rjenman Posted June 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 Thanks for all the posts guys, I'm seriously reconsidering going back to uni and just getting a higher paid job and keeping cars as a hobby. Mentioned the idea to a mechanic mate of mine today and he said "You'll end up hating cars. Its only good when you're working on your own." Its probably true and I guess the learning process can just be kept on the top shelf of my recreational life instead of entering a low-paid bitch of a career. :angrybird: As for tools, I only own a set of superworks gold spanners, a few other odds and ends I picked up from supercheap, and I use random old tools that are already in the shed for everything else :thumbsup: Out of my league. You... mechanics! :thumbsup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dysolve Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 hello all, apprenticeships are ALL crap, i was an apprentice mechanic for 2 years and all i was though was how to sweep floors, I finailly left the job when the boss told me he was paying me too much (award) for the amount of work i could do, the funny thing was i though my self to sevices cars on weekends and i could do a complete service quicker then his other two mechanics..... and i hated working on my own cars i had to send my car to the wreckers because it got that bad.... I am now 27 years old and was offered a job as a apprentice Refridgeration mech. but they they told me they could only pay junior award...remember they wanted me to work for them...... i was not even looking for a job...... the sum all of this up....THERE ALL TIGHT ARSE ALCOHOLIC NAZI'S every trade i mean... you might as well apply of a job working in and internet help desk and get paid $45k plus a year then work in a trade.... what i don't understand is there will be no trades people left in 10years time, so why doesnt somebody pay good wages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwarf Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 you might as well apply of a job working in and internet help desk and get paid $45k plus a year then work in a trade.... what i don't understand is there will be no trades people left in 10years time, so why doesnt somebody pay good wages... I hate to say it, but I'm a tradesman, have not been to uni, and I think it's a fairly good bet, that (last year not withstanding) I probably earn more than anybody else on this board. You CAN find good places to work in, they are about. Sometimes you have to travel to get what you want. At the moment I'm living in Brisbane, and commuting to Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston to work. I know some mechanics who do make good money, but they're also very good operators. Half the problem is that people don't like the money of apprenticeships. Possibly because apprentices seem to be older when they start now than in the past. $15K would be fine if you were 15 or 16 and still living at home. But If you're 18, have a car and want to have a life, you can make more at McDonalds flipping burgers. It all depends on what you want. If you want a trade, you put up with the crap money to get your papers. But once you have them, nobody can take them away, and you have something to fall back on. If you leave the trade after two or three years, what have you done except waste two or three years? You could go to uni, but I seem to remember they don't pay you to go there either. Bits of paper make the world go around. Nothing comes for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjenman Posted June 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 Good point- you pay to go to uni, you get paid crap to be an Apprentice, but you get paid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwarf Posted June 10, 2005 Report Share Posted June 10, 2005 It's my wife's life ambition to die with a HECS debt... :angrybird: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRD ke70 Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 (edited) P.S: Decent mechanics are in really short supply that's just it - decent the mechanic who i get my toyota trade price thru recently had one of his staff quit, and the other have a stroke. the place was busy as buggery, but he couldn't find anyone worth employing from the pile of resumes he had sitting there it got to the point where he was just going to poach someone else from another business with better pay (so what tony said about having to know everything is very true). then the stroke guy came back and all was well again :angrybird: good help in general is hard to find jamie's on the money, f@$ken hard to find good help in any trade. it's not about having a trade anymore, it's more about finding good skilled people who do a good job and don't cost you money. i know so many trade mechanics who just don't give a f**k about quality and "she''ll be right mate" attitude. the best one i know is the old "mono torque head gasket", doesn't need retorquing. BULLSHIT. there's a really good chance of you having to replace the head gasket again in 6 months. EVERY HEAD GASKET HAS CRUSH, and that came from a gasket manufacturer. mono torque is a name band!!!! Edited June 11, 2005 by TRD ke70 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown 5k Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 Yeah well i went to a pre apprentice course back in 1988 took good time off the hours for the apprenticeship course was 441 every hour at the course removed 2 from the total hours so when i started work my apprenticeship was a total of 7112 hours instaed of 8000.There is a shortage of trade qualified/A-grade mechanics over here in NZ and nowdays we can get good money but apprentice wages are still ratshit my mate was going through an outfit that has apprentices and puts them into different places etc he was earning under minimum wage!they got away with it due to calling it a teaching program what a joke!.In saying all this once you have a trade behind you you can go anywhere in the world and use it.Personally i agree with the guys that say you`ll get sick of cars if they`re your hobbie as well i know i do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 it's not about having a trade anymore, it's more about finding good skilled people who do a good job and don't