Yeah, I have a lot of time to myself now. And I called these guys now, I have gone through "preliminary qualifications" but they said, We will provide you with a job home and work after the program.:eek2: way too good to be true right? I mean, I have to move out of state, live there for a year. but i can walk out with an associates degree if I go to the one in Arizona, which supposedly is the largest automotive school in the nation. but I just dont know about all this, I am a true skeptic.
I have a friend who just got done at the one in Chicago. I guess this gives me a raeson to call him and see how things are going.
UTI has done nothing for the 3 buddies of mine that attended the one in chicago, aside from putting the in debt. some large employers in that industry arent doing so hot. xD
Everyone says good things about them, but I have talked to 2 people that have gone to school there. One of them came back and worked at a Toyota dealer, which isn't bad. But the other one, came back and works at Goodyear. I had a friend in high school that worked at Goodyear. I'm pretty sure you don't need a $30k education to work there. BUT, maybe it was that he just sucked and was too lazy to find a better job? Either way, when I talked to him, he didn't seem to happy about working there and having very expensive school loans which he was having trouble paying off...
It might have to do with location - if you got a degree, then go where the jobs are. If I had one, i'd sure as hell move out of minneapolis if there were other jobs in my field someplace else. Not everyone can return to their homes where they grew up, just sayin.
Ohh they dont have subarus, but I'd want specialize in Porsche's or BMW, meh Audi too. But I will always drive a subaru.:biggrin: F GM even though I do drive a sliverado. F ford but not all their products are bad. Mustangs, their new trucks and a lot of the diesel turbos are sexy.
I have a few friends attending the one in AZ. They're doing really well and its still looking good for them. At Lexus here we have a few techs from there, as well as from DCTC.
i would say save your money and go somewhere closer to home...it's all about who your college can get in contact with...i'm going to anoka tech rite now and finishing up my last year...and all my instructors KNOW people everywhere....out of the 30 students in my class...28 got jobs through them...the other two have multiple duis so none for them...but yeah..what i'm saying is...even tho UTI is all 'big' and all...you usually can land a good job through knowing people that know more people...
you make a good point, but i kinda wanted to get into more of a performance type of deal. supposedly UTI offers speical classes for Porche. Its supposed to be the only one one in the nation. I hope dude wasn't lying
On the non-serious note, the acronym U.T.I. has another rather unpleasant meaning. Mostly for women, but sometimes for men too. /jackoff I don't know anything about the school, just felt the need to say this.
That doesn't mean you'll get a job with Porsche. Generally, i've heard that UTI is about as good as a good community college. Community college is much cheaper.
Same with S.T.I. Anyhow, UTI may have a stronger job placement program to help you get your foot in the door, but in the end, your job prospects are gonna depend more on other factors like your ability, your experience, and the job market.
I had a good friend of mine go there. He had plans to enter the Audi or Porsche side of things. Plans ended up being the end of it. Audi and/or Porsche have to accept you into their program based on your attendance, grades, shop performance, and so on. You don't decide if you get into the program, they do. All you can do is apply. And from what I remember my buddy saying, it costs more $$$$ too. If you succeed though, IIRC, Porsche will reimburse you on the school.
This kinda reminds me of my crazy-expensive culinary school. I would do local tech school if I were to do it again...
I can do it. I am planning to show every day and be, yes be the BROWN NOSE. I dont care, I need to be around fast cars. nice fast cars.
My step brother went there. He busted his ass to graduate with top honors. He had offers from Audi, Ford, and GM the day he graduated.
I think its like any school, so please dont judge my friends when I say this, but I really dont think they put a real amount of effort in. I believe that a lot of people can get through the school, and just like college, you will need to pay serious attention to time management. If its what you wanna do, be dedicated. You really have to want to work on cars the rest of your life. For me, and I'd like to say most of us, its a hobby. Dont ruin a pursuit by turning it into a job
I don't know if you are, but you need to be mechanically inclined. Otherwise, your in for a world of trouble.
Chill.......... Its not like I want to change oil the rest of my life. I understand that at this age I have a lot of potential, I HOPE. I dont know about the whole wrenching and Specs but I do know. When I am taking a turn, and I hear the tires squeal the engine rev it truly puts me in my heaven. F everything else. I mean EVERYTHING.
