Ok. Im a young guy and imp at a point in my life where anything is possible. I have been thinking about getting into the automotive industry, for a while now. Ive been looking at schools since high school, about three years now.... hasnt seemed that long.... anyway.... I looked into UTI, Wyotech, and a few others. But those seemed more production based, fix it programs. Anyone ever heard, have opinions about, or done business with HRI, or Hot Rod Institute of Rapid City, South Dakota? Anyone got anything on these guys?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
I went to northwestern in lima ohio, alright school, and have heard of HRI. Best thing I recomend doing is going to the school and taking the tour. Thats the best way to get an idea of the school.
Just be sure to enjoy your years of youth and always think about the next step and you will be fine Its refreashing to see a young man want to plan his life.
I have a neighbor and his boy went to the Wyotech . He did everything and graduated . they didn't help him get a job or anything like that . It cost him well over $42,000 and all he has is a shitty job in a paint and body shop . He works hard but doesn't get much . He can barely pay his loan off for the school . I know a few that went to the schools and you do learn well but when they tell you how they will get you into these big businesses and all that bull , but all you get is a bunch of promises . All I am saying is be careful before you sign on the dotted line that you will be paying for a long time ! Those place advertise a lot and that isn't cheap either so you figure out who pays for all those big fancy ads on cable ! Just be careful and check into the should without the big fancy names first . Just don't believe that you will get that high paying job just because you went to that school that was on cable TV speed show ! Do you research on your own and not by the ones they show you ! Just my opinion ! Retro Jim
HRI is good. the guy that started the program at Wyotech and the VA School, Doug Larue runs HRI. Do a search of students post here and at least one of the instructors (Jamiee) is active. We have a growin hot rod world in the Black Hills, I try to bring together folks with my HAMBnEggs Breakfasts on Saturdays
More then likely, your local community college will have a better program. Mine did. You CAN NOT get anything more then a crash course in the 9 month courses these places offer. I went to a 2 year program for autobody, my instructor pushed me towards frame and body repair, so very I learned very little about paint. I worked in a shop 5-6 hours a day my second year in school and honestly? THAT was a crash course. My advice for anyone wanting to get in the automobile field at 17-18? Don't. The pay sucks, you take something you love and hate it, and your projects never get finished because when you spend 8 hours a day spinning wrenches you don't want to do it when you get home. I had a car that needed a motor put in it, had the motor built and it sat for a year because I didn't have the drive anymore. It actually only got put back together because I was moving. I use to work with a guy that had spend 40k on wyotech. He was 21, had a 2 year old, another on the way. He could barely pay his bills because he made 10 a hour and had a $400 a month school bill. If you are admit about going into the automobile field this is how I would do it. Figure out what you want to do, spin wrenches, autobody, ect. Then go get a job at a shop that does that, washing cars or changing oil, and stress to them that you want to move up. I think working for a smaller shop, will give you more opportunities. Don't jump into this thinking you are going to work on hot rods at 19. No one is going to hire you with no experience to work on high dollar cars. Get some experience under your belt, and build a hot rod in your garage. Once you do that, then go talk to some shops, drop of resumes, etc. Looking back on what I have done, and seen others do that is how I would go about it.
Check your local community colleges....I spend 26k back in '99 to go to Wyotech (wyoming technical institue at the time) and feel it was the biggest waste of money and year of my time I have ever done. If you know absolutly nothing about vehicle maintenance its a great school that will prep you for an entry level posision. If you already have a basic understanding of mechanics, find a community college that has an automotive program and save all that extra money the big schools charge and buy yourself a profesional set of tools. in the end you will come out way ahead.
Also, when wyotech actually became "WyoTech" they had been bough out by a big corp. Since then I have heard and read about many complaints of the schools teaching quality going WAY down hill.....its all about the money now, very little about the practical application of anything you may or may not learn. And just for shits....everything said by turbo is 100% correct...just ask me why Im in the military now instead of building hotrods like i had dreamed.
I agree with the above, I would not suggest being a mechanic or auto tech as the call it now. Pay sucks and you get burned out turning wrenches at work leaning over fenders. I used my back ground and got into working on larger machines as an industrial maintenance mechanic. Pay is better and I dont get burned out on working on cars.
