody without some form of formal training. My 2 cents.

 

I went to UTI and I now teach automotive at a community college. Don't waste your money on a big school. Get a job and training at a local school. It will save you thousands of dollars and you will probably get a better education. If you can, try to find an apprenticeship at a hot rod shop. I wasted time and money going to UTI (which I am still paying for) and working in dealerships when what I really wanted to do was build hot rods.

As it has been said before go to the school and tour it before you commit AND go to more than one or two. It is worth $1500 of flying around the country to see what is available... Especially when you are spending $20-50,000 (Or more including moving room and board) on tuition.

 

It doesn't really matter where you go to school at(went to wyotech) so long as you go and finish. Go to a community collage or a big name school. Just by going and finishing something will show an employer that you are capable of finishing a goal. Right now is a good time to go back to school interest rates are low and jobs are few. Invest in yourself,go to school get some paperwork. Then worry about what people on a hotrod website think of a school.

 

I went through UTI in Chicago, it was ok. I had worked at a body shop since I was 14, so alot of the stuff was just review, as I had done minor tune up stuff long ago. But, I got my foot in the door where I am at now by my diploma from there. Now I just get sent to specific schools by my employer to train me on the equipment we sell. I believe it is an ok way to go, but I do not believe so much in their programs for Ford, Toyota, etc.... Once you get a job your employer should help by furthering your education by programs avialiable to the dealer.

 

A lot of good info here, the best part of it is, for 'just some people on a hot rod web site' they have all been there and done it so they are speaking from experience.

I seriously never thought I would or could I even see me leaving the military, but I did and I ended up working in a hospital emergency center as........a...........(Ugh).......nurse!! (Oh the shame!)
Years of military SF training, paramedical, minor surgical, aeromedical training and all that put to use in combat and now I'm a bloody ..........nurse?
See, shit never works out how you want it. I really enjoyed the year I spent in the panel shop between the Army and what I do now, I fucking HATE working in a hospital! But it pays well, real well between 28-49$ an hour.
Unfortunately right now I am on a Veterans Affairs pension because of the injuries I received in the Army. But when I go back to work, you better bet that money will be squandered on another Hot Rod.

 

One thing that always stands out about young people is that they think they have plenty of time. The sands in the hour glass run faster and faster as you get older.
You say that you have been looking at schools for three years.
Three years?
My, my, how time flies.
In another couple of years it will be time for a decision.

 

Well, it originally started out as saving up money to afford to go to college. Well, cars and projects always eat up my money as fast as I can make it. But I do know what you mean about time flying by. It seems like just yesterday I graduated highschool, and its been almost 6 years now!

 

something that I really enjoy and actually ties in with hotrodding and kustoms is technical theatre. I design the mechanics and mechanisms of stage plays, with quite a bit of artistic freedom while still having to meet load and structural requirements. Its a long road, atleast 4 years to get a bachelors degree, then another two to get a masters, but I learned an absolute TON of stuff that is helping me on my hot rod build. Ive gotten to work with just about every material, use every/any tool i could think of. its been a real journey, and although I really dont think that it was really worth the ridiculous sum of money it took to earn a piece of paper, it was definately worth the time and effort. now I can wrench on the weekends I dont have shows, and sometimes during the week!

 

I agree with what everyone here has allready stated, learn body repair, metal shaping/fab and mechanics as a hobby, NOT for for your primary income. I wish I had listened to my old boss back when I was 15-16, But I too enrolled in a useless class wich I'm now paying for, I have struggled since I graduated from college to find and keep a job in the collision/resto repair field, and I lost yet another job yesterday because I wouldn't half ass for the comp I worked for and the " DRP "insurance companies that want the repairs done yesterday, I'm done with it.....

find other fields to use these skills in and the return will be much more rewarding

 

Don't take those school tours for granted, when I was looking into taking a college course, I went to take tour of the school I ended going to, they actually keep the nice equipment, the brand new car's that were donated,locked away, when A tour was planned, they would get these cars and equipment out to let the students use the equipment and work on the previously mentioned cars during the "tour" day and then hide the equipment and cars until the next " tour" day..... reality was they had shitty old beaten up welders etc, and you had to provide your own materials and your own beater car to work on, plus I had lazy jackass of a teacher

 

Check out Montana State U Northern @ Havre MT. They still do a 4 year Diesel tech degree and their grad placement and pay are Top Shelf. Then you can afford to tink on your hot rod and you wont have to borrow the tools to do anything.

