Badluck 13 Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I have been in the automotive business going on 38 years and when I first started in this illustrious career it was actually kinda "fun" but over the years it has become less than fun and more "Hi-tech" and when my son was going through school I always told him to "stay away" from this business which he listened and I also told Baby Girl the saaaaaaaaaaaame thing and she "was" taking my advise at first by taking Cosmetology first year in high school until almost 3 years ago this coming December .....We were on our way to the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery where my father is buried at to put a wreath on his marker and we were on a long stretch of hi-way when she said "Daddie,we need to talk"... Words that can make a single dad's heart stopppppppp so I nervously said "What's Up?" then she proceeded to tell me she didn't want to do hair n such and I was like "Oh that's fine Baby Girl,your young and you'll change your mind a million times" and she said "That's not what I need to talk to you about" Uhgggggggg and that's when she proceeded to tell me she want to turn wrench and the fact she has wanted to for a loooooooong time and signed up for Auto-Tech at school.... At first I was like "Nooooooooooooooo" but then I thought about it and the fact she has always been a motor-head and ever since she was 8 years old she just had to have s PowerStroke Super-Duty and always tinkered in the garage with me and I thought "you know this could be fun!!" and boy has it ever,she has taken college courses during the summers and it certified in auto hvac (and currently designing A/C for my '66) she has been certified in brakes just to name a few and her strong point is electrical and I mean everything electrical from basics to right down to the understandings and working of sensors,pcm's,and modules etc. and she is currently starting a paid internship with the City Of Akron working in the "Street Dept." which the Police garage is trying like heck to get her because of her "electrical knowledge" which she said she may transfer but hates to leave them diesels lol..... It came time where she needed her own started box n tools and a great friend who I have worked with in the past retired from the wrenching set her up with his box along with all his tools,scanners,test equipment,and even a junk drawer,all tools are Mac,Matco,and Snap On for a small price to the point we should be arrested for because we "Stole" box-o-tools......Below is a Proud Lil' Girl with da' keys in hand to her new "Box of Adventure" ..... "Daddy is sure proud of you Baby Girl and Thanks You Wayne so much for the beginning of her career at the end of yours!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Van Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 People that can work with skilled hands own the future. My family has a trucking company. All the mechanics are 50 years old or older but one. They can't find good folks that want to WORK. A huge shortage is coming and the skilled worker is going to be the one making well over $100K. I'd be proud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) Very cool. Great to see young people actually wanting to get in the biz. I've only known a couple of women who were hands-on with machines, but they were both among the more highly-skilled and conscientious people I've met. Best of luck to her. 1 hour ago, Dave Van said: People that can work with skilled hands own the future...(Almost) all the mechanics are 50 years old or older... (We) can't find good folks that want to WORK. A huge shortage is coming and the skilled worker is going to be the one making well over $100K. I'd be proud. Exactly. Edited October 17, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Dave Van said: People that can work with skilled hands own the future. My family has a trucking company. All the mechanics are 50 years old or older but one. They can't find good folks that want to WORK. A huge shortage is coming and the skilled worker is going to be the one making well over $100K. I'd be proud. Absolutely true! The world is going to find it needs a lot less college grads with anthropology and women's studies degrees, and a lot more mechanics, plumbers and electricians. I stumbled across this list of 15 of the most useless college degrees that make employers ignore your resume, and yet thousands of people waste millions of dollars and years of their lives to obtain them because society says that you have to go to college. Just stupid! The first column is the degree and the second is the unemployment rate that corresponds with it. Computer Science 8.39% General Science 8.57% Advertising/Public Relations 8.71% History 8.74% Biology 8.76% Communication Technologies 9.40% Intercultural/International Studies 9.93% Ethnic/Civilization Studies 10.84% Fine Arts 10.90% Mass Media 10.92% Film/Video/Photographic Arts 11.24% Drama/Theater Arts 11.42% Anthropology/Archaeology 11.76% Environmental Science 11.79% Composition/Rhetoric 17.54% Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said: ...I stumbled across this list of 15 of the most useless college degrees ... and yet thousands of people waste millions of dollars and years of their lives to obtain them because society says that you have to go to college... ...and then complain about being buried under tens of thousands of dollars of "college debt" when they find the only jobs they can get are as baristas or waitrons or bartenders or dog-walkers. Edited October 17, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenGuthmiller Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Ace-Garageguy said: ...and then complain about being buried under tens of thousands of dollars of "college debt" when they find the only jobs they can get are as baristas or waitrons or bartenders or dog-walkers. Absolutely! A large percentage of the blame goes to the colleges and universities for being more concerned with packing the classrooms with students, padding their wallets and advancing their political views than they are with producing viable members of society. The parents need to be a little more proactive as well when little Betty Lou comes home and says she wants to major in ethnic studies! