I was a combat vehicle mechanic/operator in the marines and I've been looking into an IUOE apprenticeship and from what I've gathered after speaking on the phone it looks extremely promising that I'll get in. I'm looking for tips/advice from mechanics or operators that wish they had gone the other route, are happy with their current position, positives and negatives of each side, tips, advice, etc. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head (correct me if I'm wrong) as a mechanic you probably won't be traveling as much for work? I.e. You get set up at a shop and that's where you stay? Are the union wages generally the same between the two? Thanks in advance for any help
i enjoy what i do moving dirt around is fun for me. Some people love fixing things. this is a question only you can answer for yourself q would you rather be a grease monkey or a dirt monkey can you see yourself in 20 years still doing this and enjoying it as much as you dod on day one
Not necessarily. With dirt equipment, especially the larger stuff, where it breaks down...that's where you fix it.
Couple of Questions. 1. How much money do you want to earn? 2. How little home life do you want? Our mechanics average 55 to 60 hrs a week. Most every Saturday is a work day. Only the cranes scale on bigger cranes is higher than mechanic scale here. The mechanics also drive there trucks home and the company supplies all the tools.
I personally enjoy doing both as it breaks up the monotony if you could call it that.Moving a stockpile with a front end loader on a job site can "get kind of tedious don't it?"Same thing slot dozing after a while,you almost look forward to changing a starter or something to wake you up.You are always blowing a hydraulic hose and often chasing parts as well so I welcome a break when it happens. I carry my own tools so it is fun to get to use that 18" Proto adjustable wrench that you just picked up at a yard sale recently for the first time.I once picked up a flex handle 3/8" drive Snap-on long handle ratchet on a job site with a bad ratchet.Of course the Snap-on guy will rebuild it for free which the original owner might not have known so that is now one of my 3/8" ratchets.Most of my tools are Craftsman but there are many brands in my inventory,sometimes you buy what you need at the time and often have to take what they have for sale.Ron G
Like others have said depends on what you really like doing. Also depends on the company you end up at. A large say open pit mine you may be in a shop day in and day out. If a construction company as an operator or mechanic you will be going where ever the next project is located. Same if working out of Union Hall. Then if you are working as a mechanic for say a dealer you could be a road mechanic and go anywhere a customer is located. Being from Maryland that could be down in the bottom of some boat trying to wrestle the head off a motor by hand without scratching the wood work!
as a field service mechanic i spend approx 1/2 my day traveling. in a typical 5 day week i cover ~700 miles or so. my "territory" covers approx 60-90 minutes from my house. (at highway speeds) every local's pay scale is different, depends on the contract. some dont pay as much as non union wrenches....all depends on the contract. :drinkup
Also keep in mind how the weather is in your area. Some operators can starve if the season is really wet. Mechanics not so much, as they work regardless of rain etc.
Where did you work where they supplied the tools? I was a mechanic over half my career and I only was with one company that supplied any tools. Brandenburg put tools in the trucks so they could put anybody on the truck they wanted. We all had our own tools in the shop. When they sent you out you never had what you needed, it sucked. I would like to think they have changed their policy because it didn't work. They have changed equip. bosses several times since I worked there. All the shops around my area that supply a truck don't supply tools. It is required to turn in a tool inventory in case of a stolen truck or a shop break in. It becomes really sticky when this happens. A good mechanic would rather work with his own tools, you know what you have and no forced sharing. Contractor or shop takes care of broken tools most of the time without much fuss
It all depends on what you want, I can tell you I'm a field mechanic and like others have said you spend a lot of time in your office on wheels driving to the broken equipment. Personally I average about 65 hours a week and I take my service truck home. Most companys do not supply tools. I am not in a union and I have never been in so I can't say how wages differ from the private sector but if its something you think you might be interested in those might be some questions you would want to ask.
I sent you a PM. Trucks are not shared, the mechanic orders any tools he needs. The truck goes home with the mechanic although he can get called out at all hours if a emergency arrives. We do a lot of 24/7 shutdown work and things to break sometimes.
If you get in as a mechanic, you will probably work in the field a lot more than the shop. If you want to stay in the shop, then work for a dealer like Cat, Komatsu, John Deere, etc.
Home life is very important to me, especially since I'll be having a child soon. So mechanics work longer hours generally? Thanks to everybody for replies
A very lot depends on the company and projects going on. I've worked for more or less the same company for 45 years. More or less is because of mergers and such. I still drive in the same gate as I did back the first day I was hired, lost track of all the name changes! Anyhow I have seen my hours go from a "normal" 50+ hour week to as much as 80 hours for one season, not counting emergency jobs that went over 24 hours non-stop on a couple projects. The last few years if you wanted to work one hour over 40 a week management would act like you were trying to rob them a gun point! I guess what I would say is get into which ever you would enjoy the most. Not saying that it will always be fun and games but it's easier to suffer through the BS of some management types while doing something you like doing than working at something you really don't like with the same bosses. If you go towards the mechanic side you can take personal pleasure out of knowing you took a nonworking pile of metal and made it a productive machine. Boss might think you could have done it faster or cheaper but you know for yourself you did good. Same thing if you are an operator and make that rough bumpy road smooth and straight despite the piece of junk the company gave you to work with and it was all because of you. Just do me a favor, don't straighten out too many curves us motorcycle riders like those, bumps you can fix!
"Same thing if you are an operator and make that rough bumpy road smooth and straight despite the piece of junk the company gave you to work with and it was all because of you. Just do me a favor, don't straighten out too many curves us motorcycle riders like those, bumps you can fix!" I once had to go to one of those motor cross courses to put it all back to the original contour before it was developed and no one knew what it looked like before except the original owner who was not around.It took me a few days but the word got back to me that the town engineers said that they could not tell that the earth had ever been moved there.I had to side load and unload the 650 JD on to a stone wall to get on site there.Ron G