No, being a tech/mechanic absolutely sucks.
You are wildly underpaid given the wide range of skills/systems you have to understand. Plus the tools you gotta buy.

Go do HVAC or literally any other trade

>>29055690
Yes. No one is becoming mechanics, and existing boomer mechanics are too stuck in their ways to learn how to properly work on modern cars and use modern diagnostics.
A dealership mechanic for a luxury euro brand can easily earn 100k+ a year.
Not sure it's the same in America though because of all the Mexicans idk.

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>>29055702
>Go do HVAC or literally any other trade
Asides from the gatekeeping, pic related is me on any job site

>>29055690
Yeah, open ur own shop and become a millionaire within 2-3 years.
Easy money.

The Indy I go to seems pretty well off. Found them through PCA recommendation. I went and they had race cars, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche in the shop. Not sure how much the difference is working in that type of shop vs midas or jiffy lube.

you get to scam people who just want to live their lives to make your boss rich

outside of your own personal use it's not worth pursuing.

>>29055912
you scammed yourself by being a wrenchlet lol, its literally your dads fault 33% and then your fault 66%, 1% god punishing you for your ancestors sins of being helpless men. It says in Deuteronomy, a man who does not work does not eat.

The industry has sold us down the river by systematically making it harder and harder for independent shops to make a living.
>part replacement quality in the shifter, meaning you'll need to do far more warranty work which is unpaid labor
>you spend more time diagnosing a problem and navigating software than actually doing work
>proprietary tooling as gotten even more common, so unless you dedicate as a specialist chances are you're gonna get screwed mid repair if you aren't aware
>Service manuals are not in print no more, forcing you to pay a subscription to a dealership then rent the models shop manual on top of that
>wallet garden OEM information. Which further fucks you (time and energy management is thr key tenants of being a good mechanic shop)
>jobs that paid good, got either their book rate time reduced or payout reduced
>if you work at a dealership, you will be paid last. If you work at independent shop, you will be paid 2nd to last
>everyone hates you by associating you with scum and scammers. Nobody respects you. Everyone is sticker shocked because the industry has insentivized replacement over repair
>women hate how you smell and if you don't stay up on your hygiene you will be a dirty wittle chud
>harsh damage to the body, modern cars require far more physical exertion to get at shit because of how much bloat they have

It was great in the 90s/early 00s down because you weren't fighting a malicious system. Yeah some cars were a PITA but those jobs were not nearly on the same level of fuckery that modern (2010+) cars have. It used to be a very noble and good career but the well has been poisoned by corporate greed and a relentless campaign against the right to repair

You get guaranteed arthritis in your hands finger and arms for career that pays you OK not great

>>29055690
The only redeeming quality is being able to wrench on your own vehicle without worrying about some grease monkey fucking up your ride (unless that grass monkey is yourself). Being employed as a mechanic? Absolutely fucking not, Big Auto has done everything they can to make mechanics feel worthless, fuck the system and let it implode on itself so the value of wrenchers can finally fairly be realized, if you continue to wrench for a boss for peanuts and carrots while they steal your profits then the system will continue to get worse, don't be a mechanic for a piece of shit stealership

Man just when I wanted to get an Ausbildung as a mechanic, these threads start popping up

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>>29055690
I make $62hr as a unon aerospace mechanic.
I install clean Aircraft parts all day.
Don't even get dirty.

If you have the "TISM" aerospace is great

>>29056450
How does one get into this field

>>29056481
Having an IQ above 110 and applying.

>>29056380
>The only redeeming quality is being able to wrench on your own vehicle without worrying about some grease monkey fucking up your ride (unless that grass monkey is yourself)

Also working on friends and family's cars for a fair price. On the side.
So the stealership doesn't hose them or throw a bunch of "extra labor" BS

Just not oil changes or brakes.

You ain't getting rich, but if you have tools and knowledge, charge half of what the shop does, quickly and you can make a few bucks and Help your friends not get taken advantage of.

>>29055716
All the mechanics at my local Euro lux dealerships are Mexican nowadays. A few are Asian or rednecks. They do still pay pretty well but only if you're a real tech, not a lube/tire monkey.

