Hey guys, I went to check out one of those ats heavy equipment schools,it was the one in VA ( the ones were they teach you to operate equipment) and in the next month I will be looking at the one in NH, I am also looking into the diesel mechanic coures offered @ baren Instuite in Ct here. My question is I keep hearing about a slow down in work for heay equipment operators, Is this true? ( this is primarly for the new england guys) But I hear this and I gets me worried, I do not want to spend money and not have work to do after, The school sent me a list of compaines they work with for job placement,But they can hire me then fire me because Of a lack of work. What I am asking is should I keep looking into the operator side of things or start looking more towards the techinican side? I know I have asked this question before, But I am still undecided, so I am sorry if I drive any one crazy with all these questions that I keep asking.
Good heavy equipment maintenance and repair people almost always stay employed. Good operators, well, not so good for them. That's the biggest reason I went into maintenance. I worked a job as a scraper hand in Colorado one winter, and the oilers paycheck was always way bigger than mine. He worked a steady 6 days a week. I worked 2, 3 sometimes 5 days a week, and didn't always complete a full shift if the weather turned bad, which it often did. There were weeks I missed every day, so no paycheck. but old Gil the oiler, he never missed an hour. The mechanics there, and most other places I worked, always made out better. So, if you are somewhat mechanically inclined, I'd offer the advice to go to a trade school, get into an apprenticeship program, get hired on at a dealer as an apprentice, or attend a 2 or 4 year degree college like Ferris State University in Michigan, and become a mechanic or technician. The work is harder and dirtier, but that paycheck is bigger and steadier. You can still operate equipment as a mechanic, but not as your primary work.
I would have to say that there is more work for mechanics than there is for operators, so this would be the best choice. I know in my area that a couple of construction company's are looking hard to find a qualified mechanic and have also tried to higher mechanics away from the compatition, but they are just not out there.
Just remember, an operator shows up to work with a lunch bucket, a pair of gloves, and some pointy boots. A mechanic shows up with thirty thousand dollars or more of his own tools (he will constantly buy more every time the Snap-On Tools truck comes around), a homemade and handy gas fired BBQ grill, a big cooler filled with ice and various drinks and other goodies, stereo satellite radio -- with boom boxes, and a big canvas umbrella, with an easy folding-chair. He may also have his own service truck, a generator, a welder, a lift crane, an air compressor, and many other items, all bought on his own buck.
And if you look at the very long term, like over the span of a 30 or 40 year career, the technology may "dumb down" the skills required of operators, and their wages will follow. On the other hand, that same technology will call for more highly skilled and trained technicians to repair and maintain it. Heck, in a few years, the machine may tell the operator, "You can go home for the rest of the day, I'm not operating within normal parameters, and I've called to have myself seviced."
You might be right! Some of the new semi's already do this via the Quallcom system. They can notify the dispatchers about anything not operating within the normal guidelines.
The company I was working for last year bought 3 komatsu 40 ton adt's. They transmit data back to komatsu and keep them informed what's going on with it. ...And how about gps? All you need to do is steer the machine to be a finisher.
So what you guys are saying, is it looks like it would be better to go for the diesel mechnic side of things instead of the operator side of things? Also this goes out to SURFER JOE, by what you said about the diffranece in what a operator shows up with and a mechanic show up with does that mean a mechanic is better? Was a little confused by your reply. Like i said I have to meet with the admisons person on the 30th from Baren Instuite of technolgy here(this is for the mechanic course) in east windsor ct so I will see what he has to offer.
No No young fella, mechanics-operators all same-same! But the mechanic is going to have considerably more of his own money tied up in the tools needed to perform his job. That's the gist of it.
So, Joe, are you saying that you do not share my concern that over the exteme long term the technicians will be in a more favorable and secure position than the operators? The demand for highly skilled operators, as opposed to seat warmers, will be the high as it's always been? (I've come to respect you as a pretty smart and well spoken fellow. If you disagree with what I'm thinking, by all means, set me straight.)