My friend went to his local community college right out of high school, he graduated, has a few ASE certs and he is dumber than a mud fence, his teacher "helped" him build a hot engine for his car, just basically threw parts at him off a shelf to put into it, turned out the cam required high dollar heads with high dollar mods to even work and the teacher had given him a set of stock 305 heads for his 350....the kid not being any smarter just blindly followed and bent a full set of pushrods and had his truck out of commission until he could put his 307 back into it. he was ready to replace pushrods and retry his engine till Italked to him for 3 hours trying to convince him a further teardown was warranted, including pulling the bumpstick and getting some spec info on it...a shame really
I graduated for the State University of New York at Morrisville Auto Tech program back in 1964. That program has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Back in the day "hot rod" was a curse word. We had to keep pop-up pistons and such out of sight if the Dean toured the shops. Student parking lots were full of hot rods and customs but the shops were supposed to be for factory cars only. Everyone knows the innovative nature of gear heads so most of us found a way to get around the school policy. But now they have full programs to build race cars and modified vehicles. I agree with the poster that campus visits, talks with current students and such are really essential to picking the right school. Guess I am somewhat skeptical of the "for profit" institutions as opposed to the traditional two year and four year colleges. Something you might consider, given some information now coming out about how veterans have been treated in some cases by this new generation of schools being run as profit making institutions.
This has been covered a lot and the folks who respond are always different, yet share the same opinion. Do a search on UTI, WyoTech or whatever school you are thinking of going to and you'll probably find a lot of opinions. I would suggest staying home, going to your local tech school and working at a shop part time to start. That way you can ease into it and if you decide you aren't cut out to be a body guy or a technician you don't have a lot invested and you can move on to something else. Remember it takes time to get good at anything. And don't get your hopes up that you're going to land some cherry job at a Hot Rod Shop, it's most likely not going to happen and you probably don't want it anyway. Good luck in whatever you decide.
That is good advice right there. Thinking about your future is refreshing as stated, wait until you are in your later years and will regret being an auto tech. Love turns to hate, try to earn big bucks and enjoy rods as a hobby not an occupation. Good luck to you whatever you decide.
I had to restart my responce to your question 3x because each time I would start to "RAGE" about the auto related business. I would listen to everyone that posted a negative responce. Even if you find a job after schooling you'll start at the bottom, it will take 10yrs to really learn your profession and you will have to fight for every nickel. It will burn you out working on cars. I would look into being an electrican or HVAC career. You get to work w/your hands and not get burned out on cars. I think back 40+ yrs all the "old mechanics" that told me to do ANYTHING but fix cars. I think I'll stop now or I'll start raging again.
well, what do you like? building cars is sweet. being a marketable craftsman is great too. but, you might think about going to an actual liberal arts/science college if you can. you walk out with one of those degrees and you are usually a better shoe-in than your peers without. In most all fields. it also allows you a wider perspective. college teaches you to think, to live. it may not give you hands on experience, but many times it will help you get it. and it allows you another option - even a chance to do something else so you dont get burned out.
Go to a good community college in your area or join the service. Both look good on your resume - no matter what others say. Don't "waste time" floating around till your 30.
auto industry sucks. if you want to be a wrench, get a gig as a lube guy, don't waste money on school for it. if you like it, work on moving up the ladder, but be prepared for the impending bullshit that goes with it. i say this from experience, two buddies of mine went to school for it, i started flat rate at the same time. i learned more real world stuff in 1/2 the time they did, and gained alot more knowledge of cars than they did in the same given time. also, as mentioned, you will get burnt out, and the more you know, the harder it gets to make money cause you get all the 'hard' work [read that as all the shit that doesn't pay well to fix]. after 23 years, countless factory training courses, 80k in tools, and taking ASE tests every 5 years, and fighting the flat rate system, i am burnt to a crisp, lol.
I would tend to agree with turboshadow. Do more of an apprenticship thing. You could also add in a local tech or community college as well as the apprenticeship thing.
Hi KomoG2, Might look into something like McPherson College's Auto Restoration program, which Jay Leno has supported in the past... Here is some photos from a hot rod run that Travis Scanlan hosted in Central Kansas last week. Links are in his first entry with his photos later, and my photos are in posting #169. Maybe something like this might be of interest... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=529595 Good luck in your future career... Some sort of training or follow-on is probably gonna be needed for a good job...duane (NM Sandrail)
Do what I did if you really want to be involved in cars and the car world. 1.Find friends that are knowledgeable (old timers) and get to know everyone you can. 2.Work or learn from them on a part time basis (if your still in school, or working elsewhere) 3.Get in there and do work. You can read all the books in the world, but hands build cars, books don't. If you have to get just a part time job. Unless you plan on being a dealership mechanic or something, I don't know how I feel about Wyotech and the like. The only one I will back is HRI and that is just because I hear alot of good about it. Otherwise learn like the rest of us. Just make it happen and be aggressive about it. Thats my opinion from one Young Guy to another.
i had gone to NEIT (New England Institute Of Technology) i liked the time i spent there and learned alot, but only because i really wanted too and got along really well with my teachers who were all techs ex shop owners ect. not just someone who was trained to train you. I know around ct auto jobs are sucking wind, the dealer ships near me only have two techs compared to the ten they could have. i was lucky i already had a job at a small shop and that helped me get into the one i am at now, if you dont live right near your school i wouldnt count on job placement, your on your own there. i am not trying to say dont get into the trade because if its what you like to do go ahead and enjoy it, if you get into the right shop it can make they days pretty enjoyable. but in my opinion, if you do peruse automotive go to a school that also gives you a collage degree, always a good fall-back plan and dont bother with dealerships, find a smaller shop and stay away from budget shops, have always found them to be slammers and no one likes that
yeah i spent 23,000 5 years ago for wyotec .i had gone to a tech trade highschool for body work before and have been around cars my whole life so all i really got from it was friends. probably would have learned all and more just being out in the feild.
