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How Do I Become a Mechanic?

#21
I'm actually taking a Hardware and Logic Computer Science class in school. I hate the class; the material is interesting, but the teacher is a douche. I would really enjoy that class if the teacher was a more pleasant person. However, I could tell you how a multiplexer works (One guy mentioned electronic components being multiplexed together). I considered a career in computer science, but I'm not very good at programming. Also considered electronic engineering, but its supposed to be a rough degree to get. I tried building myself a fuzz pedal, but gave up on it after putting a diode in backwards and blowing up a few LED's. I also learned that electronic engineering is mostly on paper, and technicians who actually build and troubleshoot the circuits get paid less. I don't know whats up with this; people who design stuff on paper make big bucks while guys who bust their ass doing physical labor get the short end of the stick. Something's wrong with that.

My problem here is that I have no clue what I want to pursue in college. I like to build and fix things, so engineering of some sort is what I'm probably looking at. I do know that I love cars, and I'd like to make it a hobby, but I don't think I'd mind making a career out of it either.
 
#24
greekorican said:
people who design stuff on paper make big bucks while guys who bust their ass doing physical labor get the short end of the stick. Something's wrong with that.
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No, there's nothing wrong with that. In nearly all careers, how much money you make is related to 3 things

-How good you are
-How in demand you are
-How many other people there are that can do the same thing

That's just the way the world works. Who you know comes into play sometimes, but the other 3 are inescapable.
 
#25
TrooperFarva said:
No, there's nothing wrong with that. In nearly all careers, how much money you make is related to 3 things

-How good you are
-How in demand you are
-How many other people there are that can do the same thing

That's just the way the world works. Who you know comes into play sometimes, but the other 3 are inescapable.
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This is true. But it never seemed fair to me that people that work with their minds get more money than the people that work with their hands.

Grab 3 random engineers, and they couldn't figure out how to assemble the machine that they designed! (I've seen it :rollno::rollno:) All you are going to hear is, well it worked in CAD!!
 
#26
Headless Llama said:
This is true. But it never seemed fair to me that people that work with their minds get more money than the people that work with their hands.

Grab 3 random engineers, and they couldn't figure out how to assemble the machine that they designed! (I've seen it :rollno::rollno:) All you are going to hear is, well it worked in CAD!!
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Having worked on both sides, I'll say this

-Don't assume that designers/engineers don't work hard. Just because it's not physical doesn't mean it's easy.
-Don't forget about the level of responsibility involved. Nearly always, there are QC checks from others to approve mechanical work. But when a Professional Engineer stamps a design, he is directly responsible for the design, and personally liable for any consequences from design defects. PEs have to have insurance for this, very similar to malpractice insurance for doctors.
-Most people who work physical jobs get paid hourly. Which means overtime. Ever worked 100 hours in a week, and been paid the exact same as you were the week before, because you're salaried? I have, and it sucks. The only exception to that would be California, where all non-management positions are required to be paid overtime for any hours over 40.
 
#31
TrooperFarva - I know that they work hard. I mean to actually get something accomplished while spending all day on CL is amazing!

In all seriousness, I know that they really do work hard. I am going to school for engineering next year. Its really the next logical step for me in my career path.
 
#33
Headless Llama said:
TrooperFarva - I know that they work hard. I mean to actually get something accomplished while spending all day on CL is amazing!

In all seriousness, I know that they really do work hard. I am going to school for engineering next year. Its really the next logical step for me in my career path.
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If you look, there's definitely some easy engineering jobs. But if you really want to make something of your career, and learn as much as possible, you're gonna be working very hard. If you keep at it long enough though, it definitely pays off.
 
#35
no chip on my shoulder, trooper, yes i do phyisical work. i choose it. it was my choice. right now because of it im in so much pain all time. i dont want greekorican makin the same mistake as me. i look at my pay and that of a shirt and its two different worlds. i look at the people that pave the roads here down south and my heart goes out to them. out in the hot sun, 100+ degrees makin even less pay than my position.
 
#36
Can I ask what a white shirt is?