I think you should weigh the pros and cons out and go the direction you think would fit you the best. There is a huge demand for both right now and I think there will be for a long time. As an operator I work 12 hour days from about mid March until mid December and often through the winter to. Usually 12 on and two off or 18 on and 3 off. Field mechanics put in far more hours then operators. They are usualy on the job in the morning before anyone else and there long after the rest of us leave. When the rest off us are headed to the bar for a beer when we get rained out, the mechanic is out working on the iron while its parked. Same with the weekends. And when/if the iron is parked in the winter the mechanics are busy in the shop. As stated above the wages are something to really consider. Its getting easyer to be an operator with modern equipment/technology but the mechanics are constantly upgrading to keep up with new technology. The conditions you work in is something to consider to. Most of us operators now have nice heated/ air conditioned cabs with stereos to work in. But the mechanic in the field is out in the heat, cold, rain and snow. He is often working under preasure on a hot machine to get it going to keep production rolling. Ether rout if it were me in your shoes, to be an operator I would get my training on the job. Start at the bottom and work up getting paid to learn (thats what I did). There are enough empty seats out there if you start on a shovel or packer, stay humble and seek out the people who will teach you. It won't take long to get a seat. If I wanted to be a mechanic I would seek out an outfit that would take me on as a mechanics helper or fuel/lube guy and work my way into an apprenticeship.
Well you know digger. I sat in the Clatterpillar and Komatsu booths at the last MineExpo, and watched driverless haul trucks of considerable size run around two or three mines, all from the safety and comfort of a chair several hundreds and thousands of miles away. Most hydraulic excavators these days have some automatic functions on them such as return to dig and extra hydraulic power when a sensor dictates it's use. Komatsu has had a dozer for years that works under water where a human can't go. There are countless graders, dozers, and scrapers working now that control grade and slope functions all by GPS. We fly rockets into space and Predator drones over the border and in Iraq and they work well without a human driver. Look at those little rigs we have running around Mars, nobody from the Operating Engineers there to run em. Yet! Several years ago I visited a mine in New Mexico where the haul trucks were controlled from a room in the mine's admin building. They still had drivers in the seats, but were considering having the drivers sit in the control room and operate the trucks from there. I don't know if this happened as technology progressed fast from that idea to just having a GPS and computer run the trucks and not have any drivers at all. At the last big farm show in California I attended, Deere was showing off a tractor connected via GPS controls to a computer. It ran it's own show once in a farm field, no human tractor driver in the seat. Plow, till, cultivate, harvest, it could do it all. Now most of these rigs also transmitted all kinds of data back to the home computer. All the operating gauge readings, speed, position, percent done and so on. They also transmit problems data, maybe low engine oil or too high temperature, or something's in the way that they can not work around. Other than being roaded to the field or maybe hauled there, no one needed to be present when it was working. I was impressed. I see more and more of this as our manufacturers automate and computerize their machines. Eventually I think those rigs that are capable of it will perform almost all functions from yard to work site back to yard entirely by themselves. You ought to see the little "Scooba" that washes our vinyl floors. Put the battery in, a little soap and water, set er on the floor and hit "sic em," and off it goes. If it encounters a problem or gets finished, it beeps, just like R2D2. Mostly ya just got to give it a little kick if it's stuck, but of late it's had more battery problems, so maybe a new battery is in order. So, yah! I think there will be vastly fewer calls for equipment operators as time goes on. But I also think there will always be a need for some operators for items that require a humans faster response to unforeseen things that happen outside an AI's parameters. These guys -- the "highly skilled" fellas you wrote of -- will need to be able to operate a wide range of machines too if they want to stay working. But there are always situations, and always will be where a human touch is needed on the controls. No computer yet made can match our problem-solver brains for thinking in multiple dimensions all at the same time and absorbing all the sensory and other perceptions we have. Mechanics now, or technicians as they like to be called these days. Well, a mister fixit is always going to be needed. Sure, robots can change tools and assemble or weld stuff, but if it isn't quite right or is an impossible position, like up to your neck in a muskeg bog under a sheet of ice, it's going to be a long time before a mechanical tech can wade out, take a look, make a snap decision based on conditions, and get the job done. The robot is going to take one look, say screw it and either shut down or go back to the shop beeping to itself. Actually, I should have done that too. Eventually perhaps, if we don't poison ourselves or blow ourselves off the planet, robots will do more mechanical and maintenance stuff. Cost will be a big factor, both in making speedy diagnosis, repairs, and the cost of the machine and technology needed to replace the human. But yep, the guy that can fix the driverless machine, fix the robot, program both, and stay current on all machines in his field, he's going to stay working and he's going to get top dollar for his time. So in answer to your question, I don't have any concern with the way things are going. Hell, I've worked all my life in concert with Caterpillar and other manufacturers to make it happen this way, so that operators had an easier, safer, and more productive life. Mechanics too. I agree with your premise on the mechanic having better employment options than the operator. A guy can always end up like me you know. Jack of all trades and master of a couple. Equipment operator, truck driver with a class "A" CDL, welder, oiler, mechanic, and maintenance manager. Also logger, farmer, writer, dog trainer, and hey you -- take out the garbage! (husband)
Well if it makes any difference, I need blade hands real bad. Cant afford a GPS system, so I need people that are very skilled. I think most skilled operators will be working for smaller companies that cant afford the luxuries that these giant companies can. I need guys that can go from machine to machine and shoot grade.