Another reason to go to a CC instead of wyotech is that the instructors are usually rather well connected in the trade. My first autobody job, I showed up, talked to the boss for 5 min and told him who my instructor was. Hired me on the spot. Turned out the guy that hired me had went through the CC 20 years earlier. My second autobody job, they asked me who my instructor was, called him and then offered me the job. Most shops don't care what a guy 2000 miles a way has to say, but a guy they know goes REALLY far. My instructor was also a ICAR teacher on the weekends, so he knew about everyone in the industry through his ICAR class's.
I will also say that I spent about 6k on my 2 year program. I was able to pay CASH and that was really nice. I had to scrimp and save to do it, but when I was done I had no student loans to pay off.
Not really what you asked but.... For each guy that has a flashy shop or a GNRS rig in his garage there are about 1000 (hell, maybe 10k) more living paycheck to paycheck and wishing they had done something else for a career. If you really like cars, want to work on cars, or want to build your own car someday then find an occupation that will pay you well enough to be able to afford to do these things. Plumbers and electricians are never out of work and they get paid very well. If you have any thoughts of persuing a Bachelors degree look long and hard at the job forecasts, not just the expected salaries. ... 2¢ worth from an 'over 60' guy...
When you get over the expense of school you will have $100k ( for starters) to spend on tools.I worked as a auto tech over 30yrs.,most shops had no heat,hot water,too cheap to pay for any training, over 100 temp.in the shop, summers.Expect to be real sweet on the service manager to get any decent paying work or starve.Then when your a little over 50yrs. old your dumped on the sidewalk,your too slow. Take a 2yr. course in instrumentation,then buy a pen and a necktie and a get a decent job. Keep working on cars a hobby not a career!
There is wisdom in the words of these guys. The automotive industry is mired in regulation. The tech schools that promise you the world are selling you lies. A local JC is definitely the way to go. The local college here teaches engine building classes, from the bottom up. Every aspect of engine building is taught at the fraction of a price of one of the flashy tech schools and the teacher places you with local shops upon completion. Stay away from the automotive industry if you want to make money in life.
I went through the Automotive Restoration program in McPherson Kansas, a great school and i learned a lot cost a lot of money. If i had to do it over again i would take a long hard look at your career choice, I love my work been working in the Restoration and hot rod industry for 16 years and plan on working in the Field as long as it will have me. The main problem with all these schools is that they pump out 20 or so kids every nine months and the industry as a whole just can't support it. Wages are low even high end builds at 100 grand or more but stretch that over a shop trying to meet its overhead and keeping up with delinquent customers in the end pay is low and sometimes the stress is high. I feel for these new graduate's that apply for work every few months, most shop just don't have the work load to support them, and or do not wish to add to the employees at the shop costing time and energy that needs to be spent on the customers cars. We have hired a few people out of the tech school programs and usually after nine months the mast majority of them are burned out, realizing that working in a real shop is not like the TV shows. A few have stayed on and become valuable members to our team. One of the best employees we have came right form our local school system we needed some one to sweep floors around here, he came in with very little shop experience but five years latter he was the one that did the majority of the painting on the streamliner that we took to Pebble Beach this year. Enough rambling you get out of it what you put in.
i went to UTI. its designed to teach you how to get into the industry and have a JOB. not a hobby. there is a difference. it was a good school,alot of money, and i have not had auto related jobs for a while. i learned to weld myself, to work on my car. and found it being the best skill i could learn. after it was all over i learned alot, but its not realy what im using in the real world. after i graduated the auto industry took a hit and i havnt been able to get a auto related job since. keep it a hobby not a career.
To everyone who posted their two cents, THANK YOU!!! I am in "community college" now. Goes by Florida State College at Jacksonville... still fl comm college at jax to me. Anyway, im currently working on a AA in business management. This was my thought process, Id go up to SD and attend HRI, not just for basic auto mechanics, but for custom automotive work. Chopping tops, fabrication and such. I dont think I can get anything like that out of my CC here but with all you guys giving to much to me, think I will keep looking for what exactly I want to do. Think my Dad has it the best, Civil Engineer, traveled and lived all over the world.... I have lived in 4 countries on 3 continents. Has two "fun" cars and a pick up he drives to and from work. Works on his cars, nights and weekends, as a theropy from work. I dont know, a lot to process now, THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!! Russell, age 20.
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