Looking for a job/career with cars
 

I've worked in detail for 8 years and I want to move on, i'm tired of cleaning up after slobs and want to do something more. Help make beautiful cars. I am all right brain, artistic and I am driven. I am just tired of living check to check and utilizing none of my expertise.

I mod and maintain my BRZ.

I can build computers.

I shoot and edit video and dabble in graphic design.

I am driven to learn more and eventually master my talents and the skills I've learned.

I've done breaks, shift springs, trans stiffener, exhaust, oil, diff and trans, calipers, drums. Wrapped interior, interior lighting, sound systems, etc.

Could you wonderful people help me out and maybe give me pointers or ideas as to where I would fit best in the car industry? I just feel like there are jobs out there I am unaware of that I could be great at.

This is one of the few posts I've made so I apologize for any errors I've made. Thank you all very much.

We have a lot of similarities, I wish you luck. Maybe you can be the inspiration for others depending on what you find.

Have you ever thought about vinyl graphics, wrapping and decals? I wouldn't suggest to just anyone to start their own business but it starts with quite low overhead costs. If you're wanting to actually work on cars though that will not get you far. It might however help with your interests in design.

Again, good luck and I hope you find something. We all are looking! :D Well except Tcoat I think he only looks at these forums and his car.

you should probably go to school and get some certifications so that you appeal to more companies. though, that is once you figure out which direction you want to go towards

Find a community college or technical school near where you live.

Check out their course catalogues. Find at least two things you think you might be interested in. Enroll in both...even if they are quite diverse.

You'd be surprised how quickly you'll know whether it's for you or not. Just takes one or two classes. Most schools allow you to move to something else within the first week if you find you're not in the right place.

Many years ago I found a free technical school for myself. It was a 5 or 6 month intensive course. I liked it immediately. After graduating top of my class, got a job and was good to go for almost 20 years, in a field I enjoyed.

Does not take a lot of money to get to where you think you might want to go. Does sometimes mean keeping your present job whilst finding the time to also attend school.

These^

There is very little in the field that you can just walk in off the street and start doing anymore. The more training you can put on the table the better the odds of getting into an automotive position.

Here's a suggestion- I am intensely into cars and became a physics teacher. Half of the year is mechanics, the other half is electricity and magnetism. Do this in NY and you can earn 100k/yr after a while. There are still some shop classes at some schools, but this is getting rare. Then, you can talk about cars, make money, have off lots of days and enjoy/buy your cars.

We had an early release at 11 am today because there's supposed to be an inch of snow. Good times. And the kids are awesome. You won't feel like you are working except for grading labs.

This summer I'm hoping to teach MSF (motorcycle instruction courses). There's a lot you can do with teaching experience.

Great post! And expanding on that, I have a few hobbies. The few hobbies I have tend to cost a bit of money to get involved with. This is more specifically true when involving cars.

When I had decided what I wanted to do (involvement with IT), it really had nothing to do with cars yet it allowed me the resources (from a financial, time, flexibility, etc. aspect) to enjoy a hobby and passion without directly being a career choice!

It may be worth noting that finding a career that you can enjoy that will additionally give you the means to successfully enjoy your passions is certainly something to consider! Best of luck on whatever you decide :thumbup:

Edit: I see that you're into computers as well. Awesome. I'd be more than happy to discuss the route I took to get to where I am today. Just send a PM!

Start a youtube channel. Even if it doesn't become a career if you get enough of a following you can make some money on the side.

If you are good at computers and are good at teaching others about computers, put an add in the local paper or see if the local senior center would let you advertise with them. Even $20 an hour or some type of weekly cheap tech support for normal people can help with money. Some people just know absolutely nothing about computers, but really need to.

If you are good at modding and upgrading cars people are always looking for someone they can trust to do that. Go on facebook or your local forum here and see if people need help. Auto labor pays well, most people won't blink at a minimum of $75 an hour, and you could also sell parts to them as well.