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 (edited) Today, a competent mechanic working out of a two-car garage behind the house can easily gross $150,000 per year on labor alone, working 8 hour days, and having enough time to actually run the business during business hours. Of course, to do that, you need to know a lot, have excellent mechanical aptitude and eye-hand coordination, have a solid grounding in physics and math as well as general science including electricity, and be able to read and comprehend written instructions. Computer skills are also becoming increasingly valuable, but they do NOT supplant the basics. The VAST majority of candidates we get for entry-level and even "experienced" positions today are sorely lacking in MOST of those areas. And you can blame "common core" for a lot of that. PS: Again, I think it's great that Mike's daughter is getting into it. Naturally, people who want to be mechanics make the best mechanics...rather than those who go into it because it's considered just a "job" for people of only moderate ability...which explains why there are a lot of mechanics, but there aren't all that many good mechanics. With a solid grounding in the basics and some practical experience, a decent mechanic will always be able to find employment, usually well-paid employment, and advanced fields are open with a little more push...like racing, building hot-rods, or aviation. Get good at this stuff and, quite literally, the sky is the limit. Edited October 17, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodent Posted October 17, 2019 Share Posted October 17, 2019 Mike, Several of the vehicle manufacturers have their own training and apprenticeship programs. Ford's ASSET program is 24 months and you graduate with an AA. You train a few days per week and spend the rest of the time working on real cars with real Ford techs in a real sponsoring dealership. Unfortunately, the nearest ASSET program to you is in Cleveland. She could probably find a sponsoring dealership closer to home though. It's worth looking in to, and she will have an AA upon completion as well. That could be a leg up to higher education for when she gets tired of working on Powerstrokes in the snow. Or even business classes if she decides to open her own shop someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamsuperdan Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 That's awesome! There's still a lot of old timers in the field that will give her a hard time because girls are weak, and girls can't do the heavy lifting, and girls just don't understand the mechanics of being a mechanic, and so on and so on. Conversely, all the girls I know who enter the field are tough enough and confident enough to put up with the BS from those old timers. I'm sure she'll be shutting them up soon enough! If I recall, the training programs for technicians in Canada are very different than they are in the US. Most of the major technical colleges here have fully accredited shop programs. I've had many friends that have been lured to the US to work for dealers because of the quality of training we get here. Maybe that's an option if she wants to travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badluck 13 Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 17 hours ago, Rodent said: Mike, Several of the vehicle manufacturers have their own training and apprenticeship programs. Ford's ASSET program is 24 months and you graduate with an AA. You train a few days per week and spend the rest of the time working on real cars with real Ford techs in a real sponsoring dealership. Unfortunately, the nearest ASSET program to you is in Cleveland. She could probably find a sponsoring dealership closer to home though. It's worth looking in to, and she will have an AA upon completion as well. That could be a leg up to higher education for when she gets tired of working on Powerstrokes in the snow. Or even business classes if she decides to open her own shop someday. Steve it's funny you mentioned ASSET...I have been with Ford 37 years of the 38 that I been in this business and the dealer I have been for the past 30 has 4 very highly qualified Master Tech's that came from ASSET when it was available at Akron U and TRI-C just started the program which my daughter already has a spot waiting for her per Kitty who runs the class and the dealer I work for has a seat to sponsor her aaaaaaaaaand the best part!!!!!! she may get a free ride!!!! but either way she will go and once complete she wants her masters and go on to Fords PowerStroke program ..... The kid has her head on straight and has the love of the automotive field..