"For those 10 seconds or less... im free..." Buddy of mine went to the AZ school for 3 months, failed out horribly. But this is also because he should never be allowed to touch cars so... perhaps get some experience at a local tech school and transfer down if its what you really want to do? Gotta understand the basics before you can do performance
if all you're looking for is to learn how to make cars fast then just hang out with fuji for a good month or so.....:laugh::laugh::laugh:
Its not some toy I smashed going 40mph It was my F'in BABY. My first car. Much like my first love, somthing my car helped me forget about completely. i am gonna 21 before i know it, a lot of my friends are either going to school. I have my **** in my hand wait for hand outs. what i am trying to say is I need to start focusing on what I want to do. ALL I ever think about is cars, this just feels right in my heart.
To be completely honest, just go to a tech school around here. You'll pay by far less, and learn about the same amount. Get your foot in a dealer, if you can at this point (with the economy), and see if it is really what you want to do for a career. Some people get burnt out really fast working on cars, when they thought it was something they really wanted to do.
its all about situation. i dont live close to a bus stop, currently help my dad out. and I want to be doing somthing I enjoy.
here is how uti works. you go pay alot of money, if you have good enough grades you can go to audi or bmw or whatever you want, not the car company pics you, then you go to school for six months to learn about the cars themselves, then you try and get a job near where you live and you get denied, but have hella choices along the coastal areas nothing in the middle. you have to be willing to move and not care about home. i almost went, and a coworker is a mercedes-benz certified tech and can't get a job in mn cause of how it's going right now with the sale of vehicles.
QFT. Brian, Ben and Nate are three very, very good resources on this board who can give you a very good and realistic view of working as a mechanic, not to mention Mike Wray and a few other people on here. Do you have any experience working on cars? Have you ever done any work yourself? I think the rest of us can attest to being interested in cars to the point of unhealthiness, but I think there are some realities that you're going to want to cope with as well. You're going to have to put in time doing the ugly work, just like every other mechanic until you can work your way up the chain and get experience working on cars. It will mean you have to go where the jobs are, which likely isn't going to be to an exotic dealership anytime in the near future. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a Porsche/Audi service manager wanting to hire someone with no experience and right out of school to start wrenching on someone's 200k 911 GT2. I'd take Brians advice and start looking around at the dealerships around here for a lube tech job. Once you're with most places for six months you can qualify for tuition reimbursement and scholarships. Morrie got his start at Dunwoody, and they do a scholarship program for employees who go to school there. That will get you experience with the ins and outs of working at a dealership and what it's like to actually work on cars. While I enjoy doing it as a hobby, I know my limits and my patience levels and am fully secure in the fact that I will never be a top notch mechanic after watching some of the guys that I worked with. It's all in finding out what your strengths are, and finding a way to work towards your goals in life. You're still young, your idea of what you want in life may well be very different in 3, 5 or 10 years from now. I couldn't be happier with where I'm at right now, but if someone had shown me 10 years ago what I'd be doing right now I'd be looking at them and wondering what happened.
hey its not like I didnt read what you guys said. Its just in my situation, I dont have many options. #1 Yea I can call around every single dealer in MN and they probably wont hire me. economy is crap. No real job credit cus i have been workin for my dad the past 5 years. #2 How in the hell would i get to work? I dont have a car, I am not near any bus stops. #3 I can't exactly move either, no place will take me in without some crazy deposit and expensive rent. Not to mention my credit sucks BAD. #4 I really, really, need GTFO . I have to babysit my dad, to make sure he can take care of himself. And at the same time be the Accountant/Helper so i can pay rent and eat. Every month has been a struggle. I finally decided to say, f all of it. If i keep doing this. i will end up that bum with a sign asking for help. NONE of you know my situation, dont get me wrong you guys sound like you are all trying to give me an honest opinion. And I truly appreciate it. Really I do. You know what though, I will give it a try. when time permits, i'll call every single dealer in the MPLS area and ask them if they are hiring. Cus i definitely aint driving to each one.
