Glad I didn't go.

 

To add to my post. What I experienced at Northwestern was probably typical of most larger tech schools. Just a guess but Most larger tech schools spend more on marketing than they do getting quality instructors. Northwestern had a few, and few that were worthless and many in the middle that were just ok. I had more than one new instructor that when we quizzed him about his prior work experience the most he could say was that he was The service manager. Not once could I get him to say anything about his shop experience. He didn't have any.

And shop time for most of the classes was a waste of time. Hands on work in the class was more helpful than shop time.

One reason I recommend a smaller school or community college is smaller class sizes and more instructor interaction.

BUT I really think hand on training in a shop with experienced mechanics is were you will learn the most. Of what I know now I would say about 10% of it came from school and 90% came from figuring it out in the shop bay. Just remember that you can't go back to school every model year or when a new system comes into production. You learn more every year.

Also just a note on finding a shop to work at and learn. Can't be a dealership! Dealerships from what I have seen are every man for themselves and there is little knowledge/help flowing back and forth. Flat rate wages are mostly to blame for that (Ie you only get paid for the hours that billed to the customers so if a bolt breaks its on your time you fix it and you are only getting paid for an hour even if the job takes 2)

 

I tried this method with the John Deere dealerships, Of course as soon as I tried to get into this, their intern ship program was no longer. And none of the dealerships would take me on in this sense.
And most other dealerships now days are having problems doing work correctly because people are lazy. Look at Toymans truck, I don't think I told you about that did I tim?

Ahh well, Another michigan member invited him to the shop to do the work. They did the work for him and didn't even torque down the injectors properly. He had an injector pop right out because the bolt had backed out while he was driving it.

Gotta find the right dealership and school combo to get the most benifit. Most dealerships dont like the idea of teaching people new things, or have the willingness to pay to help you learn. But if you can find one, your good to go.

I hope this doesn't sound discouraging, I am not trying to be. But I'm trying to remind you to watch out for hacks. Which as tim basically stated, the college's have them too.

 

thank you everyone for your input. Wyo tech just caught my eye from the start. The getting a set of tools at the end would be a nice bouns too. Is there anyother big name schools like wyo or lincoln? Anyone know about UTI i have heard nothing but bad from them