Being an auto mechanic

[thecardkid01]

Hello, I'm thinking of becoming an auto mechanic. The thing is that it seems people often make fun of auto mechanics. I'm not sure why, it seems like everytime I bring it up in conversations with my friends, they laugh at my career choice. Is it because it's not a good paying job, or because they have to get their hands dirty, or is it hard work? Right now I can't decide what I want to do. I just want to know if being a mechanic is a good career choice. Thanks!

[Auto_newb]

Funny, whenever I tell my friends I wanna be an auto mechanic, they always ask me if I can fix their car whenever they got a problem with their car.
IMO, if you love cars but don't care whether you are rich or not, go for it, but if you don't care about knowing or not knowing cars, then just go for something else.

To me, I think auto mechanic is a great choice, because I love learning the insides of a car and how they work, I like driving cars as well, I will never get tired or sick of the feeling of total freedom, I love working inside cars as well, makes me feel good. I also intend on being a motorcycle mechanic, but that's a different story.

[burly]

If being an automechanic is what you want to do, then don't worry too much about what other people think. At least initially the pay isn't all that great, but it isn't substandard either. If you at somepoint own your own shop or franchised shop or work for a car team or something like that, you can end up doing quite well for yourself. It is hard work and you will be working in a semiclimate controlled bay in all seasons. No career choice is smart if you don't enjoy the field.

[waycool9]

dude, you should totally go for it...the pays not bad...it doesnt have to be much work...hell, im a second year apprentice mechanic and its fine for me...but i guess i just love cars.

[burnM]

There are 4 things that are constant in life:
Needing a house
Needing transportation
Baby stuff
Food

A carreer in any one of these fields is guaranteed work all the time. You'll never be far from a place to work.

[MagicRat]

The upside is that there is always employment available for a good mechanic.
The downside is that the average retirement age from the industry is 30 years old. There are many many mechanics wiho find the industry too tough and get discouraged and leave. I did.
My best adivce is to get as much training as you can. Get into the high tech stuff. It pays better and is cleaner. You want to diagnose and repair electronics, not do oil changes and brakes all day.

The single most useful bit of advice I got is this:
The best thing you can do, and this is after talking with many mechanics is: after 10 years or so, aim to be either in management of a service department or get into teaching, such as high school shop of college auto mechanics.

[GMMerlin]

I have been doing this for 21 years at the dealer level.
Good quality techs are extremely hard to find and even harder to keep.
I chose this as my carreer path and will keep doing it until I can't do it anymore.
Everyday is a challenge and never the same thing.

[Holyterror]

For lots of people, the "grease monkey" image of mechanics still prevails. But who cares? BMW will pay to train you for two years and then start you working 6 hour days at a dealership, raking in ~$100K U.S. As in most things, ignore your friends' opinions and go with your gut. Talk to guys who are working the job in your area. Find a place with happy, well-paid mechanics.

BTW, the BMW job almost pulled me into that career path.

[ghostguy6]

yeah its a good career if you like working on cars, get all the training you can while you can get it. Start off in one of those quicky lube change places( I know it sucks to work there but it does give you a good introduction to the automotive field) it looks good on a resume if you have alot of automotive related referances. Also going to a dealer is a good start if you have high school automotives shop training, most dealers are willing to hire people with some expreiance but who are not yet acustomed to doing things there way. In m,ost cases they will be happy to train you their way.Yeah the pay ain't that great, but what would you rather do sit in an office all day making $130,000 a year doing the same thing day after day or get your hands a little dirty making $80,000 a year doing something you enjoy?

[matt11583]

if you want to be an auto mechanic then you should do it. it pays good and people will always need to get cars fixed. i have heard that if you learn how to work on hybrid cars you can make a lot of money. i dont kno much about them so im not positive.

[59elcooldsuv]

Yeah, it's laborious, dirty, and in most cases it doesn't pay very well - until you've been doing it for a long time. But, the day that some hot chick has a car that won't start you'll be glad you chose that career.

If you have a talent for it then go for it. But also look at becoming a Machinist. The pay is better, the work is less dirty, less laborious. It's easier to work your way up to a 'clean' shop instead of a hot-sweaty/freezing-cold dirty garage. Every mechanic eventually needs a good machinist, but not every machinist needs mechanics, until arthritis catches up with you.

As a machinist you aren't restricted to working on cars. There are dozens of industries that need machinists and you can go home to work on your own rod. One of my best friends is a Chevy Dealership mechanic & has been forever. Once he gets home from work he doesnt want to look at a car. consequently, he's not a hotrodder.