Question for all you veteran techs...
I have to agree i've been turning wrenches for 20 years and am currently thinking about a career change
Not gonna happen. As dumb as it may sound to some of you, I CHANGED CAREERS to become a tech. Talk about a dying industry, it's the printing business. I was beating my head against the table every day in frustration, so happy to be FAR away from that line of work.
Anyway, I appreciate all the advice. Just to make sure that everyone knows where I am coming from - I am a good worker and mostly pleasant to be around, though like everyone else, I have
those days. There are plenty of surly people around and I am definitely not one of them. Service manager said I am the guy who always gets it done for him. I could have an entire front end apart on a car but when asked to hustle out an oil change or tire rotation I drop what I am doing and bang it out.
The main point of my post was to see if it would be difficult for me at my lower level of experience (I am between a C and B tech) to go to an independent shop and be productive. I like the idea of a smaller shop where people come in actually wanting their car to be fixed. I also like the idea of working on a variety of stuff. While I was not bored working on the same cars all the time, in the end I think it would be better to have a more broad knowledge base.
I am leaning towards finding an independent shop but I hope to find a situation where I would be allowed to learn. Not a great way to make money at first but at some point I plan on being proficient.
- Greg