| Author | Message | ||
     Torquemonster |
Any input would be greatly appreciated... -Sorry in advance for being so verbose Im a former radio broadcaster and current "jack of all trades" unable to find a worthwhile ($) position in my little podunk town. Im considering a few career changes and one of them is to pursue a career as a motorcycle mechanic (or ANYTHING pertaining to motorcycles). Ive gone around and around with reps from UTI and MMI trying to find concrete information regarding job placement and projected entry level salaries, to no avail. Theyve eluded to these secrets being revealed AFTER my application and tuition check is recieved. Yeah, right. I dont want to spend an entire year away from my wife and kids if my efforts are only going to net me a $10.00 an hour position, as it wont pay the bills anyway. I have young children, and missing those "moments" for a job as a low paid lube tech is the equivalent of trading parcels of land for baubles and trinkets. Dont get me wrong....Im not opposed to working my way up the ladder or paying my dues, but my families future must be at the very least, somewhat secure. Im sure there are folks here that have attended the school, and Id like to know (based on your experience) your opinion of these institutions. If I choose to attend, I fully intend to (and WILL) graduate at the top of my class. I will commit to nothing less and believe that such an attitude and execution of such should be rewarded with more than just another attempt at scraping by financially. HELP! | ||
| Hammer71 |
Attended MMI in Orlando at the end of 2000 started in early 2001. Placement issues were guarded as you have found. To this day I have no idea as to where or how they can guarantee placement. Any way I went around on my own speaking with various shops and found little out there that would come close to a comfortable salary (highest was around 20 an hr.) Being as I was on a leave of absence from my Cop job and sept 11 came I had to leave and didnt graduate the class. What I have observed though is that it is a very good program but not one that I would dump everything and gamble. If you have a good base of riders in your area you may be able to do service work for them (putting cash in your pocket and saving them some as well) your own shop per say. You also have to realize that the area in Orlando sucks for work while your attending so there is another factor as well. | ||
| Torquemonster |
Thanks Hammer. I dont know why its such a B.F.D. to disclose a little info. Enrollment would probably go up if they werent so secretive. Shady... Policework is one of the other options im considering, but dont think theyll look too kindly upon my driving record. Unfortunately, I was born with the inability to see posted speed limits. | ||
| Barker |
The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he's always doing both. | ||
| Phat_j |
where is that from barker? thats great..... | ||
| Thumper74 |
PhatJ, that's in 48 Days to the Work You Love. I'm sure it's originally from someplace else but I'm too lazy to look it up. TM, I have a friend that went to UTI and is doing well. I considered a go at it in Orlando, but when I toured and checked out the price of housing, there would be no way I could afford it in Orlando. | ||
| Phat_j |
shoot me a private email and i'll give you all the details you want | ||
| Torquemonster |
That is good, Barker. I'll be looking for that book(?) My plan was to leave the wife and kids in Pensacola, trailer the bike and a pop up camper down there and live in a campground for a year. Way more affordable than renting a place and I could afford to come home to see the family a couple times a month. Id do it in a heartbeat, but the end result would have to be worth the missed moments with my kids. email sent, Jason. (Message edited by TORQUEMONSTER on January 11, 2008) | ||
| Cochise |
I have done construction, waterline construction, tree trimming and Coke Delivery driver/route trainer. Most recently a Fire Protection pipefitter. I decided I was tired of all that thread cutting oil, pipe dope, and teflon all over my clothes and grease and dirt under the fingernails. Wednesday, January 4th, 2008, I took a leap the totally opposite direction and started at a New Car Dealer as a sales consultant trainee. I'm having the time of my life so far. I know, I'm only on my fourth day, but what a kick it has been so far. | ||
| Pammy |
Mr. Monster, Unless you have some significant experience in your background, it could be years before you rise up to a salary worthy of your family. It's a catch 22 really. In order to garner the $$ you have to have experience. In order to get experience you have to live without proper $$ for years, possibly. You have to be able to work quickly and efficiently in order to make money and unless you are some sort of idiot savant(I have seen 'em) you just can't do it without some good hard experience. It also depends what kind of shop you might choose to work with. I have a lot more on the subject but I don't want to offend anyone inadvertantly with my ramblings. I will tell you this. Gaining knowledge is never a waste of time. If it is your passion, you will make it work. You can have/acheive absolutely anything in this world that you want bad enough... Will it make you rich? Nope... Will it make you happy? It will if you don't mind not being rich. | ||
| Rah7777777 |
In 04 I graduated from UTI in Houston. I was "lucky" and started lining up a job with benz a year before graduation. I have been with benz for over 3 years now. And i will tell you, every morning when I wake up, I wonder what the HELL I was thinking! No doubt the worst decision of my life. It is not a school for serious people, its a huge clown fest. Half of the students are just stupid kids who had nothing else to do but go there to get away from mommy and daddy. then another good junk are foreign kids who ARE government is paying for them to go there, so they naturally don't care! Some of the instructors are pretty good, but some do not care that much. For the $23K I spent for auto/diesel I could have started a much better path......... Now we get on the technician side of things. most people, when I say I work for Benz are like, wow thats cool! you must make big bucks! thats a laugh! I do okay, but by no means great for the amount of hours I'm there. The whole flag hour system is in general a crappy idea. its great if you are doing services all day, but to be honest benz builds a crappy car when it comes to electrical. then top it off with the really low warranty pay! We are required to be there 10 Hours per day, every 4th saturday for 9 hours. And then, they ask us to stay late or come in extra early all the time. this would be okay if they had a thing called OVERTIME, but there is none in the car business, since its all basically commission work. But really it would not be too bad if it wasnt for warranty work. I have been told Benz pays good compared to other brands, so I can only wonder how crappy the others pay. It just gets old working 50-55 hours and getting paid for only 35. If it paid hourly with overtime, I would be writing this reply with the opposite direction,but truth is......I would not suggest that school or job to an enemy! I actually had to beat the idea out of one of my friends. Who now thanks me :-) I love working on cars, but now I realize doing it for a living is not for me. When I first started working at benz, ALL (!!!!) the old timers told me to get the hell out before it sucks you in. I now see what they were saying. I came out of UTI 99.8% attendance (damn car broke down one day!) my GPA was 3.9 I honestly feel i learned more in my 2 year auto technology class in high school then UTI. But my high school teacher was an awesome guy! I have heard the same classes I took are now at $27K, and I'm thinking how do they suck all these people in, then I realize they did it to me!! So with all that, take a guess at what was on the top of my New Years resolution list?.............Find a better job :-) (well right under, getting all Buell models for XB Lights) Oh, and I work for the largest Benz dealer in my area. oh and last thing if my boss is reading this, go •••• yourself! | ||
| Barker |
http://www.48days.com/  Great book. |
