Geezer techicians

[Morris Minor]

I've found this Goodyear service center that does an absolutely kickass job. They've just finished replacing the rear rotors & pads (+ fluid replacement) on my G. Everything is clean and correct. The manager told me he has a core team aged between 55 & 62 who've seen it all before, & they work with & coach the younger guys. It was all just highly efficient & friendly. Nice to have a positive experience.

[giant_mtb]

Good shops do exist.  It's a blessing to find one you really fee comfortable at.

[MexicoCityM3]

I thought this thread was about our very own shippy. I am dissapointed.

[shp4man]

LOL. I'm too old for this shit. 

[Morris Minor]

There's an article in C&D about the shortage of mechanics. Kids who formerly would have gone into vocational careers are told they have to get degrees: running up $200K in student loans for an unmarketable degree in underwater transgender basketweaving is preferable to tech school then qualifying as a BMW mechanic.

[Soup DeVille]

There's an article in C&D about the shortage of mechanics. Kids who formerly would have gone into vocational careers are told they have to get degrees: Running up $200K debt for an unmarketable degree in underwater transgender basketweaving is preferable to tech school then qualifying as a BMW mechanic.

This has hit not only auto technicians, but pretty much any skilled trade of any kind.

When I was in High School, they told me tool and die was a dying and irrelevant trade. A friend of mine is a skilled machinist, and clears well over 6 figures a year.

[giant_mtb]

My landlord is a tool and die maker. He's basically head hunted.

[AutobahnSHO]

The manager told me he has a core team aged between 55 & 62 who've seen it all before, & they work with & coach the younger guys.

Good to hear someone discovered the time-honored apprenticeship model works great.

[MrH]

There's an article in C&D about the shortage of mechanics. Kids who formerly would have gone into vocational careers are told they have to get degrees: running up $200K in student loans for an unmarketable degree in underwater transgender basketweaving is preferable to tech school then qualifying as a BMW mechanic.

One of my brother's friends is a BMW tech. Turns out to be a really solid career. Guy is 34, single, but he's got a newer WRX that's paid for, a liter bike that's paid for, and owns a home. He's honestly doing better than a good chunk of the college grads I know.

[GoCougs]

Tool and die makers are indeed in high demand, but it takes many years of de facto apprenticeship get to the point that you're that good, and these days few people cans stick with the low-ish pay and lack of autonomy and flexibility that a long term apprenticeship requires (don't blame them). And of course plenty of those guys, and machinists in general, are missing fingers and are otherwise have a tough go physically, even just from the constant exposure to various volatiles (oil, solvent, etc.) and dust. I wouldn't recommend it.

Skilled trades are very hard on the body, even the seemingly innocuous trades like electricianing. The stats for injury and disability claims are not insignificant. Someone who can stick it out and then move into management before they wear themselves our (age ~40) can indeed make a decent living, but of course not everyone can make it into management.

[2o6]

Pads and Rotors are easy to fix, and a brake system flush is not hard.

[AutobahnSHO]

Pads and Rotors are easy to fix, and a brake system flush is not hard.

Those jobs don't pay very much. The constant wear on the body lifting bending reaching is pretty significant.

But yes, a skill that has a good future is the best way to go.

[SVT_Power]

Those jobs don't pay very much. The constant wear on the body lifting bending reaching is pretty significant.

But yes, a skill that has a good future is the best way to go.

Could actually make the argument being active and not sitting in a chair for majority of the day might actually be healthier long term

[shp4man]

Fixing cars isn't super hard on the body although you do have to climb under and on top of things sometimes.
One thing I can say about it is even during the depths of the recession, I always had a job and when a car dealership changes owners, the new guy usually flushes out management and sales people, but not the techs- too hard to replace.
The pay isn't great- about $50K a year if you're honest and work only 40 hours a week, but it's relatively low stress.
My life at work lately has been a pain due to inexperienced people, not only techs, but service writers that don't know the computer system or have any technical knowledge and parts idiots that order the wrong part. Makes it hard trying to fix their fuckups and anticipate their screwups beforehand. I've taken to looking up part numbers myself. I keep telling myself I won't have to do this much longer at age 64.
Maybe I could teach an adult auto mechanics class or something and let the newbie idiots tailspin into their own disaster.

