Career advice - motor mechanic

[RobSheffield]

Some background - im 30, never worked in the motor mechanic industry, no qualifications. Worked in car sales and on a dealership service desk.

I always carry out my own servicing on my own cars, and friends cars. Have a 'decent' home tool kit. I used to work on my own Japanese imports. Engine and turbo system upgrades and braking and suspension upgrades. Also had a few close mates i would help out on a regular basis by fitting parts for them at home.

To clarify, i know one end of a spanner from the other. I went to uni and did a HND in Applied Biology so im also not an idiot when it comes to learning etc.

Now at 30 im too old (i think) for an apprenticeship. Im not sure if i need City and Guilds or NVQ qualifications. Local college does the C&G but nowhere i can find within 100 miles does NVQ. I have a friend who works as a technician for BMW who has given me some advice, but i wondered if anyone else might have any.

Regards
Rob

 

[RobSheffield]

Any chance you could start out on your own as a mobile mechanic maybe? I think that will become more and more popular - you work on cars whilst people are at work so they don't have to take time off or take to a dealer...?

Its something i had thought about. Thanks for the suggestion.

Are you out of work or something?

Wouldnt it be easier to just go and work selling something else (making a shed load more money in the process)?

I am out of work, having just left a call centre type job in disgust! I have worked in sales for years, and the market is pretty much saturated. Its full of conmen and liars and i have no wish to partake. I have had a fair few jobs, mainly during my education, and never really found anything i enjoy.

Ignore.

Thanks. Very useful advice, i shall ignore you

 

[RobSheffield]

I am just about to finish off my apprenticeship and I can tell you one thing - Have a very long and hard thing about weather or not you want to do this, especially at your age . It is a physically demanding, relatively stressful job (if you're in a bonus driven workshop) which can sometimes be dull and repetitive to the point where you'll want to hang yourself from the nearest engine crane.

Too many people enjoy spannering on their own cars and think "Oh, this is great fun. I'm going to make it my career". Sooner or later the novelty tends to wear off and it becomes just a job. The diagnosis part of the job is mostly non existent due to the invention of diagnostic equipment meaning a 'technician' now days is little more than a glorified fitter as that's all that we do. Unbolt old part, bolt in new one. Rinse and repeat for the next couple of decades .

Now I've got the depressing **** out of the way. Experience talks loudly, perhaps even louder than a few qualifications (although you're going to need them too if you want to end up in a main dealer). If you've got spare time on your hands try and volunteer at a back street/independent place. Make it clear that you don't want any money/sexual favours in payment and I'm sure they'd be happy to have a spare pair of hands. Use it as a bit of a trial period to see if you really do want to go into the trade.

Qualification wise I understand that NVQ and C&G are pretty much interchangeable with no preference given to one or the other. Saying that, 99% of dealer apprenticeships use NVQ, so that's something to bear in mind.

Thankyou for the advice, i really appreciate you taking the time to type all that out

C&G is fairly well accepted, although nowhere near as respected as it is in other fields.

Thanks for the info.

was a starter course at a Rotherham college which i pressume is near where you live OP.

Yeah i used to work at RCAT couple of years ago and i remember the courses they run. Thats going to be my first port of call, as well as seeing if i can get a few days a week in a dealership to see if its something that will be for me.