Mechanics moving on to better things

Serously agree 100%. Studied automotive business aspect is college and found I was better with wrenches then people. Agree with everyone on here that it's hard on your body. If your good at it id stick with it, I get satisfaction out of my repairs when it's diagnosed and repaired. Do what makes you happy.

 

Currently a truck and coach tech working for a private owned company taking care of a fleet of snowplow and sanding units. very laid back compared some other places iv wrenched. 8-4 during the offseason months(summer) and 12 hour shifts during the 8 winter months. generally one major repair a night at most and the rest is spent cleaning the shop and preventative maintenance. Personally i will never go back to the fast paced work environment found in customer based shops. I love swinging a hammer and have considered joining a construction crew but its not much of an upgrade in regards to the beating my body takes, the pay cut and lack of benefits keeps me rolling around on a creeper. best thing to do is work your way up the ladder to a service manager.

 

Fuck being a service manager. Have to deal with the ever since club.

 

I can agree with that I will never take the position but for someone that is in the trade and wants to stay in the trade but not do the real work its really the only option other than a parts guy and that would be the worst job of them all.

 

The biggest gravy job is a parts runner. Drive around, deliver parts, listen to the radio, smoke pot.

 

Bebop I like the way you think but i have to run and pick up parts often and it gets in the way from time to time, always a great thing on a Friday afternoon tho.

 

I mean like if you worked for a parts house. I swear every Napa driver that comes to my shop is stoned. But hey, the parts show up. Can’t complain

 

More info please

 

I was a mechanic for import performance shops, then Acura, and then I decided to make a move and join the Army... to blow shit up.. and then, I put those mechanic skills to work and switched to fixing hospital equipment. If you can dodge a wrench you can fix molecular diagnostic equipment. The military has a great program, but look up BMET courses at colleges if that's your route.

 

I was told if you can dodge a wrench then you can dodge a ball...

 

Auto mechanic, moved on to marine mechanic, now trying to get my home inspection business running well enough to do it full time.

 

Have you thought it might just be your current company you work for? Or maybe try to explore a different field but still turn wrenches?

I went to college to get certified as a heavy equipment mechanic directly out of highschool. Took a job in the grading buisness before i even finshed school that the instructors hooked me up with. Dozers and heavy equipment is by far the hardest on your body out of the things ive worked on. I was soon offerd a job in a trucking garage about 9 months later. I cut my teeth for about 2 years there and leanred a lot. Also learned that trucking was also hard on your body. I moved around to two other trucking companies with one of them being a service manager position. Sadly that buisness closed due to poor upper management and lack of drivers delivering the loads on time. I luckily saw this coming and took a job offer at a garage that promised a service manager roll once tech spots were filled. When working there i regularly went on site to a location where a forklift technician worked on the same companies lifts. He was inside. Heated working space for winter. Was never dirty. Was always standing and working not laying on a creeper. I became good friends with him and discussed his career. This lead me to applying with a company that is a toyota forklift dealer and shop. Ive been here for close to two years now and absolutely love it. There are plenty of older techs here the majority are above 40 and they still enjoy this field. The pay is good. The benfits are great. And i couldnt ask for a better company to work for. Ive found that my back no longer is sore all the time and my body is in overall better shape. Forklifts you do most of the work standing and components are all relatively light. And for the heavy stuff we use other forklifts. Thats one plus to being a forklift dealer/shop.

I know you said you had a lack of passion for the industry so overall turning wrenches may not be for you. I started out with passion for turning wrenches but lost some of that when killing myself in the trucking industry. I feel as though i have regained it back just by fiding the right “nitch” in this industry. However i do hope to move into some sort of management position down the road with this company.

 

I've been a tech forever. I hurt my back at work and can't wrench anymore.
Want to get into IT (my only interest besides cars). Took and passed the A+.
Now I'm just seeing if there are any "entry level" jobs that don't require 5 years of experience.

 

Just quit turning wrenches in the automotive world. I start as a diesel mechanic for bnsf on Monday!!!!

 

Underemployed BMET here. I went the CC route. Will be looking for a job in the next year or so. Want to leave Michigan. Any others who want to know more, feel free to reach out, thanks !

 

I was a ASE master tech and worked in the industry up until I was 24 and started developing back problems. I knew I couldn't do that for another 40 years so I went back to school and got a degree in mechanical engineering. I'm currently a field service engineer so I still work with my hands but the environment is much cleaner and work is much less back breaking.

 

I’ve been a mechanic since 1979, that’s 41 years. 32 of those years as licensed A and P working for a major airline. It’s been a wild ride but pay and benefits decent plus I gotta pension and a 401k. I could retire tomorrow but am hanging out just to see what’s next. Lots of different ways to go as airplane mechanic. Work the line at airport. Work the hangar doing maintenance. Work shop doing component repair. Perhaps the best highest paid is corporate or on call troubleshooting. You can make 6 figures working airlines but corporate pays more. Fuck management I wouldn’t piss on them to put out a fire.

 

Worked as a mechanic (passenger) through college mainly to pay for my obscene boost habit. After college, worked in engineering for a bit while still doing part time auto mechanics. Was doing mostly engine swaps for jdm to us cars. Didn’t really enjoy either one- everyone tried to nickel and dime me and it took away from the fun. That was over 20 years ago. Decided a while ago that I wanted to do medicine so I took a massive career change. Haven’t looked back since.