Cope, there were four senior and very experienced and skilled blade hands sitting on the hook in Local 428's "A" list. That's in Phoenix. Work for operators is slow here at the moment. Some of those guys might be willing to travel up to Colorado. You might also try advertising for blade hands on "craigslist.com." I was surprised to see the number of ads there for all kinds of skilled trades, with most of those being for local hires. Check it out. If I were younger, I wouldn't mind coming up to help you out myself. I've worked in Colorado several times, some down in your part of the state and always had a reasonably good time and made decent money. But those days are behind me. Good Luck!
LOL Surfer-joe is describing a lot of what is going on in all trades. Look at appliance repair. There was a time that if you had a broken TV or washing machine you would call a repair man. Now everything in all industries is going one of two directions. Either the equipment is to cheap to stock parts (thus cheaper to replace than repair) or the parts are becoming quick snaps. By quick snap I mean you jerk the part out and throw another in. Like on a vending machine if you got a bad chip or a bad sensor you don't fix that you call the manufacturer and have the part Fedex out to you the next day. Have a compressor on a cooling machine go bad? You used to have a guy with a refrigeration license/certificate to recapture the coolant and replace the part. Now you just jerk the entire unit out by unbolting it, package it up, call the manufacturer and they send you one while you ship the damaged one back. The manufacturer in turn likely takes some bit off, perhaps recover the coolant, and then ships it to the landfill or to be recycled in a scrap yard. It used to be that a tech working on a machine needed to know about electronics, electricity, body work, etc. Now you just need to know how to use a driver and ratchet set. At Chernobyl, that Russian nucler plant that melted down years ago. They have robots working there that work in there maintaining the cap on the melted core in high radiation. The question becomes for operators and mechanics (and future ones) whether we can get by with the same skills. Can we out last the automation and can we make a good living before the rules to the game change.
Baran Institute of Technology, Class 1. Hey chips...just a few reinforcing words for you to consider on the Baran Tech. thing; my son (just left here an hour ago, with a clean basket of Mom's fresh smelling laundry and mo' of Dad's hard-earned money, ) is attending his second week tomorrow. He says he loves it there. He's in diesel tech. and is currently working on ABS brake systems, hands-on. He says it's a little odd that in this day and age of electronics, they have like 20-25 engines inside the classroom there to dis-assemble and rebuild, but mostly old prehistoric Detroits, Cumm-a-parts, and old pre-cup Clatterpillars. There is one N-14 which is wired, (and my engine of choice,) but mostly all pre-electronic stuff. I mentioned to him tonight (while we were outside carbon-coating a few steaks on the grill,) that underneath all the wiring, sensors, and electronic garbage, still lies a basic ENGINE that internally cumbusticates, exhaustifies, and does everything that they will always do, despite the absence of all the wiring. The fundamentals are there, so you, as a beginner, in the infancy stages of your exciting new career, can learn on with your own hands. He stays at the dorms in Suffield, along with a buddy from here at our location he went to high school with. They come home on the weekends, because it's only 1.75 hrs. away. They eat like kings there, too, because the Ct. Cullinary Inst. employs all the up and coming chefs to do breakfast, lunch and dinner for the kids there. We ate there last Sunday when we went down to check it out for the first time, and I was a happy camper in the cafeteria. He also was talking to the recruiter about jobs, and he's going tomorrow to see a guy in E. Windsor right down the street from school about working as a diesel tech. apprentice on second shift. That'll be nice. He currently runs down around New Haven after school and does a lot of aluminum and stainless polishing and buffing of big trucks for his wages. He's been doing that for about 6 years steady, and decided to go get an education so he doesn't have to do that for the rest of his life. Not that it's not an honorable way to make a living, don't get me wrong, but I see his point. After doing it for 10-12 hours he looks like Al Jolsen, (probably won't get that one, ) and is filthy head to toe. But, he's made some pretty serious money doing it right here at home for a lot of my buddies, so it worked while it lasted. My advice is, Git R Done....Go talk to that recruiter and set yourself up there. You'll be able to jump on the Merritt Parkway and fly home every day, so you've got the perfect setup for that school dude.:scool I hope I helped out on this one...:cool2
Yep you sure did help me out there friend! i was looking for someone who went/going to the school, because as we know about anything, recurters tell you what you want to here just to get you in the seat, so I feel it means more coming from someone that has or knows someone who is going to the school to get the real deal on it. I thank you alot for that, and tell your son good luck, and maybe when I get everything lined up I will pm you so I know who he is and we can hang, :drinkup :cool2 Oh and i plan on taking advantage of living with mom and dad while i go to school.
