Career change

[white93iroc]

Like the title says, I’m seriously considering making a career change. For as long as I can remember I’ve been extremely passionate about cars and have always enjoyed working on them. Back when I chose a career path I always thought that I wanted to keep cars as my hobby and do something else as a career because I didn’t want to ruin something that I loved by making it a career. Well, I’m learning that that might not have been the wisest decision.

I’m a very technical minded person and had an interest in construction and computers so I studied to become a CAD operator and architectural draftsman and earned an Associated Degree in Applied Science. Doing that I was able to combine my technical thinking of how things go together and to make a creative idea a reality and I also got to work on computers. After 13 years, it’s been a great career but I don’t really enjoy it as much as I do the automotive industry. The economic times in the construction industry aren’t helping any but that’s not where my true problem lies. I just don’t have the passion to push myself further in this career.

What kind of advice could those of you in the auto repair industry give to someone looking to make this kind of career change? How difficult would it be to get my foot in the door somewhere without any school level training? I have plenty of experience working on cars but working in your own garage can’t really go far in impressing a potential employer. I’ve checked out the ASE website and thought about taking the certification test, or at the least quizzes to see where I stand. If I take the test and pass, it won’t do much good since I won’t actually get the certification until I have two years of work experience but it may prove my commitment and knowledge. What kind of compensation can one expect? Enjoying what I’m doing is more important than the money but obviously it would be nice to earn decent money. Is working for a dealership shop a better place to start than a regular repair shop?

Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.

[iwannagofast]

You pretty much NEED to go to a 2yr general automotive school, or a make specific school (usually need to get sponsored by a dealer, so you need to get a job first) if you want to be taken seriously in this business. If you go in there now off the street with no past experiance you are gonna be changing oil for a while.Also getting your ASE's done asap like you said(while in school for the really easy ones) is a very good idea.