I read or heard something sorta like this: Pick a company you want to work for, go to their website, find the jobs you think sound good, look at the required qualifications, go out and obtain said qualifications, then get the job. Made sense to me, anyway.

I'd recommend going to a school that does partnerships with the automotive industry schools like Clemson University and network like crazy. I myself really wanted to go into the auto industry as a mechanical engineer but found it quite difficult not having that in my university. Not only that with the shift in the industry to computers and automation technology they aren't as big into fresh mechanical engineers was another problem. Beyond that just getting in there did not guarantee I'd be doing something super fun for several years.

Learn some CAD with solidworks or AutoCAD. These are going to be used heavily with design even when you want to do something like interior design. If you like the modding cars and fixing them there are ways for you to get things going with regards to that as well. Its not too horrible to get ASE certified and you could shop yourself around to people as being a capable modder. For example using your own car and customers to show the quality of your work. I did my own mechanics practice for a little while myself on the side and what I did for my customers was be very detailed (and I mean really detailed) about everything that was done to their car.

Anyways quick answer, certifications, seek education with places that do partnerships with auto industry, utilize what you know now to figure where you fit and where you could bring business to yourself.

Sorry I didn't see this post till tonight. I'm actually in Portland right now on business and would have been happy to meet up with you and tell you more about working for Subaru. Long story short, and not to beat a dead horse, but you're going to need a solid resume. For SOA, a 4-year degree is mandatory for anything but interns. Even our call center reps have them.

If you don't have a degree, plenty of companies will hire you with "equivalent experience" but that's for them to decide, and you need to be able to paint a VERY clear picture in a resume on how your accomplishments demonstrate you have that equivalent experience.

For example, my (soon to be former) room mate has about half of a mechanical engineering degree finished but quit half way through to work full time as a mechanic. He ended up teaching himself how to fabricate very very well with metal, fiberglass, and CF. He is also an extremely talented autocrosser, multi-time national champion. He got a job at 3R racing a couple years ago working on Pirelli World Challenge cars. All of this was on his LinkedIn profile. Who ended up calling him to recruit him? Tesla! He just accepted a job as a vehicle dynamics engineer. So, he'll be test driving Teslas to help shape their driving dynamics. No degree, but more than enough proven experience.

Based on what you've posted you're capable of, I would start by building a website about yourself showcasing your photo/video and graphic design skills. If it's good, you can use that as a reference. In the meantime, the advice everyone listed above is fantastic. Narrow down what you want to do, because there are about 4329429469832146932864193284 different "careers with cars" available, and an equal number of different education/experience requirements. Figure out what you want to do, and get trained to do it!

I went to school to be an auto tech, and lasted for about 1 year when I finally got on the job.

I realized I like working on my own cars vs. others...

From the skills you listed, I would look for a local performance shop that needs sales or marketing help, with a bit of mechanical duty here and there. Maybe an apprenticeship somewhere?

Excellent! He started at the bottom and worked his way up. That is how real life works. I hire new engineers every once in a while and they all want to start in the design and prototype areas. They are usually pretty disappointed to find out they will be crunching numbers, filling in spreadsheets and ordering materials on routine manufacturing tasks for their first several years. You don't start at the top or even the middle in the automotive field no matter how many wrenches you have pulled or concept drawings you drew in your high school class. You start at the bottom and work your way up just like this example.

THIS OH GOD SO MUCH THIS^ It is a blast to work on your own car, in your own garage, at your own pace, with nobody to have to account to but yourself for any screw up you make (and I don't care how good you think you are you will screw up). It is a whole different matter when you have to work on somebody else's car, following somebody else's rules, requirements, timetable and control. Not that there are not guys that still love it but it loses it's happy glow really fast. All those dealer mechanics that everybody here loves to hate on so much at least started out like the people that put them down so much. They loved working on cars and wanted to do it for a living. That gets beat out of them fast in real life.