Not a problem my man...just let us know when you'll be starting there. Oh, and one little, last thing. He's 18, I'm thinking you're about the same age? So if you guys do meet up and hang, that's cool. But if you :beerchug together, I'll hang YOU guys...:cool2 Later, dude.:thumbsup
My buddy graduated from Baran tech a couple of years ago, he is a very competent mechanic, we do a lot of work on my truck together. He also can run equipment, and often pesters me to let him on our iron. So we find a little project at the pit to work on for a couple of hours. He (already in 2 years) has 10 grand wrapped up in snap-on. It's a great investment for him because he will always have the skills to use them, but right now he is doing fire truck maintenace and the boss provides most of the tools. I would have to say that there will always be work in both fields, maybe slow here and there but it'll always be there. You can work as an operator without a certificate, but most techs these days are required to have some training.(not all though). Go with your gut! GOOD LUCK!!
Uh well,:drinkup :drinkup is out of the question then, as I am 27, but I guess that is what they make non acholic for??? j/k
PHP: Well, in that case, I guess you're safe. I could still see you guys hanging around though. He's a good kid and wouldn't mind the company. P.S. What's the actual POINT of non-alcoholic beverages? If it's for the meer taste, I'm thinking it's not worth it.:idontgetit
:lmao :lmao :thumbsup :drinkup Exactly! BTW - Enjoy reading the thread, just don't have much to offer.
Just a thought on my mind. When I went to college lo so many years ago, we got a pretty good discount on new tools from Mac, Snap-On, and the Cornwell guy. I spent thousands of my GI Bill money on tools, and I still have many of those today, along with thousands of dollars of others I have bought over the last 35 years. If I had known better at the time (and if there had been any around that area), I could have saved myself a kizillion bucks buying good quality used tools at pawn shops. Also look at garage sales and equipment or manufacturing company auctions. Sometimes you can get a good deal from the tool guys on stuff someone bought but couldn't handle the payments on, and the tool guy took em back.
is this starting to scare anyone else???
I've worked in construction here in fairfield county for 25+ years...in my opinion if you don't have a strong desire to be either an operator or a mechanic, I would go to school to become a mechanic. This is assuming you want to stay in Connecticut. Good Luck
I've done both operator and mechanic. Surfer is right on. Plus there are somethings he missed. Right now your young, and all your body parts are in fairly good shape. If you choose to be a mechanic, get used to oil soaked clothes, grease impregnated hands (girls don't like that or the smell of oil and diesel) did I mention being smelly of oil, dirt diesel etc.? As a standard mechanic, your job would be fix it stuff, crawling in mud or dust, oil pouring down your arms and soaking you good, but you can't just leave and go take a shower in the field the boss expects the job to be done and the machine running asap. Get used to the idea of possibly loosing a hand or a finger if your not careful I have a friend that did mechanics for years, his hand slipped and about lost all his fingers. You most likely will have to weld and cut steel as a heavy equipment mechanic. Get used to being set on fire, getting burned by molten steel etc. I've been there done that. You gotta becareful with those hydraulic systems, that high psi can kill you. I know of a mechanic that got killed when working on a D8 track recoil spring. Mechanicing is not all the fun you think it is and nothing like working in a class room joking with some class mates. If you do it long enough maybe when you retire you'll be lucky if you can still use your hands, or have all your fingers, eyes etc. as a mechanic on those cold mornings you will be crawling under some machine freezing your fingers off. As an operator you get to sit on your butt all day long pulling levers, cruising around on the job site, in cold areas most all machines have heated cabs, and in warm areas A/C. In the nice newer machines you don't even get dusty. Operating is much easier than mechanicing. Also if you are not the type that has been twisting wrenches since wearing diapers, it may not be for you.