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badluck 13 Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 22 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said: Very cool. Great to see young people actually wanting to get in the biz. I've only known a couple of women who were hands-on with machines, but they were both among the more highly-skilled and conscientious people I've met. Best of luck to her. Exactly. Thanks !!! Bill she definitely has the passion and understanding,this kid has been around cars literally all her life (one time I had to take her to work @ 6mo.s) she would always want to come to work with me on days off from school and she has been working for me in the parts dept. for the past 2 1/2 years part time . You mentioned that some get into this " because it's considered just a "job" for people of only moderate ability" which you are soooooooooooo correct as I see it more and more here at work but I can assure you she is doing this because of the love n passion and was afraid to tell me this is what she really wanted to but I am so glad she did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badluck 13 Posted October 18, 2019 Author Share Posted October 18, 2019 1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said: There's still a lot of old timers in the field that will give her a hard time because girls are weak, and girls can't do the heavy lifting, and girls just don't understand the mechanics of being a mechanic, She has full respect for the old timers and tries to absorb as much as she can from them but I know what you mean and I tell you what,she knows how to just give it back when given to her . We have a local shop and the man who owns/runs it is a carburetor guru and she has made arrangements to shadow with him from time to time because she knows its a dying breed and there is sooooooooooooo many old school rods out there.....she just blows me away with her thinking..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
restoman Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 That's frigging awesome! Female or not, automotive trades need more young folks entering it, with passion and commitment to life-long learning. It can be a good life. There's nothing quite like being able to fix what's broken, or designing something that didn't exist before, or creating something better. It's what drove me for over 30 years. Tell your Baby Girl we're all rooting for her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Badluck 13 said: ...We have a local shop and the man who owns/runs it is a carburetor guru and she has made arrangements to shadow with him from time to time because she knows its a dying breed and there is sooooooooooooo many old school rods out there.....she just blows me away with her thinking..... Smart girl...and that's the key. Being able to work effectively on the old stuff as well as the new stuff opens doors to a write-your-own-ticket scenario. There's lotsa competition around here (a major metro area) for general-repair shops that work on mostly computer-encumbered vehicles, but very VERY few that are capable of diagnosing and actually repairing the older stuff. The tiny number of shops that can have more work than they can handle, customers who can actually pay, and who tend not to abandon their cars when costs become what would be prohibitive in "transportation vehicle" scenarios. 43 minutes ago, restoman said: That's frigging awesome! Female or not, automotive trades need more young folks entering it, with passion and commitment to life-long learning. It can be a good life. There's nothing quite like being able to fix what's broken, or designing something that didn't exist before, or creating something better. It's what drove me for over 30 years. Tell your Baby Girl we're all rooting for her! Absolutely...(and in my case, it's over 50 years, and still ticking). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbill Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 That’s pretty cool! Most kids want nothing to do with ‘what makes things tick’ in any fashion. I’m pretty sure you won’t have to worry about her in the future either, cause it sounds like she is willing to figure out just about anything, and that is priceless. best of luck to her in her future mechanical endeavors...., from another 30 year member of the dealership trenches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landman Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Good for her. Do what you like, it won't be work. My own daughter did become a stylist who specialized in coloring. To which point the distributor offered her a "regional Color Tech" position. She does new line presentations and troubleshooting all across the region. From there she gets called to be a stage artist at conventions and shows. She loves what she does. Looks like your daughter does as well. And with a few specializations there is no telling where it will go.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xingu Posted October 18, 2019 Share Posted October 18, 2019 Glad she found something she loves to do. That box is a whole lot nicer (and bigger) than mine. I am forced to take my company truck to a shop that can't figure out what is wrong with a vehicle unless their scanner gives them a code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodent Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 On 10/18/2019 at 7:38 AM, Badluck 13 said: Steve it's funny you mentioned ASSET...I have been with Ford 37 years of the 38 that I been in this business and the dealer I have been for the past 30 has 4 very highly qualified Master Tech's that came from ASSET when it was available at Akron U and TRI-C just started the program which my daughter already has a spot waiting for her per Kitty who runs the class and the dealer I work for has a seat to sponsor her aaaaaaaaaand the best part!!!!!! she may get a free ride!!!! but either way she will go and once complete she wants her masters and go on to Fords PowerStroke program ..... The kid has her head on straight and has the love of the automotive field..... I had a few years with Ford myself, and we sponsored a few ASSET students. Some good, a couple that we asked to go away. I wish her well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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