This probably isn't what you want to hear right now, but phone calls aren't going to get you hired. You'd be better off actually going in and speaking to someone personally. Where do you live? There may be people on here who can at least help you get to a few of these places, and there are people on here who may be willing to help out in other ways. There are a number of us who have worked in the auto industry for many years and still have a lot of contacts. Another thing to look at as well for the time being as far as a job goes would be a dealership lot tech. I know Erik was one for a while before he transferred into parts, and I did it for a few months as well when I was at BP. You clean cars when they get sold or traded in, move them around the lot, take them to get gas, etc. Not a bad gig, and you get all the perks of working at a dealership. Once you're in at a dealership and you can start making a good impression on people, you have opportunities to transfer within the company. You said you're willing to work hard, that'd be a good place to do it. A good lot tech can make a big difference at a dealership. I've seen guys who got hired on the basis of having a pulse and a clean drug test. Do you have your resume typed out? How is your driving record? That can make or break an automotive job. Have you considered auto sales as well? You seem passionate about the cars, that'd be one way to use it. Going into this with the attitude that "They probably won't hire me" is a surefire way to not get hired. There are places out there that are hiring. Do you have any experience changing oil? When I was looking for work I saw a crapload of ads for Valvoline on places like Careerbuilder.com. It's a foot in the door to make your way up to something more. I understand that your situation sucks. Each of us has been in your shoes at one point in one way or another. It takes time to climb out of it, and it's not easy. We've all had to work ****ty jobs (hell, I used to have to dive in **** for one of my jobs) on our way to a career. As much as I would've loved having my current job handed to me, it took the job experiences from almost every other job I've had to get to where I am now and I think that could be said for a lot of the rest of us. There are options out there. Yes, the economy is bad right now but there are jobs out there for the people willing to do them. On a related note, how are you healing up? I know you got pretty banged up during the accident, are there any injuries left that might prevent you from getting a job or being able to work? If it means waiting a couple of weeks so you can get healed up I'd recommend it. No sense in injuring yourself further or putting yourself at risk of doing it if you can help it. We're only trying to help you here. I mean that. If you think this school is going to be your ticket out and you think it's what you're meant to do, then by all means chase that dream. We're just trying to make sure that you're sure it's what you want. A love of cars and driving doesn't always translate into a love of working on cars. We'd just hate to see you spend 30k on something you might not have thought all the way through.
Brian man, thank you the most. believe me, I read every word and took it to heart. I hope every thing going around you isn't too tough, with your brother and all. And how are those headaches? Just dont get one writing another essay for me. As for me, I am healing i probably won't be able to work for two months or so. I still wake up from neck pains, but this is as far as I go complaining about that. Again, I am basically stuck at home if my dad leaves. So I job where I have to be some where at a certain time would be extra tough. I'd have to take a cab at least 5 miles to get to a bus stop. maybe in the summer I can bike or some thing, but in the summer I usually have tons of work. landscaping and such. you were saying some thing about being a "dealership lot tech"? thats still at the dealer right? I dont know too much about the dealer scene but I'll look into it. A long while ago I had a chat with Mark Frost who I believe works at the Burnsville dealer, he kinda gave me the impression that there is a LONG line for getting work at a dealer. Its not like I wouldn't try again. I just been turned down so many freakin times at other crap jobs I've lost my will to try. I mean, why get a crap job that pays me 8-9 dollars when I can make over 100 bucks in a much shorter time period. But then again you have your point about gettting my foot in the door at a dealer or such. And YES I know how to change freakin oil. That kinda was insulting, but I ain't trippen. I can't do any techy stuff like change belts or identify what is wrong with a car. but yea, UTI just caught my attention, and my heart says go for it. I still really want to.