10-4 on all the above, cept for the women. They like dirty brawny types.
Maybe in your neck of the woods.......
I'm a third generation mechanic. Been doing so for pay since I was 16. Started in an old Ford dealership working on trucks and farm tractors. I've turned wrenches on everything from a weedwacker to a Boeing 737. I love my work, it pays well, but it's a pay to play world. I have more wrapped up in tools than some do in their cars or even houses! I've always been able to provide for my family and after 33 yrs on someones payroll, I've never had to draw one day of unemployment. I have worked mostly in the equipment rental side of the industry. It's everything from small engines to large stuff. Not a bad gig, pays well, good bennys. Medical for me, to include vision and dental is only 50 bucks every 2 weeks. I'm a road mechanic, so I have a truck, complete with welder and aircompressor, oil tanks ect, that I drive to and from work. Thats a big savings there in gas alone! We get 1 free pair of workboots a year, uniforms are payed for. 10 days vacation, plus 6 sickdays a year and one personal day. We get factory training, plus we now have a set up through John Deere U. We take the courses, the company pays the for the course, then upon completion we get paid 75 dollars for doing it on our own time. We have been 2 guys short for almost a year now. We just can't find anyone who is well rounded enough to fill the job or at least trainable. Amazing! Cat has an outstanding program for those just starting out from what I understand. Check with your local dealer and see what they have to offer. Good operators appreciate a good mechanic and same goes the other way. Feedback from an operator is a good diagnostic tool the mechanic can tap into. Whicever road you decide to follow, always do yur best, be on time and be ready to work. Be dependable! You'd be surprised how far that goes now a days! Good luck in your career choice.
Some other real good advice. Just like we have all been told "don't put all your egg's in one basket". I say the same goes for jobs, especially nowadays, since we all seem to last a very short time at jobs. I've hired in and quit many times. And besides you can stay at one job for years and then the day comes and they go outa business, then your in the cold. What I'm saying is learn a variety of jobs, learn the operating, and some of the mechanics, like the guy above said they can't find people to even learn it, so you really don't need to learn a bunch to do the simple average wrench twisting, what you do need is the apptitude for it, that alone will cover your butt, any shop will show you what you need to do most of the time anyway especially if they don't have to pay a top wage. Its way harder to learn to operate heavy equipment than to mechanic, mechanic is a knowledge type job that does require some skill level, but operating and welding are a skill level job that requires lots of practice and experience to do. Then there are other jobs like machinist, electrician, plumber, carpentry etc. If you learn all them you will always have a job, but again apptitude. One of the nice jobs would be a electrial controller, meaning your monitering all the electrical system grid etc. it would be a sit on your rear and read the newspaper type of work, or even sewer or water moniter, and they usually get some real good pay and benifits as well. The day you smash your hand wrenching, and take a good soaking of oil, or a nice burn or cut, you will remember what I said here. By far operating is the most satisfying job, cause you can someday tell your grand kids, hey I build that road or that whole area where all those houses sit.
Turning wrenches is incredibly thankless, especially when it comes to working on iron. But, for some, it's their calling and if they like doing it far be it for anyone to stop them. I do a little of both, makes you well rounded. I don't abuse equipment becuase I know how much time it could take to get that machine up and running if I do.
Wow Dozer that has to be some of the best advice I have ever been given! I appricate all of it and I mean this hole heartly. Thank you very much for yours and everyones elses comments and like I said I am meeting with the rep from baren instuite for the mechanic course tommarow and we will see what happens with that, Then I will also be checking into the operator cours up in NH. But again keep the comments coming and thanks again.
You know, this statement kind of grabbed me a bit and I will try and tell you why. I personally feel that being a mechanic is very skilled level job, that also requires lots of practice and experience. I'm a firm believer that you are born with god given talents and being a mechanic is one of these talents. I have said this before...I can operate anything, and the equipment that I have operated I have done it well. Any thing that I have not operated, give me a few hours and I will get it down. I also can do my own maintenance, small repairs etc. Having said all of that, I am not a mechanic. I just marvel how they can take stuff apart, repair it, put it back together and get you going again, and this is just a small part of things that they do.They are really no different than operators...The more experience they get the better they become. To me it would be way harder to be a mechanic that be an operator.
Xcopterdoc did remind me that most Cat dealerships do indeed have good apprenticeship programs, usually thru a local community college. You work some, you study some. Be a good bet to check with your local Cat house, maybe the Deere people, even the foreign brands. Check with the State Highway Department where you live, they quite often have vocational setups to train new and young hires. I did that in Michigan when I first got out of the service long ago. This was in cooperation with an excellent university by the way. I do disagree with Dozer575 on the difficulty of becoming a skilled mechanic tho. It's damned difficult these days with the proliferation of brands. You have trucks heavy, trucks light, cars, mining equipment above ground, mining equipment underground, small utility stuff both commercial and consumer, all kinds of construction equipment, forestry equipment, and everything in between. There isn't much that's "simple average wrench turning" anymore! It's like everything else, you get an education for an entry level position. No one expects you to have 25 years of experience going in. It takes time on the job to learn the 'tricks' of the trade in every craft. In over forty years of operating, driving trucks, turning wrenches and being a supervisor in 43 states and 3 foreign countries, I can point to hundreds of jobs "I helped build," from highways to dams, to pipelines, to railroads, to streets, commercial building and that's not to mention the mines I have worked in. You don't have to be JUST an operator to be able to say that. To tell the truth, I often got bored with truck driving and operating equipment. It's very repetitious work. Not very often I ever got bored with mechanical work however. Operating scrapers is probably the one exception to my last remark, just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
I have to agree with Grader4me, it is every bit as challenging to be a good mechanic as it is a good operator. This is especially true today with the influx of computer sensors. Good mechanics who truly understand the mechanical principles that are at work in a machine are few and far between anymore, many of today's technicians are lost without a diagnostic computer. A mechanics who can diagnose a problem without the computer is worth his weight in gold! I've had several problems with my newer trucks that have plagued me for years that the dealers can't fix because the computer doesn't tell them there's a problem. Now that they are out of warranty, I guess I'll have to pay to have it done. I also agree that we are given talents to work with, I have an employee who is absolutely dead on with his eye for grade. Unfortunately he is not good with machinery, but he excels in the brick and block work I do. I don't need a laser on the job, I just have him eyeball my work as I dig and when we are done we're within an inch of what we need. Operators need mechanics to keep their machines running and mechanics need operators to keep bringing machines to be repaired. I'd rather not see an argument break out over who is more important.
I agree 100% operator/mechanic both take experience and natural ability to be good at it. A good example of what a difference a really good mechanic makes is a company I worked for not long ago (same one as in my avatar im number 7 in the pic). We had 2 637G, 2 637 series II E, 2 627G,and 2 627F. There was one CAT mechanic in our area that was exceptional when it came to working on them, Tod was him name. When I pulled into the pits when Tod was around it seemed like there was nothing he couldnt fix and fast. He knew the machines inside and out and very rarley did he get stummped if the computer had nothing to tell him. Then one day he decided to take a transfer up North to work on the really big iron. I cant even hazard a guess how much money the company lost to down time after Tod left. Cat (actually Finning is who is contracted to Cat in Alberta) still had some really good mechanics in the area, just not any that knew the scrapers like Tod does. When a machine went down that would normaly only be down an hour with Tod working on it, it was now down for several hours. When you consider the average low three bids on projects in Alberta last year was $6.40 a cubic meter and a 637 hauls about 30 meters per load. Down time is huge $$$$. Having someone experienced around like Tod is worth some very serious money. As someone else said the schooling will get you a trade certificate and an entry level position. But natural ability and experience is something that you will need in ether carear to get good at it. And thats something you cant get at any school.