>>29055690
>Plus the tools you gotta buy
any time i hear of a job where you have to pay for your own tools baffles me. how cucked do you gotta be

>>29056481
something something diversity, boeing, something something

>>29055690
Yes. You can fix your own shitbox without being raped by auto repair places.
I bought a one-owner used car and the receipts in the glove box showed:
>$4700 for front struts, rear shocks, front pads/rotors/calipers, rear pads/rotors, 4 no-name tires, and alignment (financed at 33% through Firestone Financial)
>$900 for a replacement catalytic converter that they didn't replace (both cats are old and OEM)
>$90 oil changes
>$450 for cabin air filter, oil change, and a new 3 year warranty battery

>>29055690
Yeah.
It looks decent on your resume when you apply to be a HVAC tech.

>>29056450
I am too much of a brainlet for the math or any of the courses required for this stuff, what do I do

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I just got offered a job as a scooter mechanic and this thread is making me scared. Should I accept the job, /o/?

i made 170k before tax last year fixing jeeps at a dealership working 30 hours a week on average.

just stop sucking

>>29055690
does being alive have any redeeming qualities in this century?

>140 IQ
>Become engineer
....
>Profit?
Even us engineers are getting shafted, for the record. This is a bad time for most people.
You know, you shouldn't have to fight for $55k jobs when you have two engineering degrees but here we are.
Being a mechanic sucks because it's physical, and if you're in pain? Too bad you get paid less. And you're breathing in carcinogens and absorbing carcinogens through your skin, every day. If you're not making 40+ / hr that's not worth it to me, I made 30/hr when I was 24 sitting at a desk smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, I'm not going to take $18/hr to do manual labor.

>>29055690
Nope
You need to pretend to be gay, and get a do-nothing office job.

>>29059896
yes, you'll get better health insurance, a 401k, more free time, no tool truck debt, and preserve your body so you're not clapped out with chronic pain by the time you're 50

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>>29055690
I trained to be one for 3 years and then one of the big car manufacturers based in my city layed off 300 of their own in house technitions and I couldn't find work after graduation. One thing that was repeated to me constantly though during my training was that mechanics was a dying breed because of the following:
>the price of repair will often exceed the market value of the car, meaning owners will write off their car to buy another instead of flipping the bill for invasive repairs
>half the stuff you can learn about cars does not apply to the vast majority of cars past the 2000s, you instead have to learn what is specific to the trend of cars coming into your garage or dealership
>90% of car faults are electrical, not mechanical in the modern vehicle ecosystem and those that are mechanical are often just replace jobs, not fixing
>the jobs which are repair and the customer is willing to pay for will likely require you to offshore it to another workshop as you won't have the machinery required (mechanical auto valve systems, cylinder reboring etc)
>90% of the electrical faults you will run into require proprietary tools or diagnostic packages which are exclusive to only certain manufacturer dedicated workshops, meaning small garages are going to be squeezed out of being able to compete at all with authorised manufacturer garages and relegated for older vehicles only
>with the increasing number of electric vehicles and high spec hybrid systems you will also need training as an electrician to keep pace with the maintenance market
>you are going to have a metric fuckton of injuries over your lifetime whether you like it or not and you will do so because you like being a mechanic, not because the pay or working conditions makes those risks worth it
>you better like wrenching in fucking rain or snow because your garage has over commited and can't take the car you've been told to work on into the shop
>customers are fucking retards and will act like retards

>>29055716
>are too stuck in their ways to learn how to properly work on modern cars and use modern diagnostics
They're not stuck anon, they just don't want to deal with it and I understand them.
Being mechanic is horrible these days, it's still all the bullshit from before, broken backs & shit but you're also supposed to be IT now and electrician and if you make mistake it's super giga expensive.

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>>29059908
Holy fucking blackpill

>>29059953
We've gone too far.

>>29056491
I'm also an aircraft tech and saying these guys are above 110 IQ is hilarious. The average mech is fucking retarded.

