Maybe covid hit and they stopped all payments for a bit and then started up again im almost done
The best investment you can make is in yourself. The investment included both time and money.
If you want to be a mechanic, investigate the local community colleges and look at what is offered
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You might want to look into more deeply mechanics also in your area, cause the pay might not be much better, especially once you factor in the weekly tool truck(s) bills, and monthly tool truck CC billsā¦
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+1
In my area, one of the community colleges has a 2-year automotive technology program that is run in conjunction with two auto companies (Toyota & GM). In addition to thorough āgeneralā training in auto repair, each one features in-depth training on the unique intricacies of the vehicles made by those manufacturers. And, a graduate is guaranteed a mechanicās job at a dealership.
In order to not duplicate expensive facilities, the āgeneralā hand-on courses are taught at the nearby county vocational school. The specifics of those two manufacturersā vehicles (both classroom theory and hands-on) are taught at the community college. Itās only a few miles from the vocational school to the college campus, so this was a good way to provide an excellent program with reduced expenses.
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Itās a huge leap over to auto mechanics and Iām afraid bypassing schooling is going to be really tough. And thatās if you can find an employer willing to invest in your education. OTJT is going to start at the lowest rung (i.e. entry level wages) and probably not a viable option for someone with a family to support. Thereās not a whole lot of welding involved in car building anymore. Mostly spot welds and adhesives.
Iām going to suggest something I think might be a good option for you. You already have some desirable skills in welding. Welding is needed in all kinds of fabrication. What makes a job interesting is not necessarily the skills involved but the job itself. If youāre stuck doing a lot of repetitive work, maybe you just need to find another role- one that requires more creative thinking and challenging execution. Often, those kind of roles also pay more. Can you find a job working for an equipment manufacturer in a role requiring a high level of welding experience and skill that also requires you to stretch your imagination and creative thinking skills? Perhaps in design engineering where you have to fabricate prototypes for new designs? Collaborative design efforts with other mechanical engineering types- might even lead you down a mechanical engineering pathā¦ just a thoughtā¦
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I advise you to at least consider relocating to an area where welders get paid better
And Iām not just talking out of my ___
I once relocated to another COUNTRY because where I was at, auto mechanic wasnāt considered an honorable profession, and the pay reflected that
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Do you live somewhere where that is a liveable wage? Where I am McDonalds is hiring starting at $21/hr and my 17 year old son makes more than your desired wage as a part-time pizza tosser. Also, where I live, certified welders make a nice living.
Iāve been in the automotive business for 35 years, having been in every position from gas station attendant, technician, shop foreman, manager, owner, and now in the training end of things. What will you need to be successful in this business in the coming decades?
Basic mechanical intuition and ability. Most of us in this trade were fixing our bikes and wagons before we were 10 years old, and taking things apart to see how they worked. Mom is still pissed off about that toaster. You will need to remember your high school math and science classes to understand internal combustion, gear ratios and planetary sets, hydraulic pressures, and air conditioning. You also need to be comfortable working with your hands and getting dirty when needed.
Auto technicians more than any other trade I can think of will spend significant amounts of money buying tools and equipment just to do your job. Chefs have their own knives, framers have their own speed squares and hammers, but mechanics will have several thousand dollars invested in tooling just at an apprentice level.
Most importantly, if you donāt have the ability to learn and understand electrical theory and electronics, there will be a limited future for you in automotive. Sure, we will always need nuts and bolts mechanics to swap transmissions and hang new brakes, but those people arenāt that hard to find. The training courses I run that really separate the men and women from the boys and girls are electrical theory, ac/dc high voltage, and electronics. You will need to understand ohms law and voltage drops, parallel circuits, controller area networking, data inputs and outputs, and be comfortable reading complex wiring schematics.
Does the idea of diagnosing and fixing a car from the driverās seat using a laptop and a software update sound like fun? Do you know what a digital multi-meter and labscope are? Is pulling an engine out to replace a rear main seal something that sounds better than welding and fabricating?
As a final note, do a little research into āflat rate payā and see if production based wages vs. an hourly wage is something that you can live with.
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When I was in 7th grade in a country school, our agriculture teacher would post each month a placard above the chalkboard with a slogan. The slogan that really stuck in my mind was this:
People who look ahead seldom fall behind".
When I was a graduate student studying research design and statistics back in the late sixties and early seventies, we did analyses with canned programs that ran on a Control Data Corporation mainframe. I wantef to know more about computer programs, so I enrolled in the two undergraduate courses that were the only computer science courses offered in those days. In the early 1980s,as a faculty member teaching mathematics and statistics courses, the department was having a hard time recruiting computer science faculty as the pay in industry was more than double what my institution could pay. I spoke up in a department faculty meeting that if we couldnāt hire computer science faculty, we should āgrow our ownā. When my colleagues laughed at my suggestion, I enrolled in a graduate computer science course at a university 55 miles away, while reaching a full load. I paid the tuition and transportation cost. I then took 2 more computer sciece courses the following summer. I made myself more valuable to my institution. This led me to do resesrch in back propagation neursl networks, a branch of artificial intelligence. I compared the results of the statistical models I studied with the results with the AI model when applied to large data sets.
