well i just got my GED. I'm 19 so I'm not to far behind. But something in my life mainly my mother had two major back operations and could not work so I had to drop out of school when I was 17 to work full time and pay the bills. Anyways like I said I just got my GED and I dont know what to do. For the past 5 or 6 years I have wanted to go to school to be a cop....but now that thats the next thing to do, im not sure if its what i really want. I want to something i am passionate about and im not sure thats it. I have lovd cars since i was 5 years old. and the more and more i think about it thats what kind of makes sense to me......I would love to be a mechanic at a dealership or something......most likely a BMW or a Mercedes dealership i would think luxury dealerships would pay more. But my questions are more along the lines of what would you guys do.....and whats the basic salery for a mechanic at a dealership??? thanks guys and sorry for the bad spelling im on my buddys iphone and its so hard to type.

 

IHO...join the military, preferrably the Air Force but they are picky about GED's sometimes but any branch will give you a good start.

 

Either that or start of looking at an Associates in arts degree at a community college... if you find what you want to do (and it is not in science... that would have to be an associates of science) it would take care of most of the first 2 years + liberal education credits... and it is cheaper than a university. Another plus is if you find a career that doesn't "require" a college degree it will be a huge pull on a resume for you.

 

Congratulations on your GED. I would say military or try to go to a vocational school. Learn welding, electricity, HVAC something of that nature. If none of that sounds good to you, and you think you can cut it, find a technical college, two year college to go to. There are ways for people to go to school for free depending on their financial situation, grants, scholarships. Even with most police departments you need some college.

 

Congrats on the GED and your drive to make something out of yourself! What is your skill level as far as mechanical skills, does it come naturally or is it something you have to learn from scratch? You sound like your head is on straight and you understand that you will have to start at the bottom and work your way up.

Good mechanics can make good money at dealerships if you know how the game is played. At 19 you are at the perfect age to "change your mind once or twice"

Food for thought, I have been a forklift mechanic for 30 yrs. Its a wide open field and dealerships are ALWAYS looking for entry level mechanics. Most of the time starting pay is based on exper. and top pay is 26 to 30 dollars per hour. Best part is you get to hit **** with a hammer

 

haha well in all honesty i don't really have any experience as for as mechanical skill i know how to change oil and stuff like that and brakes rotors small things.....but i haven't ever had anyone to help guide me and teach me i have grown up with just my mom and have never even met my dad so i haven't really had a chance to learn all the car stuff i want however i can make a mean penutbutter pie = ) but im a fast learner and im pretty sure i know its what i want to do i have loved cars as long as i remember. i would love if one day i could just be able to do things like R3Ds 5.4 swap and things like that.

 

I cant count on my fingers how many times mechanics have told me to never become one. They normally always say stay in school and get a degree. But then again thats what I have been personally told buy dozens of mechanics. Could be different for other people.

 

well yeah i dont want to just run out and jump into it i want to go to school for it maybe and get training for it

 

Oh god it sucks being a mechanic.

I work on western star diesels all day and it is sooo greuling tough!!

I would make a great diesel mechanic, but its such a dirty job, just looking at the trucks cover me in grease. My dad has a buisness with a bunch of trucks that run. I just changed two sets of front wheel bearings, two front sets of brakes, two brake drums, and one tire in a couple hours today. And was not worth it!

More school = more mind work ... Less school = manual labor.

An associates in arts is really easy to complete, associates in science is a little more difficult if you arent great with science and math.

Get as much school in if you get good scholarship money and enjoy the ride with a part time job if your able. Take 15 hours a semester and get out of there quick in 2 years with an associates.

Get a bachelors degree and go into the air force or other armed forces as a 2nd lieutenant if you make the officer program. Theres lots to do!

Or you could get an associates and go for the police academy. Theres lots of options out there.

 

Military is a pretty good option if you want to go to college. But do yourself a favor and dont go unless you REALLY want to live, eat, breath, and **** the military. Well I guess the Army anyway, the other branches are a lot more relaxed and fun.

I was in the Army and hated a lot about it. And I was not even in a combat arms MOS. So its deffinately not for everyone. But I also wouldnt trade the experiences for the world. I guess I would suggest if you do want to go Army, that you get the shortest contract possible. Like 2 years.

But I digress ...... pretty much there is no such thing as a job you are going to love. If you love it at first, you wont for long. Thats the nature of working unforunatley. I would suggest picking a career that you will at least have somewhat fun doing, is marketable now and in the future, and that has a clear path of progression.

 

You have several options. Go to college for something you really want to do. Join the army or whatever if you really want. Don't join just cause you think thats your only option. Or if you don't think college is for you, then find something you might like doing, start at the bottom with a company and just work your *** off and prove you want to learn and grow. College isn't for everyone and it's not everything. You basically get a generalization of what you want to do, but the real experience comes when you are actually working and doing the job. You're still young, so think about what you want and go give it a shot.

 

if you have a love for cars and want to try to be a mechanic do it. try looking into lincoln tech or something along those lines to get more learning experience to be a mechanic. your young as am i and theirs plenty of time to find what you want to do with your life, experiment with different things.

 

I agree you should go after something if its what you really want. However I would put it like this ..... is this something you want to still be doing into your 40s, 50s, and maybe 60s? Does it open doors into other fields you may want to end up doing if you get bored? Will it provide you with the benefits you need/want?

