Been thinking about the road I'm on, where I'm headed, etc.

I love cars and have an interest in learning how they actually work.

Can't say I've pushed cars to their limit (that much), but I've always wanted to be able to pop open the hood and be able to see it as a playground instead of a complicated mass of metal.

Like being able to expertly know how to tweak out a car to its max performance, customize it effortlessly, etc.

For any of you guys who are in the car industry (mechanics, etc.), do you feel that it's a worthwhile pursuit that grants you a greater appreciation of it all? Is it a lucrative pursuit?

My first passion is music, but if that doesn't fly I feel this is a very close second.

Any advice/suggestions/insight on this potential career?

I've seen a few sites advertising education for specific brands (e.g: UTI, etc.).

Whats your take on this?

(Any and all feedback greatly appreciated)

it might be tough to break into right now. People are always gonna drive cars until the next thing comes out, but the car manufacturers are hard hit right now.

My brother is an art director and animator who does most of his work for GM commercials. He's really scared that his company is going to go under, and the volume they are doing has already decreased.

My best friend's husband is one of those expert mechanics. He had previously worked for the big 3 (as the guy who travels to dealerships when the staff mechanics can't figure a problem out). He's been out of working for the big 3 for a few years now, he got laid off and couldn't break back in, and this guy has experience and talent you wouldn't believe. Now he works for a landscaping company maintaining their vehicles. He's developing a business on the side for converting gas cars to electric. That's going pretty well for him so far.

Anyway, coming from Detroit, and seeing all that's bad with the auto industry right now, I'd be skeptical to try to break in. But if you have a special talent for fixing cars, and can run your own business, mechanics will never go out of style.

Thanks a ton for the insight, mimi.

Dunno but it sounds like it'd be a wicked job.

Unfortunately the market currently seems to be keeping it grounded, and a lot of stuff is uncertain at this point.

I'll keep this in mind.

Man, if the market returns, this would be a dope career imho.

Depends on the setting. Typical car dealership has an assembly line feel of just getting cars in and out as fast as possible. The faster you work the more you make. It can feel repetitive. People will be driving cars for the forseeable future so your job will not be in danger.

Working at a tuner shop or for a racing team, sure time is important, but quality is more important. Doing and thinking of innovative ways to improve things.

a few of my friends back home are mechanics for honda. they make decent money--60-70k a year. i don't think they took any special classes or anything, just worked their way up.

its hard work, but enjoyable if you don't mind getting your hands dirty.

Automotive Technicians runs piecework. The more cars you work on and the amount of work needed on the vehicle dictates' home much you get paid. I use to be a mechanic for a GM dealership when I was in high school. Once you figure out how all the components of a vehicle works it's easy to diagnose. All though I still like working on vehicles until now, I didn't want to be a technician because I knew I could do better and bigger thing for a career. Now I work in Engineering. We design and prototype everything from the Aerospace, Military,Medical and Automotive industry. Some clients are Ford,GM and Honda

Yes auto repair is primarily peace-meal. I mean I'm glad I learned how to do it. I have never in my life paid for a car repair as I always did it myself. There really isn't much of a future in auto repair. Long gone are the days of "shade tree mechanics" that can sense the state of an engine by using a long screw driver, and a bottle of windex. To be up to date with smog laws, passing the various exams and getting through the apprenticeships take an great amount of time and money investment only to have a future of questionable stability..

You would be far better off getting into the engineering side of automotive technology.

don't do it unless u really love cars or want to be a service writer to get paid.

I do tuning and custom stuff at a shop part time and business is slow as hell right now. Not to mention custom work means extra hours.

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