I had a rewarding career and retired going full speed ahead. I invested in myself.
My advice to the OP: invest in the time and money to take courses in auto mechanics if a career in this field appeals to you. Look ahead and you wonāt fall behind.
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Like they say, be careful what you wish for. If your goal is $25 an hour I would suggest advanced work to get certifications in the welding field, and expand into gas training and certifications. People often have to hire certified welders for projects. Then you are talking $50 an hour or more plus time and a half overtime. But you have to be certified not just welding frames or something in a factory. Imho. A few years ago a local plant was paying $10 an hour but was welding frames for pressure washers.
I presume you mean auto-mechanic, and not airplane-mechanic or small engine mechanic.
Learning in a mechanics-training program is almost surely (but not 100 %) the best approach to obtain the most lifetime income from a mechanics job. But if you would rather not do it that way, Iād suggest to figure out which shops your area are considered the best, and talk with each of the shop managers, telling them what your goal is. They might have something they need doing to get you started. Be sure to tell them you are a skilled welder, provided you donāt mind doing it on cars. Thereās pretty much always some welding needed from time to time on older classics.
You might test your ability to explain mechanical ideas by explaining to an 8 year old how to tell if a drill bit is rotating clockwise vs counterclockwise. If they clearly understand you in short order , mechanics might well be a good path.
Note: iām not a mechanic myself, just a knucklehead diyāer offering an opinion. Best of luck.
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Another possibility is plumbing. The pay is good and plumbing companies will pay you while you are an apprentice. You are more likely to use adhesives, solder or braze but you may well know how to do the latter two already. Master plumbers can make great money. It will take a while to advance, but work hard a you can do it. HVAC is the same way. One of my college friends quit school and became a shipboard HVAC mechanic. He made a lot more money than a starting engineer would have made. The only time he had to leave the Port of NY was for a helicopter flight to a ship that needed refrigeration help.
As far as pay is concerned, consider it in relation to where you live. If you donāt move you already know the market. If you decide to move check the market first. My cousins live in the Johnstown, PA. Metro area. (Aside: Johnstown has a metro area? What?!) anyway, the cost of living is extra low there. If you move to Seattle, the cost of living will be much higher.
Pro tip! Anyone traveling or living in Seattle simply MUST go to the Inland Passage tiki bar. Great drinks at an absurd price, but worth it. Hey, it was worth it for me because my son in law picked up the tab. Walk into the Rumba bar and immediately turn left into Inland Passage. Make reservations, itās incredibly popular, as it should be.
Plus 25 because thats what i make i would need that an hour so i can still maintain my living situation and i considered getting certificates but when i graduated it was said to me that i would always have to test to get certified so i didnāt get any but as i gained my experience i knew it would help and im in the process of trying to figure out what certificates i want which one im practicing for now is a pipe test so well see i just figured id try and learn new things especially since donāt know anything other skills i figured now is the time to learn new things
Mig/Tig welding is much of what you do at a custom muffler shop. They donāt use muffler clamps very often. You need socket sets, stethoscope and a bunch of prybars as well as the obvious stuff.
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+1
As I used to tell some of my counselees, āfailure to plan equals planning to failā.
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Thereās a reason the windshield is so much bigger than the rearview mirror 
Plumbing is almost exclusively crimping joints now even for metal connections. The days of soldering and brazing are goneā¦
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Plumbing can even be a PIA job at times too, just think about the times they have to crawl under a house in a tight space with little wiggle room, oh and donāt forget the standing water that is 35 degrees that you are laying inā¦ And donāt forget about the waste waterā¦ lol
Yeah, my uncle RIP was a Master Plumber his entire career, you typically donāt start off roughen in new houses (rough-in for you college folk)ā¦ and I learned a lot helping dad with his real estate endeavors years agoā¦ Respect to those that do itā¦ Respect to all the tradesmen out there!!
That skill allows for all kinds of employment opportunities that do not require undesirable conditions. You can work for a new home builder, a commercial builder or perhaps an employee of the company maintaining their infrastructure. You could also work for a company that fabricates equipment that needs plumbing work. Lots of opportunities to keep you from going under that raised foundation house 
(very few of those around these parts unless they are mobile homes).
We employ plumbers at work to maintain the facility, build product, build and maintain the cooling water for testing product etc. Nice gig for them compared to midnight call for a plugged toilet
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That describes every job. There were aspects of my job that I never liked. When I advanced to the lead in my specialty, I could assign the stuff I didnāt like to an engineer that worked for me. There were still a few things I didnāt like, but at least the list was shorter.
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I guess i will think about it i just figured id ask about being a mechanic welding im not bad at guess i should get my certs and maybe learn mechanics on the side maybe i could mix the both together i donāt know just want to thank you all for chiming in
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I have a nephew whoās a mechanic and thatās how he got his training. With all the financial aid out there, it cost him almost nothing. The big cost is TOOLS.
The schooling gets you in the door. Then the learning begins. Some dealerships are very desperate and will pay for the schooling. But you have to commit to work there for x number of years or you have to pay back the tuition.
May be different where you live - but good mechanics (aka master mechanic with several yearsā experience) can easily clear well over $100,000/year around here. And Iām talking about good honest mechanics.
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