>>29059908
>>29056366
These anons know ball. They truly grasp the fuckery that's afoot

>>29059908
for me it was when i worked at a local garage and one of the guys there told me mechanics are the second lowest paid trades, only ahead of hairdressers. mich better to keep it as a hobby, unless you manage to get into a specialist garage that only deals with vintage and classic cars or something like that. ones where you can tell customers
>this'll require a complete teardown and rebuild, but because we can't get replacements we're gonna have to make it from scratch etc.
and their response will be
>hmm ok. send me the bill/call me when it's done.

>>29060643
I tell people this often when they ask about being a mechanic
Not only do you need mechanical knowledge but you also need to be skilled with a multimeter, making you an electrician
You also have to spend 10k in tools or more
And to top it all off you get paid the least of most trades

be an auto glazier OP
>easiest job on the planet
>can be a retard and still complete the job
>if you have 2 brain cells you can make a shitload of money
>normies dont have a gauge on what glass work should cost so they don't treat you like a scam artist

>>29055702
>Plus the tools you gotta buy
What do you mean, you have to buy your tools as an employee?

>>29061229
I'm interested, I haven't even considered that such job exists. From what Ai told me, I apply to apprenticeship as a mechanic, then take a specialized course to be an auto-glazier, then I can get a job at the same company or whatever

Is this it? What advice could you give?

>>29061242
yes, that's how it works for most north american mechanics, you buy your own hand tools, the shop normally takes care of bigger tools like presses

>>29059855
170k mezican pesos?

>>29061274
the glazier i started at just taught me on the job and signed off my apprenticeship within 3 years, most bonded glass jobs on modern cars are identical so there's not a lot of shit to learn there
my advice is apply to a chain place because they will give you a job if you have a heartbeat and most places provide tools
even if they dont provide tools you can do most jobs with a 3/8ths socket set and some trim removing tools

>>29059908
There needs to he a right to repair law.

>>29059908
>>the price of repair will often exceed the market value of the car, meaning owners will write off their car to buy another instead of flipping the bill for invasive repairs
baumol's cost disease strikes again.

>>29055690
Do not become a mechanic. I had boundless passion for cars, now I've lost nearly all of it.

The industry is a nightmare. Complete and constant chaos, ridiculous time to complete expectations, infinite over scheduling while being under staffed. The work that actually pays the bills represents maybe 25% of the cars you'll see, the rest is BS trash tickets that pay little/nothing. Constant stream of idiots hired to dump oil that trash the shop, stink like BO at 8AM, break things, etc. Their job produces basically zero revenue and shops can't convince the public having a non-retard do the job has any value. Trades are still a dumping ground for the guidance councilors so you have to weed out a bunch of literally illiterate fools.

It's honestly not worth learning new things anymore, I don't care about my picoscope, scan tools, or anything new. Doesn't pay, I have to spend half my pay on a job to buy a specialty tool the shop refuses to buy - nah ship it to the dealer. Every part of the business is designed to slow you down and cost you money as a result. You can't find parts, dealer stuff takes days to get, junk diagrams, infinite single use bolts, etc.

The worst outcome is you end up like me - I now make too much to just drop into an entry level job making $600/week after taxes. After 15 years my interest at starting over is low yet I absolutely hate what I do. I used to make ~100k, but I can't take banging my head against a wall for 8+ hours anymore, so now I make 80ish. You have to drag the customer, the front desk, the parts people - all of them kicking and screaming - to get a car fixed. You're so busy trying to shove cars through the shop you can't actually make any money doing it. You're selling something nobody wants as they're rather wait until a CV axle breaks and strands them versus fixing it now while it's throwing grease and popping on every turn.

>>29055690

The worst thing about being a mechanic is the customer. If you have a buffer between you and the customer you will enjoy it more, but understand that you will be at the bottom of the pay pyramid.

I would 100% deal with all the modern bullshit you have to deal with to fix a modern car vs being front of house any day. If you have to become a mechanic go heavy equipment if you can. Even if you directly deal with the customer they generally have a better understanding that shit needs fixing to make money where as dealing with stacey's grandpa on the other end of the phone arguing with you that the exposed vent fins on the rotor are for the parking brake to engage and that it shouldnt cost more than $50 do get the wheel back on to the non existent burnt out hub isnt worth anything.