cost you money.i know so many trade mechanics who just don't give a f**k about quality and "she''ll be right mate" attitude. Tell me about it... Thats most of the guys at work... i try my hardest to treat every car i work on as if it was my own... but when you get supervisors saying NO THAT TAKES TOO LONG JUST DO THIS (dodgie way)... pisses me off.. I think dealerships are GOOD for training, and stability, but TRASH wages. Smaller (but still well established) buisness are much better paid (eg. Ultra Tune) But it gets to a point where only dealers can fix these new cars.. darn electronics. Ahh i duno. Ill get my pieces of paper with toyota and re-assess the situation. Why don't i just become a famous rally driver and be done with the task :P :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRD ke70 Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 i have a friend of mine at the moment looking for a good mechanic, he offered me the job but i said no because i'm happy where i am. shame you haven't got your papers yet, other wise i would have given him your name. he's got a new workshop and a dyno, nice guy as well. oh dyno the rally car on monday as well, that'll be interesting. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teddy Posted June 11, 2005 Report Share Posted June 11, 2005 Dyno! Monday ! Got space for paparatzi ? :) ! Cooool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 An alternative view: I went straight from high school to uni, and worked part time at a coffee shop. Working at a coffee shop isn't the greatest (cranky people and you have to clean up other peoples shit, including childrens vomit etc). I know there are worse ways to get yourself through uni, it wasn't fun. So, I was racking up a HECS debt of about $10K and supporting myself mostly via working after uni hours. I graduated and started applying for jobs..... *insert very long time here* I didn't get a job unitl 10 months after I graduated. This means that I was working in a coffee shop, wiping up peoples messes, arguing over coffees for 10 months after I had finished. Now THAT pissed me off. I was on the dole for much of it and it was very humiliating. In the end I was really REALLY lucky getting a job in the government that was completely unrelated to my degree (I studied environmental science) and about 4 years later I managed to get a job that was related to my degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coln72 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 Same here Spent around 6 years at uni - changes courses from engineering to science (found out I hated the type of people that engineering attracts) changed to science. Spent those six years working part time in a fish and chip shop (usually 20+ hours over a wekend). Got a degree and a $13000 HECs debt. Couldn't score a job in my field so ended up being a lacky in various jobs for 4 years paying back that debt. Got sick of it so I went back to uni to do a Grad. dip in teaching for 12 months. Now a teacher but still have around $13000+ owing the government. Can only score 12 month contracts so can't even buy a house (can't get a loan). Contrast this to my brother in law. Left school at 16, worked as a laborer, got offered an apprentiship as a printer and now has his own home, caravan ect, ect. Who done the smart thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRD ke70 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 An alternative view: I went straight from high school to uni, and worked part time at a coffee shop. Working at a coffee shop isn't the greatest (cranky people and you have to clean up other peoples shit, including childrens vomit etc). I know there are worse ways to get yourself through uni, it wasn't fun. So, I was racking up a HECS debt of about $10K and supporting myself mostly via working after uni hours. I graduated and started applying for jobs..... *insert very long time here* I didn't get a job unitl 10 months after I graduated. This means that I was working in a coffee shop, wiping up peoples messes, arguing over coffees for 10 months after I had finished. Now THAT pissed me off. I was on the dole for much of it and it was very humiliating. In the end I was really REALLY lucky getting a job in the government that was completely unrelated to my degree (I studied environmental science) and about 4 years later I managed to get a job that was related to my degree. so you work for the EPA Mel!!! how many things can i blame you for, the list is pretty long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Jamie Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 lol. but that's the thing about uni. sure you could have got a full time job just because you're an intelligent person, and earnt $30-$50k for the rest of your life, much like i probably will. you might have a hecs debt, but you also earn probably double what i do, so you can pay that off alot quicker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjenman Posted June 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 In the end I was really REALLY lucky getting a job in the government that was completely unrelated to my degree (I studied environmental science) and about 4 years later I managed to get a job that was related to my degree. Really! Well I did a year and a bit of Environmental Science after I finished school, then I quit and I've been working in a convenience store biding my time since then. I figure, why rack up a hecs debt if I'm unsure I want to work in the field that I'm studying... I mean the environment is doomed anyway and I really don't mind polluting all that much. haha jk's rocks are really interesting! I specialised in Geology, did u? What kind of job have u ended up with? Pay well? I've been told by many that Geologists can earn like $100,000 a year on oil rigs ...working with rocks... as opposed to cars Oh yeah there was a career website I looked at a year ago of people who have finished Environmental Science and gotten a job with thier wages and that... Like 1 was earning a lot, maybe 60thou a year, two were earning 30thou or so, and a fourth was working at the ticket booth for a pay car-park for $15thou a year after finishing his degree... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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