So, I'm graduating high school this year, and I want a career I enjoy. I worked in a service station for a bit this year, and I'm thinking I want to be a mechanic. Anybody have any thoughts? The only thing I'm worried about, is I like to tinker on vehicles. Now if I do that all day, 5 days a week, I'm not so sure I'm gonna wanna come home and work on my own truck. You know what I mean? What do you think?

 

I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I graduated high school...or so I thought. Like you said, the hobby turned into a job and I lost interest. After 20 years and about 8 different careers I finally love what I do. My advice...start with something you enjoy and branch out from there. Maybe you will tire of being a mechanic and want to change careers, perhaps designing auto systems instead, or maybe you will love it. Give it a try and if you feel the need for a change at some point, you can always change. Once you're out in the work force you get to see many other careers and you get a feel for what many other jobs involve.

 

A good friend of mine is a master mechanic. He makes good money and enjoys it. If you don't mind having a job that requires moving more than your fingers and mouth, I say go for it.

Keep in mind that you will get older, especially your body. Can you see yourself doing this when your 60?

I'm 42 and have been a professional woodworker my whole life. My hands, knees and back hurt a little more then when I was your age but I still manage. I love my job but some days still suck. At least now I work for myself and can take the day off.

You should talk to some mechanics that have some experience. Stay away from the grumpy ones. Good luck!

 

i went to school to become an auto tech, i love cars and figured what better than to do something i love, turns out i love my cars not others. I cannot stand working on the same old small sedans, and everyday vehicles. plus i dont see fixing cars and getting extremely dirty and worn out for the prices most shops pay to employees.

 

offroadfx made a great observation- the work you do as a hobbiest is always more fun than the stuff you do as a proffesional.

I got into gunsmithing as a backup plan, but one I thought I'd really enjoy. While commercial custom gun work was fun, it did get tiresome putting slings, scopes and muzzle brakes on the same dozen models over and over - but then there were also the custom builds and antiques to keep things interesting.

I eventually ended up doing something like DPatton, and branched out into something related, but different than my original job. I've kinda ended up with the best of both worlds. My previous experience is priceless, and ties into my work everyday. But, I'm no longer a knuckle-dragger doing 40 hours a week at a bench- making knuckle-dragger money.

It's easy to get a romantic notion about how cool a job will be, until you go do it. The best test of a potential job is imagining, honestly, what you're likely to be doing at 10:30 on a Tuesday morning.

If you really love working on cars, because its fun, then get a job as a nug mechanic. It will suck after a while and become just a job.

Embrace the suck. You're building experience.

After 8 or 10 years, you'll have developed your resume to the point you can start shopping yourself out to the performance and custom shops. With a little luck, you'll find you've made it back to the point where you're doing the type of work you enjoyed in the first place, and getting paid for it.

Good luck, man.

 

College?

 

This, all of it ^. College is quickly becoming the minimum for more and more professions. Most of the time it doesn't matter what your degree is, it's just whether you have one or not. Go to reputable college and different take classes, join clubs, and find out what interests you. Internships can also be a good way to get a taste of the job without being locked in.

 

Join the military. Thats what I did and I love it. Im a firefighter so I have a good chance of getting a good firefighting job when I get out as well.

 

College isn't for everybody.

I'm not only referring to grades, or aptitude either. That's a hell of a lot of debt for a young person to take on, especially with the economic outlook our country has right now. I'd rather be unemployed without debt, than unemployed with $150k in student loans.

Chances are, there will be some schooling involved in becoming a professional mechanic, but it doesn't necessarily have to be college.

I have a GED and no formal secondary education. My salary has 6 figures in it. I realize that's the exception, not the rule, but I believe success has more to do with how you apply yourself than what your first resume looks like.

 

I agree as well that college isn't for everyone. Society seems to push a lot of people into college that aren't ready for it/just don't want to be there. Also, you can get a pretty severe debt load by going to college "just because you are supposed to."

I know of a few lawyers with 60k+ in debt, some don't even have jobs, others are making 50-60k a year. That might sound like a ton of money, but when you have 60k+ in student loan debt ALONE (not counting rent/car/etc debt) that is a lot of debt to service.

It's pretty hard to nail down what you want to do straight out of high school. I was sure of what I wanted to do when I started college, but I changed my major 3 times.

Now I'm an accountant with a CPA license. I love the job, it pays well has good benefits and is a valuable job. A lot of people think accounting is all math, and if you aren't good at math you can't be an accountant.

A lot of people also think it's boring. While it can be boring at some points depending on what you do (corporate/public, etc), you see a lot of real life and the financial "backbones" of everyday living.