>>29062148

>After 15 years my interest at starting over is low yet I absolutely hate what I do

I am in a similar position. Though recently i have just decided to to full retard and not think about it and just do. So i have some equipment being shipped in to start a little side business and if it gains enough traction then i go official.

If i fail at least i better understand the market and have some toys to play with and can look elsewhere.

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For better or worse, I'm a tech halfway between being a lube monkey and actual mechanic. Do brakes, radiators, stuff like that and make $25 hourly. At least I don't get burned on pay if a job is delayed. Trying to get one of those 100k jobs since it's better than where I am now. Figured I'll at least make ASE master tech and pivot into a better job before seriously assessing if I should use that money to take classes for something else entirely.
Taking ASE A2 and A3 tomorrow, tips? Any better practice tests around than the stuff you find on google? Took A1 already and I passed but realized I wasn't as prepared as I would like.

>>29055690
Work for a dealership. It's a good career with high earning potential if you are hard working, fast, and intelligent. It's one of the few jobs where your output is directly reflected in your pay and appreciation. Most of the bitching about this field is from shit techs and/or techs at shit facilities.

>>29062148
>bro makes 80-100k a year in a field that requires zero formal education and is mad that it takes work

>>29062182
Why are you speaking to customers as a tech? Move out of Bob's Shop.

>>29062263

Being a corpo tech is worse than being a cubical drone. Bob's muffler, lube and tire is where the good life is at. Grab a couple beers over lunch to go with your microwave burrito and using "fuck" as a comma is where the good life is at.

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>Father in law is lifelong farmer
>Due to 80's being shit for farming, needs to supplement income, got an entry level job as John Deere mechanic
>Being smart, got trained on all their heavy equipment, tractors, combines, heads, etc.
>Quits when farming becomes profitable
>John Deere starts implementing new Jew mechanic techniques described at length in this thread.
>Local farmers start asking if he can fix their tractors and shit for cash only, at significantly under the $300/hr labor John Deers Jew rate
>Father in law says "meh ok", I have the tools accumulated over a lifetime of farming, and starts small
>Word of mouth spreads to entire fucking state, and soon has to turn down work
>Accepts cash only, and you only get your shit back once you pay cash so debt collection is easy. Deadbeats forfeit their equipment so father in law resells it at huge margins
>No workers comp, no inspections, no overhead, his pack of German Shepherds lets him know if anyone drives up so theft is non-existant
>I notice his wallet is bursting at the seams with cash, and being Midwest man he NEVER talks about money
>over drinks ask him how much he makes from doing this
>He told me he CLAIMED $250k income in 2025 taxes, but probably made another $100k on this. Also, he flipped a combine that someone wrote off and left to him that he resold for $250k at an auction, not included in that number

You guys need to drink the farm pill gents. All white clientele. Fixing spic-nigger cars for peanuts is not worth it.

>>29062252

Freeasestudyguides.com

Take those practice tests, click the "learn more" button if you're wrong, and you will have everything you need. Roughly 1/3 of automatic transmission is electrical and "clutch charts". Here are what clutch combinations create each gear, here is the problem, which clutch back is mostly likely at fault? Manual trans/differential has lots of clearance/shim stack questions.


>>29062261

Not at all. I work hard, and have zero issue with that hard work. It's unnecessary chaos, unsupervised lube-tards destroying things and it's my problem, etc. The "work" aspect has nothing to do with fixing the cars, it's everything else that's chaos. Imagine an engineer, but 3 times a day their computer randomly resets and blanks all their drawings for the day. Regardless if they hit save. They need to strategically print all their work for manual reentry if needed. That's how automotive works.

"shit facilities" is the issue, as that's most of them. Loss leaders filling of the schedule, lack of tooling or service info, bad parts quality because it's easy to buy junk than quality, broken shop equipment. Fixing cars isn't easy. So lets not make it unnecessarily difficult. :)