I see Wyotech was mentioned. I went there in 01/02 and I wouldn't recommend anyone get into the automotive field, but if someone wants to don't bother with Wyotech or UTI they are over priced ($20k+ for 9 months) and most employers aren't impressed by those schools.
People always say "Do what you love and the money will come". In my personal opinion that's total bs, especially if it's a manual labor job. If you do what you love it will make you hate it and if the money sucks you'll hate it that much more. If you work on cars 50-60hrs/wk you won't want to work on your own in your spare time. And when you're topped out at $35k-$40k busting your butt all week long you'll hate it that much more. I see you mentioned welding but I can't imagine it's much better than being a mechanic or body guy. Plus think about all the filth, grinding, eye damage, skin burns, fumes you'll breath, heavy lifting etc you'd do as a welder. I love to weld but try to imagine doing it all day every day for the next 40 years and ask yourself if it's really what you want. The other thing about welding or fixing cars is that once your body wears out you're done and retirement benefits suck if they are there at all.
In high school I just wanted to get out into real life and get a job. I always wanted to fix cars so that's what I got into. After feeling like I was rushing through everything to get where I wanted to be I got there, looked around and was like..this is it? I spent $17,000 for 9 months of school and my first two job offers were for $7.50. I made more than that cooking at Applebee's while I was going to Wyotech. I busted my butt for a few years, got up to almost $30k/yr but at 23 I was almost topped out and had no career goals to work for. I wouldn't have been happy doing the same thing for 40 years with no possible promotions, minimal raises, basically nothing to work for to keep me motivated and excited about my career. It was hard enough to support myself on that money too, no way I could support a family on it. I spent the last 4 years in Iraq as a contractor to save some money for school, so I'm very familiar with the military as well. I'm now home and looking into an electrical engineering degree. It will take some time and be a lot of work but it gives me something to be excited about and work for. If I do get a degree I can start out at more than I'd be making if I kept fixing cars.
Oh I also worked at a protouring type custom shop briefly. I thought it was what I wanted to do but building other people's cars totally took the excitement out of wanting to build mine.
I now think people should go for as much money as they can and good benefits and try to find a job they can enjoy or atleast tolerate. Save what you love for a hobby. Education is always good but I think if a person doesn't have one they should at least have a skill. I see a lot of people who have decent jobs doing whatever, sales or maybe owning a business. But what happens if they end up unemployed at 40 with kids and a wife, no education and no skill? That would suck.
I understand liking manual labor, I'd hate to sit in a cubical all day but anything beats busting my butt for $40k and no benefits for the rest of my life. If you want out of the AF, think about going to school and getting a degree. If school's not for you look in to some kind of skill in high demand and think about the posibility of starting your own business at some point rather than working for someone else forever.
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67, 68, 69 & 72 Firebirds, 79 TA, 89 GTA, 01 WS6, 68 Camaro, 68 Mustang, 54 GMC awd turbo, 67 GMC
Last edited by T_Raven; 12-23-2010 at 11:14 AM.
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