Who Has Done A Mechanic Apprenticeship?

[rjenman]

I'm considering going for a mechanic's apprenticeship, I realise every one of the apprenticeships would be different, but does anyone have any good/bad things to say about taking it up?

 

I understand the mechanic trade is currently a flooded market.

 

a post open to any comments on the topic :angrybird:

[ancullen]

I am currently a first year apprentice mechanic. I've been doing the job for just under six months, and with any luck my application for another job will be successful and I'll change jobs within a month. Does that give any hints?

 

Really though I'm just sick of making only $6.20 an hour. It's a ridiculous wage. The government is introducing new incentives to get more apprentices, but it still won't pay much. You'll be eligable for Austudy or Youth Allowance (depending on age), but that'd be about $200 a fortnight extra (max).

 

Look at it this way, you make about $15,000 a year (if you're lucky). With that, you've got to buy proper clothes (steelcap boots, heavy duty shorts/pants, etc), tools, and pay for trade school (about $150/year in the NT). Tools are f@$king expensive due to the large number you have to buy. If you follow the sheep and buy Snap-On (and get ripped off in the process) you could EASILY end up spending a year's pay on tools. Clothes aren't too expensive but you'll need to get a new set each year (usually).

 

Really whether you should do an apprenticeship or not depends on you. If you love cars and are under 18, I'd wholeheartedly endorse it, as the pay is reasonable for someone in that age group, and you'll end up getting a qualification without having to sit through too much school. For someone over 18, if you really thought you could put up with extremely low pay for four to five years, then you must REALLY love cars, so you may as well do it. Just remember you're going to have a lot of expenses. Yes most of them (if not all) are tax deductable, but you're still going to end up paying out of your own pocket for most stuff.

 

BTW, the main reason I'm leaving the apprenticeship is I'm already halfway through a bachelor degree that I was going to complete to use with the mechanical qualifications, but now I've realised for what I want, I don't need the mechanical bit, plus I'm getting married and going to buy a house, so I need a much higher paying job. Hope I've helped (probably didn't though).

[ancullen]

Oh yeah, there's tonnes of positions for mechanics (and apprentice mechanics) in the NT. If you want to make shit loads of money, do a Toyota apprenticeship (handy for getting cheap/free parts too) and then come and work at a mine or in one of the communities. You get huge pay for working in such remote areas. Or do a diesel fitter qualification, as they make even more (sometimes $100,000+).

[rjenman]

Thanks mate that was helpful :angrybird: Yeah I know about the remote-area deal and its huge money. Another use for knowing cars is owning your own business... not to mention the joy of knowing your stuff when it comes to recreational car stuff anyway.

 

If i end up buying a lot of tools that is fine with me if it means I get to use them on my own car in the longrun anyway. I do love cars a lot and building my own engine would be fantastic, I doubt I will go through life without achieving that somehow. That really is ridiculasly low pay though. I'm 20 so its a late start. I'm not getting married before 25 though f*ck that :thumbsup:

 

Whycome you didn't get to just use the tools at the garage you worked for?

[coln72]

You could try to get an apprenticship with a gavernment department eg. CFA in Vic. Usually get better conditions like uniforms as part of the deal. My old man only had to applicants that he would employ out of the 20 or so that applied for his apprentice position so if you are switched on you should do well.

[Super Jamie]

i'm not a qualified automotive anything, but i've been offered mechanic jobs twice because people know i do all my own work on my car

 

personally i wouldn't take it. i used to really like computers, then i started working with them and it wears off pretty quick, now i hate the damn things. spinning spanners in my garage is cool because it's my own time and my own car, but i don't think i'd want to work for a mechanic's wage and destroy yet another hobby which i really like doing

 

remember this age old quotation

"a hobby is hard work you wouldn't do for a living"

[ancullen]

remember this age old quotation

"a hobby is hard work you wouldn't do for a living"

Truer words have never been spoken Jamie.

 

rjenman: I can't use workshop tools because there are none. Each mechanic must have their own tools. This is generally the case in most places. Each Friday we get the Snap-On guy coming in to try and sell us stuff from his truck. A set of metric 3/8th drive sockets is about $300 and only goes from about 8mm up to about 19mm. I bought a Sidchrome set with metric and A/F, 3/8th drive with 5mm through to 24mm, with equivalent sizes in A/F, as well as deep sockets from about 12mm through to 19mm and equivalent A/F (51 pieces all up) for only $250! So if you do decide to become a mechanic, DON'T BUY SNAP-ON. You can easily get lifetime warranties from plenty of other brands. And Sidchrome is hardly an unknown brand ("You canna hand a man a grander spanner!")