[giant_mtb]

Could actually make the argument being active and not sitting in a chair for majority of the day might actually be healthier long term

Yep.  There are tradeoffs to both. If you're doing lots of moving and lifting incorrectly, of course you're bound for trouble, just like sitting on your ass all day can be a recipe for disaster.  Like detailing...it doesn't involve much in the way of weight, but I'm constantly moving, my heart rate is above idle virtually all day, and just about all of my muscles are being used in some way with all the bending and reaching...it's a long, low-impact work out.  Way healthier than sitting in a chair all day, IMO.

[12,000 RPM]

Could actually make the argument being active and not sitting in a chair for majority of the day might actually be healthier long term

Everything in moderation. Most skilled trades are beyond the point of diminishing returns WRT physical activity.

[Soup DeVille]

Everything in moderation. Most skilled trades are beyond the point of diminishing returns WRT physical activity.

Yes and no, I'd think. Repetitive motion injuries are a real thing, but other than accidents, most offer a moderate and varied activity level.

[giant_mtb]

Everything in moderation. Most skilled trades are beyond the point of diminishing returns WRT physical activity.

Take your pick. A stiff back or fat butt disease. 

[Soup DeVille]

Take your pick. A stiff back or fat butt disease. 

The only skilled trades that are really brutal have apprentices to do 95% of the really heavy work.

Anectdotally, the people I know who are in a trade are marginally healthier than the cubicle rats.

[12,000 RPM]

Take your pick. A stiff back or fat butt disease.

I know plenty of healthy desk jockeys. It is possible to get physical activity outside of work, you know....

[shp4man]

Hey, I just put 25 miles on my bicycle this weekend! Not fast, but....

[Soup DeVille]

I know plenty of healthy desk jockeys. It is possible to get physical activity outside of work, you know....

Of course it is.

Its also possible to not to.

[giant_mtb]

Of course it is.

Its also possible to not to.

Like I said before, there are tradeoffs to each.  If you have a physical job and do it improperly, you're bound to have problems.  Much the same way as being a desk jockey with no real activity outside of it is bound to give you problems.  The war on laborious jobs seems, to me, at least a bit overdrawn.  If you're doing things you know you shouldn't (whether desk jockey or a labor job), that's your own fault.

[12,000 RPM]

People in back breaking jobs don't have a choice though. Big difference there. Much easier to stop doing Crossfit than it is to change careers.

[giant_mtb]

People in back breaking jobs don't have a choice though. Big difference there. Much easier to stop doing Crossfit than it is to change careers.

Damn, that horse of yours sure is tall.

[12,000 RPM]

Damn, that horse of yours sure is tall.

???

[CaminoRacer]

Nah, he's right. I've worked 10-12 hours in a warehouse before and could definitely feel my body deteriorating a little bit, especially since I'd be too tired to ever hit the gym. An office job with a hybrid sitting/standing desk + decent workout schedule is a lot better.

[12,000 RPM]

There are obviously varying degrees as well. For example I don't think detailing is a career that will beat you up like being a mechanic for example. The main issue is that people are living longer, so taking a career that's hard on the body means a much more expensive and less pleasant old age. The work has to get done one way or another but that's one thing that sucks about it.

[GoCougs]

Pads and Rotors are easy to fix, and a brake system flush is not hard.

Muscle rotors (and wheels and tires) on and off all day, 5 days a week, and most people won't (and don't) last long...

[Soup DeVille]

Nah, he's right. I've worked 10-12 hours in a warehouse before and could definitely feel my body deteriorating a little bit, especially since I'd be too tired to ever hit the gym. An office job with a hybrid sitting/standing desk + decent workout schedule is a lot better.

That's not a skilled trade (no offense), and is much more repetitive than most of them.