Now its deffinately going to be rough starting out. With only a GED, you will probably only get entry level positions .... which is by no means a bad thing, just that it will probably suck as far as pay and whatnot goes for a bit.

If you want to be a mechanic, see if you can get a job with a company that has higher technical positions available. Like going from mechanic to engineer or maybe regular cars to something more complex like dissel engines. Then once you do start working and get settled you can maybe start taking night classes or do college online.

Like stated you are young, so you deffinately have time on your side for now. You can try a couple different fields to see what you like. But I think what I have mentioned above are some good rules or a basline to work off of.

The thing that makes this country so very great is that if you REALLY WANT something you can get it, just depends on how hard you want to work for it.

 

You might try looking into some factory/foundry places. Alot of them offer apprenticeships for mechanics, granted you won't be working on cars all day but it's there's nothing more to anything than just a few nuts and bolts. I'm about a year away from getting my Journeyman's card at a pipe foundry, so far they have paid for all my school, books, and supplies and they pay me hourly while I'm in class at night. They usually don't mind hiring somebody new to the mechanics field, the problem is you just have to find one. Pay is nice as well, atleast in my area. I make about $18/hr now and in the next year I'll be at $26/hr once I have completed my classes. Most production type places pay anywhere from $25/hr-$35/hr.

 

Tough call here on this one. We all did things differently on this board to be the people we are today.

When I was 18-19 I had no idea what I wanted to do with myself and had no motivation to carry myself through school. I also didnt want to be a temporary chevron shutdown employee here in my local area. I made a decision and signed up for the Air Force and spent the past 7 years with them. I learned a lot and gained tons of experience because of this path I chose. My experience and hands on training doesnt crossover to a whole lot of positions in the civilian job market. My hands are tied as there are better qualified persons that I am competing against when it comes to general generator mechanics. I been looking for mechanic type work for the past 2 months and am plagued by the CERTIFICATIONS! I have none.

Currently, I'm 26, unemployed, but a full time student at DeVry with aspirations to taking my hands on training to a new level with the help of an education toward a new career field. I hope that this school will help put my foot in the door of future companies who may find me to be a desirable candidate to hire. I think of it this way due to my military background and past hands-on experience in a related craft.

I'm not telling you what to do or anything, but just giving you a bit of my own personal experience with life changing decisions. Hope the best for ya man.

 

Some very good advice here in this thread for any young adult to consider, my nephew recently joined the Air Force and loves it, he was living in PA and in a area of not real big employment opportunities, and was just bouncing around for a little bit after he graduated from HS, and he also had admiration of being a Cop one day, and I had always tried to tell him he would be better off getting somekind of military background, because then his hire in payrate would be a little higher than someone that comes out of a cadet program.

Now I have been doing IT work for almost 15+ yrs now, which is hard to believe and I love my job... ( when not being paged to dial into a system to fix something ). But for the most part I cant think of anything else I would rather be doing. I'm one of those self taught people, very hands on type. So if thats you, then you might very well do really good in mechanics.

I think " ZiggZagg" works as a import mechanic so you might wanna reach out to him for his thoughts too.

 

2 years junior college, get an associates degree in general education.

While you work on that, try and grab some shitty job that you know you can own. Then do so, work harder than everyone else and become the boss. Don't waste time on overtime. School time pays more in the long run.

After your degree, then if you want to try military, that's a great time because you've paid for the cheap part of college and the military will pay for the expensive part with the GI Bill.

If you don't like getting dirty and sweaty then that's a great plan. If you do like the dirty sweaty bit, **** it, join the Marines and select a combat MOS. You'll get all the dirty and sweaty hell you can handle.

 

Heh you can get dirty in the army without being in a combat MOS lol.

 

that is completely true about the army. i've spent 6 years total in the army, as a Combat MOS.

 

You don't have to eat, sleep and love the Army to do well. You do have to be more dedicated than just an average job but that's part of being a soldier, it is more than a job. My military background has helped me in more ways than I can tell you, it has gotten me jobs, and promotions, and opens doors that would normally be closed. And it paid for my nursing degree.

I spent 11 years active duty Army and it all depends on you and what you want. If you are only interested in the college money, then sign up for the shortest term to get the full amount. The new Post 9-11 GI bill is sooooo much better and pays a helluva lot more, you'll be better off going straight in and letting uncle sam pay for all your college. Plus if you take classes while your in, tuition assistance pays over 75%. That is for all branches so take your pick. There is good and bad in all of them.

I know I sound like a recruiter but the military is a great place to get a handle on life, while you earn a decent paycheck and benefits. I am even sending my son to the Air Force when he graduates next year, so I walk the walk.

Good luck

 

+1. Good advice, My soon to be HS gradiated son has his eye's set on the military. He's already got 2 years of ROTC, but didn't take it this year. Now he's slipping down the wrong road and kind of in trouble. But working it out slowly and painfully. College for him is probably not going to happen, so he needs to man up and take a better path to adulthood. I know any advice from me or my wife will be taken lightly, but he realizes there ain't many jobs out there for pot smoking monkeys, and McDonalds won't hire you if you aint got a gadaaam HS diploma.

 

Well I guess I would say this: Your expirernce/results may differ. And yeah you dont HAVE to love the Army to do well ..... but it will be a lot better of a time. Then again I dont know, maybe it was the unit I was in that sucked all the fun out of the Army.

But yes it will open LOTS of doors. Goverment Service being the biggest one IMO.