Mechanic: good career?

Top_Banana_2

I've been offered an interview to study at a local college to become a mechanic, via the C&G route. I'm 27, and have always been interested in cars, but have no knowledge of engines etc.

My questions are:

-Is it worth the 3 years at college?

-Are there many jobs going for newly qualified mechanics (despite my age)?

-I'm not the fittest bloke in the world- far from it. Does this matter? I know that a lot of the lifting work is now done by hydraulic lifters.

-Are there good career prospects in general, or would you go for a management role in the motor trade?

-And finally, what's the pay like?

I'm in the West Midlands by the way.

Thanks!

hellokitty08

everyone has differnt opions and things maybe slightly different where you are, but I advise young people on recruitment and training (and employers) and this is a difficult area to get into. Firstly applicants really need to have good GCSE grades (or equivalent) most of the large companies wont touch you unless you have 3-5 GCSES at grade C+, inlucding maths and english. Some garages prefere to take on candidate through Apprenticeships and wont touch any people who have been on the full time courses.

I say it would depend on if you get an work expereince with this. May employers i know wouldnt be interested if you had the "classroom expereince" i.e only having worked on vehicles in the training centre and not real workshop expereince e.g work expereince or employment in a garage. But everywhere is going to be slightly different. Why not ring round some local garages, see what they say. Or if you see vacancies in the paper give them a call I am sure they would be happy to chat. You will be able to see if its worth while then.

Conor_3

Top_Banana wrote: »

I've been offered an interview to study at a local college to become a mechanic, via the C&G route. I'm 27, and have always been interested in cars, but have no knowledge of engines etc.

My questions are:

-Is it worth the 3 years at college?

-Are there many jobs going for newly qualified mechanics (despite my age)?

-I'm not the fittest bloke in the world- far from it. Does this matter? I know that a lot of the lifting work is now done by hydraulic lifters.

-Are there good career prospects in general, or would you go for a management role in the motor trade?

-And finally, what's the pay like?

I'm in the West Midlands by the way.

Thanks!

Yes the 3 years is worth it BUT you're better off if you can do it via a main dealer apprenticeship. Being fit is irrelevent - that's what air tools are for. I managed to keep on doing it for a while with 2 compressed discs in my lower back. There are good career prospects but mostly in the dealerships, not the pokey back street places.

Pay is good for a mechanic who has been on manufacturer training courses.£25-£30k for a 40hr week. If its a backstreet garage, it's half that.

a7man

The starting salary for a mechanic is pretty poor, many start on £15k and probably the max salary will be £30k, but its not all about the money, if you think you will enjoy it why not. You can always go self employed and earn more if you build up clients. The best jobs are in engineering, but its a lot harder!

julie1075

The company I work for prefer younger qualified people straight from college. This way they are cheap labour, but they are also keen to get on and learn. Did I mention it's a motor racing team? After a years experience they then have plenty of contacts and generally move on to a bigger company. Some of our lads have gone to Formula 3, A1GP, Ferrari Racing etc. So an interest in how things work and also in the field you want to work in will go miles. Good luck!

mitchaa

Mechanical engineers can earn £70-80k in the O&G industry, so you are not neccessarily restricted all your life to servicing cars.

It's how far you you take it, obviously you needing the basics 1st though.

a7man

haha, thats like comparing to a guy who works in a go karting warehouse to a mechanic in the F1. A car mechanic and an Oil & Gas mechanical engineer have hardly anything in common. Firstly you need a degree, probably a masters plus you have to be one of the best engineers in your degree class...

Top_Banana_2

Thanks guys.

I'd love to do an apprenticeship, but I'm 27 now. There are no adult apprenticeships in my local area.

I do have an offer to study at uni' for a degree in building surveying.......I'm guessing that is the better option.......?

a7man

Yeah you should graduate when the housing market starts to pick up again and building surveying will earn you a lot more than a car mechanic job. Depends what you are interested in...

hellokitty08

depends on where you live but we have about 60 applicants for every mechanic vacancy and about 5 for surveying, as not many young people know what it is. Surveying vacancies (in my expereince) always pay more and the employers that i speak to are always desperate for people as they say they are not getting enough candidates through. We even have emloyers that put young people through their degree to get them in to surveying. There is such a thing as an adult apprentcieship now, although may not be available in your area.