I appreciate your concern and I figured I would get alot of you telling me not to do it. You guys sound just like my dad and all his friends (all tradesmen of some sort). They all tell me not to do what they do. I could handle the physical labor now, I'm fit and young, but down the road I know that will probably change. If I do decide to become a mechanic, what kind of job should I seek out? I want to know the best way to get into this kind of career. What about opening my own garage down the road, is that the way to go?

I have a lot of respect for tradesmen of any kind, and I get satisfaction out of that kind of work. I like seeing a truckload of 2x12s and some 4x4 posts turn into a staircase, or taking something that is a non functioning piece of **** and fixing it up. I've inherited my dad's hatred towards hiring repairmen, I'd rather fix it myself if possible. I actually bought a MIM Jazz Bass for under 200 bucks. I had to make a new nut, rewire it, replace all the hardware, and clean the bejesus out of it. I saved a bundle of money, and my bass, despite some cosmetic flaws plays nicer than any bass I've picked up in music shops. I just feel I have the right personality and attitude for the job.
 
#37
mike phillips said:
no chip on my shoulder, trooper, yes i do phyisical work. i choose it. it was my choice. right now because of it im in so much pain all time. i dont want greekorican makin the same mistake as me. i look at my pay and that of a shirt and its two different worlds. i look at the people that pave the roads here down south and my heart goes out to them. out in the hot sun, 100+ degrees makin even less pay than my position.
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That's fine, and I agree with you. When I designed generators, I worked with guys who were top tier car mechanics, including a few guys from the NHRA, and they were much happier working in an R&D test cell than they ever were working on cars, and the jobs they had when I worked with them are very rare. Every mechanic I've known has said that they wouldn't recommend it as a job, and they specifically wouldn't allow their children to follow their path. I've also worked some pretty terrible jobs to get myself through college. Shoveling rocks in a stone quarry for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, over the summer? I couldn't imagine a worse job.

But don't think that engineering is easy, just because it's not physically intensive. I've started up power plants on 6 continents, in conditions of pure filth, because it needed to be done, and I was best qualified. Do I get paid well? Damn right I do. I earned it.
 
#38
TrooperFarva said:
But don't think that engineering is easy, just because it's not physically intensive. I've started up power plants on 6 continents, in conditions of pure filth, because it needed to be done, and I was best qualified. Do I get paid well? Damn right I do. I earned it.
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That sounds like the best thing ever to me,hence starting school for engineering this semester. I'm so so tired of making pizzas and babysitting adults at my father in law's domino's in the KC ghetto. I would rather safely shovel rocks than have a 17 year old kid put a sawed off shotgun to my head for some pizza and $14.

I think the real key, is to find something that you like, especially with broad options, and go to school and do something fun with your life. I've spent the last 5 years since high school hating every job I've had, and now I'm finally going and doing something to make my life better than it is.
 
#39
blendermassacre said:
I would rather safely shovel rocks than have a 17 year old kid put a sawed off shotgun to my head for some pizza and $14.
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Safely? Who said anything about safely? You're standing in the mouth of a 40 year old rock crusher, hunched over, surrounded by jagged rusty metal, shoveling large chunks of rock in 95+ degree weather.

Some years after I left, someone was at the same quarry, with the same job, got killed. I'm not gonna get into the specifics, but he was working in a machine designed to crush boulders, you can pretty much do the math. Proper procedures weren't followed, and a young man lost his life.

Easily the worst job I ever had. Thankfully, I only had to do it for one summer.
 
#40
TrooperFarva said:
Safely? Who said anything about safely? You're standing in the mouth of a 40 year old rock crusher, hunched over, surrounded by jagged rusty metal, shoveling large chunks of rock in 95+ degree weather.

Some years after I left, someone was at the same quarry, with the same job, got killed. I'm not gonna get into the specifics, but he was working in a machine designed to crush boulders, you can pretty much do the math. Proper procedures weren't followed, and a young man lost his life.

Easily the worst job I ever had. Thankfully, I only had to do it for one summer.
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I would rather my fate be in my own hands at the mouth of a rock crusher, than in the itchy trigger finger of a "tough" kid with a sawed off to my head, thank you.

Not saying it's not dangerous, but I am saying there is a difference.
 

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