Crap. I had a good post typed out and got the ol' broken tranny screen o' death. Let's try this again... Things here are going well, probably the best I can remember in 28 years actually. My most major complaints really aren't bad at all, so I've been counting my blessings every day. I don't know that I've ever mentioned my brother on here, but he's doing well. As far as the headaches, I've been on a preventative medicine that seems to be working well. I've only had one since I've started the meds and that was it. Take the time to get healed first if you can. That will help you out in both the short and long term. You took a pretty big hit, and the GC chassis is not known for impact protection. Your body is going to need some time to get through that, and if you're in a position to get healed up before you have to work then by all means take advantage of that. Getting a job at a dealership isn't as difficult as you might think. It's not a hospital or a Police/Fire Department or anything like that. The only thing you might have to do is a driving background check so they can make sure that you're insurable through the company, as well as the standard drug test. I've known a few people who ended up either not getting hired or having to quit because the insurance company wouldn't carry them because of their driving record. You're not applying for a job with a security clearance or anything like that. Lot techs are at the dealers, they're the ones who move cars around, gas them up, clean them up, etc. Erik was one for a while and I did it as well for a few months. I did six years at a dealership, about a year and a half in sales, then I moved into parts/service. Lot tech jobs shouldn't be too hard to get, and sales jobs are almost always open. I know dealerships that run constant want ads for people. Parts/Service jobs tend to be more stable than Sales jobs in dealerships. The sales floor is a rotating door, whereas the parts and service side I've known people who've been with the same dealership for 20 years. Once you're in at a dealership, you've got opportunities to do lateral transfers. Another couple of jobs to look at are parts delivery driver and service runner positions. If you're looking to move to the service side of things are service runner spot would be a great place to start. Once again, they're not hard jobs to get, you just have to find them. There are a number of us on here who either work or have worked in dealerships. Brian, Brian B, Ben, Erik, Eli, Greg, Peter and myself are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, other than the Walser guys. Any one of us can give you advice and insight into what it's like to work at a dealership. Every one is different, and every dealer group is a different environment. I wasn't trying to insult about asking if you knew how to change oil. I've known plenty of people who had no idea how to open their hood, let alone change the oil. I've never met you, so I don't know what your comfort level with a wrench is Grab a newspaper and keep checking out the classifieds. Go sign up with every temp agency you can find, even check Craigslist. I was in your shoes a few months ago, I know what it's like. I was spending hours applying online and in person, sending out resumes, signing up with temp places, checking want ads...It gets overwhelming after a while, you just have to keep your head up and know that it's going to get better. Another option to check out would be doing parts stuff for places like Red Rooster or Napa, either delivery or counter. Both of those will help expand your automotive experience and give you a good base of knowledge that will help you market yourself. It's all about what you've learned and what skills you can bring to the table. Parts can also help because you'll get a good idea of how stuff goes together from looking at exploded pictures all day. And finally, one last idea to keep in mind. Have you considered the military? I don't know if that's something that would appeal to you or not, but there are some very good mechanics programs inside that you could apply for. You wouldn't be limited to ground transport either. I have a couple of friends who went in as heli mechanics and are currently holding down nice jobs on the civilian side. Granted, I think the last place you need to be walking into right now is a recruiting office but it's something you can keep in mind. Do some searching on Nasioc, I know this has come up a few times in the last couple of months. The general consensus is that you might be better off staying local and paying less, but your situation is a little different. I know Hennepin Tech has some great programs, and IIRC they had some Motorsports oriented ones as well. That sounds like it'd be something you'd enjoy more than a dealership if you were able to get a foot in the door. Dunwoody also has some very good programs, and they're right in Minneapolis.
UTI? Really? Better get that checked out. My cat had that about a year ago and was peeing on EVERYTHING!!
check out the military buddy army national guard reserves....go to school for 4 years and you cant be deployed and they pay for every last drop of school....im joining when i move to texas in january
military. hmm i i hear about is how bad it is. they basically kick you out and laugh at you. Plus if I were to join, I would join to serve my country not to get money for school. But yea, dont they make you shower together. gross
If you want to talk to someone about the military, PM me. I can answer just about any question you have, regarding how you can get in with a disability, to bad records, etc. There is nothing wrong with serving your country, and getting something out of it for your future as well. The comment of 'kicking you out and laughing at you'... I'll say this. There are all kinds of people in the service, from all walks of life. You can be a ****bag before you enlist, and the military will turn that around while you're in, but when you leave, no one can stop you from returning to a ****bag, who will waste the education and training they recieved while in. Anyways, just PM me.
My brother did this recently. He used to always put the wrench in his mouth trying to work on something. Now he has been able to move up from "wash tech" to a pretty damn good mechanic at our uncles gas/service station. And he has some excellent prospects for schooling now. lets just hope he doesnt get sent out anytime soon :eek4:
