I will be in the graduating class of 2011 out of high school and i was wondering if anyone has gone to these schools and can give me their own personal opinion and did you learn anything from them. I will be going into diesel tech
I was looking at the Wyotech Blairsville, Pa an Lincoln tech in indiaoplis, Ia. If there is another school that has a good rep and good job placement post it

thanks
Grizz

 

Wyotech would get my vote, but i can't say which one you will learn more from I looked at going to several schools like this, but decided not to simply b/c i didn't want to make a living in the same industry as my hobby is in. LOL. Good luck with wherever you go. It's not a bad industry to go into, thats for sure.

 

Well I have heard the same thing dont have your hobby as a everyday job I am only 16 and my first truck and still is is my 96 ps and i have already did injectors and I just like wrenching on things and I have also been around my family farm my hole life I do all my own maintenance so that why i would like to go into the feild of diesel

 

I believe diesel will be the future as far as combustion engines go. It should make you a good life. Good luck with it.
Sorry I don't have any input on the schools. I have heard nothing but good from Wyotech though.

 

i agree with travis... i worked in a few diesel/auto shops years ago, and the LAST thing i wanted to do when i got home was work on my truck

 

I have two friends that graduated from Wyotech's diesel program within the last 2 years. Great program, lots of good info. They attended the Laramie, WY campus.

It's a good field to go into, but be prepared to move to a good job. Some areas of the country don't have a lot of jobs in that field right now. With the economy how it is a lot of shops are downsizing (at least they are back home).

 

My recommendation would be join the Navy for a few years as an engineman and learn how a real diesel works first. I was a machinist mate but still worked on alot of diesels even though my specialty was steam engines. In my first year alone I helped overhaul numerous westerbeke small boat engines, 2 16 cylinder opposed piston engines and a dual 6v53 engine. That one was 2 6v53s coupled together on either side of a generator. Really cool. Get the two strokers down and learn something about what really makes them tick then if you decide the navy isn't for you go to a diesel school. You probably won't need it by then though. Ford sent me to their schools on Diesels but I didn't learn a single thing that was new to me.

 

If you want to learn about WyoTech, talk to Jethro250 from here.

He went to wyotech and... Well he left 1/4 way though.

I was going to go there with him at the same time, and I'm glad I ended up changing my mind.

 

I considered Wyotech, talked to a couple people...got some pricing, decided against it. I went to Madison Area tech college in Madison Wi. They have a great Diesel tech program. 2 year course with summers off to earn a few dollars. Every year they go over what the students would want to see more of and they use local businesses to help create better, more real world learning and need to know education. I had so much fun just in class I would go back. It isn't an easy course...we started with 21 and ended up with 12. We worked for it, just like you would at the workplace.

I get done with work and come home to work on my family's stuff or more work. If you want to get into this, you must love to work...I put in 60+ hours a week and enjoy it. Although currently, as I type this, I am learning the Parts side of things, which I think is great to learn early and still be envolved with the shop. Helps me learn more communication skills that are needed....Talk to some local colleges, see what they offer.

Diesel & Heavy Equipment Technician | Madison Area Technical College

 

Be like our hero TJBeggs and go to Ohio for a REAL diesel college.

He works 70+ hours a week with his Father at their diesel shop.


Wyotech is overpriced for what you get.
You dont even get a set of tools when your done. Thats just bull for the price you pay.

 

I went to Northwestern in Lima Oh. But I didn't take any of their diesel classes. My advise would be to find a good local school that offers Auto classes and find a shop who is willing to do on the job training with you. You had better be willing to work hard and long hours. Pay your way though school while you learn on the job. In the end I feel like thats what I ended up doing even though I spent 18 months going to school while doing repair work I already knew how to do.

In the auto repair industry you learn the theory in classes but you don't really KNOW ANY thing until you have worked for about 5 years full time. And working WITH other mechanics will teach you far more than any class.

But I can say from experience being shop foremen is that if your head is not into learning and attention to detail you won't find a shop who is willing to train you. You will be out on your can wondering what happened.

 

Tim wouldn't' even let me work at his shop there and sweep the floors.

haha.

He knows what he's doing.

ROFL!!!!!!!

 

 

I'll add on...we did spend time in class going over Theory...you can't get around it at school...But we spent the majority of the time out in the shop..I'd say anywhere from 60-75% was shop time in the Core classes. But then shop management...that was all in the class with a project or two.

 

Jethro told me over the phone, because he was soo p-ed off, they would go do their shop time at wyotech, and the instructors would dissapear for the whole class time, so everyone stood around and BS'ed and nothing was done.

This was before he even got to his diesel classes. These were just the basic intro mechanic classes.

Being fed up with this, he went and found one of the diesel instructors and asked him some basic powerstroke questions and the instructor had no clue.

It's not like the HEUI system is foreign. Wyotech teaches Cat engines. I'm sure of it.
Oh wait, CAT Designed the HEUI system........