 

Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.


It isn't about the money people! I've been working on 4 wheeled shit for a good 12-13 years of my 18 years on the earth and dont regret it! If you don't enjoy it and can't see yourself gladly waking up every morning....dont! It isn't always about the money.

 

I always dreamed of building Hot-Rods when i was a kid, so I jumped into an autobody shop at 15 and kept a watchful eye on how things were done, asked questions and paid attention "while I swept floors & prepped parts"... after a couple years of grunt work, I went on the line as a Combination-Tech.... On one hand, I would have to agree with the guys that say "Don't Do It" because the pay does suck, the Chemicals will Kill, the Damn Insurance Adjusters short you a 10th of an hour anywhere they can, there's NO Health Benifits, and you never want to finish your own cars after working on everyone else's all day.
It gets to you, But on the other hand... I didn't have to pay for my education and after 10 yrs of doing collision work I aquired the needed skills to do what I always wanted... which is building Hot-Rods.
The pay still sucks, the paint sprays the same, and the radio never changes... but Honestly, I wouldn't want to do anything else. It never was about the money... It's about the Cars, the Lifestyle and the Dream.
My advice would be... Weigh your options, the future is wide open... But if you really want to do this... Dive in, Don't look back, and Buckle in for the long haul. Its a pretty rough road, but If building Hot-Rods is truely your Dream... at the end of the day, You'll never regret what it took to get there.

 

Pay depends on where you are, what kind of shop you work in and what you specialize in. I could always make top money when I just did front end and alignment work but had to work my ass off in a general repair shop where I had to work on what ever came in the door to make the same money. I love building engines but hate repairing engines. There are a lot of good VoTech schools around the country with degree programs such as Bates Technical College in Tacoma Wa http://www.bates.ctc.edu/page.asp?view=114 Their program is aimed straight at getting guys in dealership shops though.

When I was teaching Auto mechanics I had one student go to Wyo Tech and she (yes she) moved to New York and married a fellow student when she finished. She had three years of shop in high school and had some pretty good skills before she went though. I also had a couple who went to one of the big Arizona schools that advertises on Speed Channel all the time and they were pretty bored as the first quarter was all a repeat of what they had in high school as sophomores. I also had a few go to the local Jr College and local votech and have pretty good success. The guys who went to the local Jr College got more education for the buck in my book.

I'm one of those who took three years of auto shop in high school and then went to automotive trade school for two years. I worked in various shops for a total of fifteen years and taught for thirteen. It took me a long time to discover that I wanted to build hot rods and customs and not repair other peoples cars for eight hours a day even though I was said to be pretty good at it. The main thing is to decide if you want to repair cars or build cars and go from there. Some times it's a lot more fun to build cars when your day job is totally unrelated to your hobby. Also some of the top names in the rod building business got into it as a sideline or hobby that grew into a full time business. Even Boyd Coddington didn't start out as a pro rod builder but built the rides for Disneyland for a number of years while first building his own cars in the shop behind his house, then building cars for others.

 

I have wanted to run my own shop, ever since I started working and learning as much as I could at my neighbors small garage, however that was when the economy was great and people were spending money, the economy has changed, and their is not as many people spending money on non essential "toys". location is a huge factor as far as finding a GOOD company and a company that has enough work coming in to keep employees busy, pay shop overhead costs, and still generate a profit..

 

Well put!

I've spent 15 years in my career which has nothing to cars (except I drive one to work every day). It pays well enough to support my family with a little extra for "toys". My hobby (addiction) for the last 4 years has been restoring classics. I enjoy working in the garage at night, or in the driveway during the summer - And I wouldn't change any bit of that!

 

I have a close friend who is a Wyotech grad that was being being paid as much as a burger flipper here in Texas, he moved to ALASKA to get a decent paying job! Thats along way from home Dorthy. Right now the market is tough for any career but I have learned that school is very important these days. Any ways I hops this helped some.

Sam