[Redwarf]

remember this age old quotation

"a hobby is hard work you wouldn't do for a living"

Truer words have never been spoken Jamie.

 

rjenman: I can't use workshop tools because there are none. Each mechanic must have their own tools. This is generally the case in most places. Each Friday we get the Snap-On guy coming in to try and sell us stuff from his truck. A set of metric 3/8th drive sockets is about $300 and only goes from about 8mm up to about 19mm. I bought a Sidchrome set with metric and A/F, 3/8th drive with 5mm through to 24mm, with equivalent sizes in A/F, as well as deep sockets from about 12mm through to 19mm and equivalent A/F (51 pieces all up) for only $250! So if you do decide to become a mechanic, DON'T BUY SNAP-ON. You can easily get lifetime warranties from plenty of other brands. And Sidchrome is hardly an unknown brand ("You canna hand a man a grander spanner!")

Well, I can tell you different. Sidchrome aren't what they used to be. Their "lifetime" warranty is not worth a pinch of pelican snot. I have tried a number of times to warranty their spanners for spread jaws and was told that they have to go back to Sidchrome, but the warranty would probably be rejected as this was "fair wear and tear".

 

I now replace my tools with Snap-on where I can. Okay, I pay more, but I have never had an issue with replacement. Stahwille is another quality brand, and you pay about the same as snap-on for them. Use a Sidchrome rachet, then a snap-on one, then tell me which one you want to use every day for the next 40 years. I know they're expensive, but the quality is far superior. FWIW, I wouldn't buy Snap-on for home.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

R

 

P.S: Decent mechanics are in really short supply in QLD. I know of four workshops scream for decent tradesmen.....

Edited June 10, 2005 by Redwarf

[ancullen]

Yeah, I've heard of Stahwille (good things only, aside from price). I had heard that Sidchrome aren't what they used to be, but I'm going to keep my faith that they'll honour the warranty.

[Redwarf]

I started with a sidchrome toolbox, and have no real complaints, apart from lack of warrenty back-up. Stahwille is good stuff, although I don't like the way there spanners feel in your hand. The reason I like snap-on is their quality and back-up, which is second to none as far as I'm concerned. But, you get what you pay for.

[ancullen]

Realistically you could buy Sidchrome, have it only last 5-10 years, then replace the whole set and still be better off than if you'd bought Snap-On. To get the same number of pieces as I got in my Sidchrome set (all of which I'll use) from Snap-On, I would have had to have paid AT LEAST $800. I just can't justify that extra expense in my mind. Obviously others can.

[TRD ke70]

my advice is stay out of the automotive industry.

 

it's low paid, dirty conditions, most of the employers are f@$kwits.

here's something to think about.

 

you spend 4-5 years to get your trade papers and then your expected to know all the manufactures, all the models and all the parts over thousands,if not millions of cars. and your expected to know exactly whats wrong with it without even looking at the car.

then the costumer wants a cheap job.

and you get paid award wages of about 12-13 dollars an hour.

 

go to uni or stay at school and get a job that pays well, then you can play around with them. it's alot more fun when you have the money to fix them.

 

saying that i do enjoy my job.

[irokin]

I started an engine reconditioning apprenticeship and left it very quickly.

 

I guess youve got to decide if its really what you want to do...because 3 years on a shit house wage doing the shithouse tasks is a high price in reality.

 

If you do end up deciding you want to do it, make sure you get a good employer. The big "group training australia" and "biga" or whatever they are sound like a good way to go but you'd really have to research it more.

[Redwarf]

Realistically you could buy Sidchrome, have it only last 5-10 years, then replace the whole set and still be better off than if you'd bought Snap-On. To get the same number of pieces as I got in my Sidchrome set (all of which I'll use) from Snap-On, I would have had to have paid AT LEAST $800. I just can't justify that extra expense in my mind. Obviously others can.

Sidchrome is fine to start out with. No arguments there, as also know what it is to be a poor apprentice. But I would't call it "the good stuff." I intend to use my tools until I'm old and grey. I pay a premium for what I want, but I'll only have to buy them once.

[Super Jamie]

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

Edited June 10, 2005 by Super Jamie