Well the reason I said what I did about mechanic ing. Is because it is a learn by book type of deal. Operating isn't. Just look at all the folks that write on these forums on the internet and talk about the car engines they rebuilt. Most have pretty much zero mechanic experience yet they some how accomplish the deed. And yes some fail big time. But the catch is you can be a mechanic of sorts without experience. Some one can talk you through it. But with operating that is not the case. With operating you have to be on the thing and learn the feel, and how to work in different situations. The difference with a skilled and not so skilled mechanic, is supposedly the skilled one knows all the basics and how the thing works and how the parts fit etc, and how to go about the job. But then again there are lots of mechanics or so called mechanics that learned how to, by book, and common sense. I guess that is how I learned as a kid. Never went to school for it, and taught the teachers in highschool shop how to do some of it. Learning to operate took many years, well to do it good enough anyway. Anyone can get on a machine and lean to move it around pretty quick. When learning and doing mechanics as a 10 to 13 year old, it was pretty much a day or two thing. Gosh I was overhauling automatic transmissions for other people, before I was in high school. And yeah they even worked good.
http://local478.org/index.cfm?id=48
the above was for chips and there was somebody else talking about sending there kid to a school in ct., but now cant find the thread if accepted all it cost is sweat and time ointhead
I've heard the distinction made in this way: There are people who are just parts changers, and then there are mechanics ...
Yes I am aware of the union course, I tried to get accepted about three years ago, But they told me they filled all the spots, I went for the operator part of the course, But I guess it will not hurt to give them a call and see when the next application week is and see what they say.Because the date on the ad is jan 2007 which I think has past but thanks for the info. Unless you know any info about when the next class starts?:beatsme
Okay update, I talked to the sales person for the school( the mechanic school), and I have to go up there on the 22nd to take a placement test. ( not sure what for when you already know what you are going to scholl for but hey) After I take the tes I get a tour of the school, and then get three days to make up my mind weather or not I want to go there. Now I can take longer then three days but i will lose my $100.00 enrollment fee, But I will see what they have to offer and will take it from there. If all goes well I should be starting At baren on the 14th of oct and slated to graduate in january of 2009. I am taking the course which will also get me my class a liscens while i am in school, Which should make me more marketable to future employers... I hope.
UPDATE! I started class at Baren today, it seems good, but I am having second thoughts. See I got the jest of the field from the instructor, instead of the school rep, and I am wondering if I made the right descion. I have but only a short time to change my mind as the longer you stay in the less you get back, I am stumped and cant decide. I listen to him say he has been doing this for 20 years, but had to get out due to bad back,knees, etc. Well I already have bad knees from baseball( when I was younger), and my back still bothers me from a old car accident. I guess ing I should of went with the operator side instead, but i listen to the shirts and tie guys ( I think you can guess who I am talking about) and liked the fact I have accsess to all these cool tools, and stuff like that ( stupid I know) and now I am thinking that was wrong choice. Any suggestions???
I haven't followed this from day one but I have read this entire thread. Here is my quick opinion. You are in a fine field and a really good position. Just like anything you're gonna have to pay your dues but the upside is: You work even in the rain. Plain and simple that is a big plus. Get this training under your belt and then in a few years go back and get an operator cert too. Now look at how desireable you are.
I think you're right on the target with that statement thehose! I'm just a Mechanic/Welder. But I've never crawled up on any machine that I couldn't perform the basics with. I've said it before and I'll repeat it now I ain't no operator but i sure like trying at times. chipsearthworks, there's more to this than just what will make you the most money. You need to find what you love doing and make that your carreer. The reason I say this is I've seen a lot of guys with what I would call a great job just walk away from it after a while. Mainly because they came to hate what they were doing. Oh sure there are times when we all get upset with our jobs but most of the time it's over in a day or so. Some folks are operators some are mechanics and others are foremen. The bottom line is enjoy your work and you'll have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. And never let someone else tell you what your job should be. You may have to try on a few hats before you find the right one. But you'll know it's the one because it'll fit like it was made for ya. BTW on the mechanic or operator being more important. This is my take on that the operator is more important because if he don't tear up something I don't work. And I guess if I was an operator the mechanic would be more important cause if he didn't fix my machine I wouldn't work. So don't be afraid yo try on a few hats, cause a lot of us here have.
well a year later this is a update. I ****ed up big time,:Banghead got side tracked and lost the finachel aid to go to school. So a year later I am going to give it a nother try. This time i am sticking with it I am going to go with the Mechanic side of this trade. I am hoping I can get all my ducks in a row so i can start in the october class. Again I will admit whe screw up and man did I screw up by walking away from the mechanic school. ointhead But i WILL not make that mistake again... So wish me luck..... AGAIN!
i went to the one in nh and i do have to say really helped me put my foot in the door but alot of thing u learn are not at school nothing beat on the job training