ToplessZ Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 Ok here's the deal. I am hooked I mean as in hooked for good. Im 21 almost 22 and I love cars. I want to go to a school similar to wayotech or UTI but I cant afford it right now I have slowly been trying to build up my library with all types of fabrication, chassis, paint, and customizing books. Alas I am poor and the books aren't free so my collection is still small. Although Amazon.com is helping me out. Anyway I was wondering if any of you could offer advice on this type of education. I know the average cost of an education at wayotech is about 28,000 including expenses. I was wondering if there are any other more budget oriented programs offered elsewhere. I've been looking around but I dont want to go to an unheard of school that will limit my career possibilities. My goal is to land a well paying job with a car manufacturer and or maybe someday open my own shop doing what I love the most. Until this happens I will keep reading and reading and tinkering until Ive mastered the needed skills. That being said anyone have any suggestions or any fabrication or other books that you want to sell cheap. Sorry for the long post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 Forgot to add that Im accepting donations towards my college fund Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 My suggestion to you is to get a job at a local dealer. Take a job changing oil or doing what no one else wants. (The oil change guy often makes more that some of the best mechanics, because they can do 10 an hour.) Most of the car companies give incentives to the dealers to send their mechanics to school and get them certified. Let the dealer pay for your school and ASE certs. Invest your extra money in quality tools, then start taking night classes at you local tech school for the skills you are not getting from the dealer (welding/fabricating/machining). I have heard my dad (ASE Master Mechanic with about 30 years experience) give this advice before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 Yeah but does your dad work for BMW I dont want a mechanics job. Id like to do something a little more fun. Design or R&D. I like wrenching but not enough to do it for 30 years. I like the other stuff. I also live in a small town where changing oil (if you can find a job doing it) would be at some small town garage that pays 6 or 7 dollars an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aaron Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 My dad was the first Infiniti Master Mechanic in Alabama, one of the first 50 in the US. You asked about getting a hot rod education, not getting an engineering job. I offered you a path. If you want to get in to design or R&D for an automotive company, you will need to go somewhere other than WYOTech or UTI. Plan to go to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena if you want to do design work. Go to a University with a good engineering program if you want to do R&D. Make perfect grades. Plan on the field being EXTREMELY competitive. Plan on doing the sorry design work that no one else wants to do for several years as you work your way up the corporate ladder. I had the same dreams as you when I got out of high school. The reality was that I did not enjoy engineering the more involved I got in it. IT turned out to be the best career for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 i go to UTI, and if you dont wanna work in a dealership then dont go to UTI.. plus it sucks big time. wyotech is pretty cool though. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 An education at either the Art Center or Art institute of California is gonna cost. Big time. I was looking at a 3 year BS program for industrial design at the Art Institute in Orange county. Tuition fees came out to a little over $70,000 for 3 years. Any design school able to give you a competitive edge in the field when you graduate will cost about this much, if not more. Motor Trend does a design contest every year where the winner gets a scolarship to the Art Center, that might be worth looking into if you want to get involved in the design of cars. If the guy that designed the Aztek still has his job, I'm thinking that nearly any one of us here on this board could do that job. Can't be that hard, right? (Actually he still has a job at GM, and is responsible for the new 2005 Corvette ) Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToplessZ Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 Sorry to not get to respond sooner. Aaron I hope you didn't take offense to my comment. I didn't mean to sound harsh. I really don't want to work for a dealership. For me I can't afford to take the pay cut to change oil. I live on my own so thats pretty costly. The closest real dealership is almost an hour away if they would even hire me. I don't really want to work at a dealership at all. I want to get into the custom work that dealerships don't or won't do. Im trying to avoid the greasy, dirty, fix whats broke, wrenchin. I love my z's and they provide plenty of that. I had the oppertunity to basically sweep floors and do the nasty work at a local body shop for 6.00 an hour which I thought would be great experience. I just couldn't make the time between work and part time school. I want to have fun with my career. Thus the career choice. If I have to work for a large company for awhile I would want it to be a high end car company, or similar circumstance, more for the pay and prestige. I guess I dont think I would enjoy fixing grandma's cavalier at the chevy dealership. I have a friend who's brother got a good job at BMW making 60k starting salary and 70k after 3 months of BMW sponsered training. Thats something I would like to aim for and to me thats pretty good money. I would do that for a while and then with the education I had I would like to open a rod and custom type shop. I have learned a ton by reading and watching how to video's and playing with my cars and friends cars. I think Im on the right track with my self education. Unfortunatly its not accredited. I hope some more of you will comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Jared, The only .02c's I can add is this. First, I would congradulate you on having a long term goal. That is the first step to meeting that goal. Secondly, very few people have the on hand resources to achieve their long term goals immediately: hence the vernacular "long-term". Secondly, I would suggest that you do what ever you have to do to surround yourself with like minded folks who think the way you do regarding your long term goals. This will help keep those feelings from ever fading away. Thirdly, either way you achieve your goal.., 1) working your way up through some shop while paying your dues and learning the craft the hard way 2) going to school and getting your training in a professional trade school 3) or by getting a business loan .., you are going to PAY. You either pay in the short run or you pay in the long run. Experience doesnt come cheep and that is the hard luck bottom line. A fourth option would be a State/Federal grant...you dont pay if you qulify. Having a long term goal is good-but you still have to live in the present tense: pay bills, eat, maintain your car, some kind of a lifestyle, ect. Having a long term goal and being forced to living in the present is kind of like an engine in itself. The engine wont start by itself-it needs a smaller engine to start the larger engine. So you can think about your starter as being the present tense and the larger engine as your long term goal. In other words-it takes a smaller engine to get the larger engine running, up until the larger engine can run on itself the smaller engine (starter) is mandatory. You have three chioces: 1) Business Loan, Family Loan, Private Invester (debt) 2) Work in a shop till you can break away (lost time-but valuable experience gained) 3) Go to a Professional Hot Rod Trade School (debt-school loans) Unfortunately, either choice you make you are still going to pay: and it will take patience to not only get there-but that field is so competitive you really need to know how to manage a shop...people, supply-demand ect. The only real advice I can add is to have patience, dont give up on your dream, have a plan and a time-line when you expect your long term goal to mature, surround yourself with like-minded people, and dont listen to the nay-sayers that claim you cant do it. Have you thought about putting an add in papers nation wide? You never know when an invester is looking to invest. Just keep in mind that silent partners are rarely silent. As far as a high-end paying job: usually those jobs are obtained by you already having that experience or because you know someone that already works there and as a result you are recommended. Anyway-hope this has helped in some manner. Keep the fire within burning-and dont let that flame go out! Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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