I considered taking the BMW training course at my local community college years ago, but in order to do it I would've had to have either postponed or completely abandoned getting my undergrad degree. The degrees you get from such classes (and the teachers will tell you this) will pretty much guarantee you a job at a dealership. But the problem with working at a dealership is that you have a very small ladder of progression, and at best you become a master technician and get to choose which dealership to work at.

Getting beyond a dealership is extremely hard, as there aren't many positions available, and you have to have good connections and a lot of luck to get such a position anyway. And as @JeremyR said, if you don't enjoy the customer relations now then you will hate it in anything else. Technicians get a lot of rap, some deserved and a lot undeserved, and I've yet to meet one who looks truly happy with his situation.

If you're really that committed, though, I'd recommend finding a local tuning shop or even a paint shop and learn under them, then maybe eventually open up your own place.

Materials Engineer working in regulatory paper pushing role here.


A lot of good info has been said here already, so I'll just add some quips:


There is a difference between a passion and a job. If your passion becomes your job, you may grow to hate your passion. Try finding a mechanic who likes working on cars in his off time, or a cook who loves to cook at home. It's certainly possible, but I find they are often the exception to the rule. Got into cooking because you loved to cook, but after cooking all day the last thing you want to do is cook.


My girlfriend is very artistic like yourself, the OP. As such she got into graphic design and has been doing it for 10 years. She left about a year ago to pursue dental hygiene because the cut throat, low pay industry was brutal and made her drop all her own projects and grow to dislike doing it for "fun".


I like cars...a lot. But I also found out that I like racing./driving cars a lot more than wrenching on cars. It took 2/3 part time jobs and a constantly breaking turbo Miata that always needed "one more part". I never ended up getting seat time in that car over 1.5 years. What it took was a stock Civic Si, in which I learned all my race craft and got the opportunities to compete, instruct and drive a bunch of amazing cars. It also took that experience to realize that engineering was the right choice, and racing cars for a living is a pipe dream. I enjoy driving a car way too much to have it ruined by seasonal contracts, sponsor chasing and pay to drive scenarios. It's nearly impossible to make a living racing a car these days, truly an affluent sport.


Is my job exciting? Absolutely not. Is it stressful? Nope. And it pays enough to allow me to enjoy my hobbies/passions and keep them as a passion, not an obligation. You can certainly find jobs that you "love" where you will "never work a day in your life". To me that is something like Singer Design. But that takes the right circumstances, luck, education and risk taking. For every Singer Design there are hundreds of failed projects.


Based on your description my mind instantly went to custom vinyl/graphic design and wraps. Whether you can make that work or are willing to make it work is a different thing all-together.


However, one thing to keep in mind is your outlook on things and self awareness. Don't compare yourself to others and don't go chasing money. You can literally find joy in almost any task, however medial. It comes down to what Mihály Csíkszentmihályi "flow".


"In positive psychology, flow, also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does."


To this point, I have had some amazing (low pay) jobs in the service industry. When I was a barista or bartender in a busy place, I would just get into the zone and power through an 8 hour shift with speed, efficiency and constant banter with coworkers and customers. You can have a cook who is miserable with his life and a cook with the exact same circumstances who loves his life. A great documentary on this topic is "Happy" on Netflix right now.


I agree with most of what has been said here and I have been there. But as a counterpoint: maybe you need to do some self reflection. Maybe you need to go back to your job and hit it with a new vigor. Forget the people, the entitlement, the poor attitude and care. Focus on the craft and doing the best damn job you can. Maybe you forgot why you love it. Maybe with a renewed focus you can save on the side and start a side business that will turn into a full business. Whether detailing or wrapping, on your own terms.


All the best,

you can always become a porn star and have sex in cars

Kind of glad I stumbled upon this as I'd been having similar thoughts...I actually just left a job doing marketing (mostly data entry and phone calls) for an auto finance group. I absolutely hated it so I thought I'd like doing more design work since that was my high school dream. Unfortunately college didn't go great for me and I graduated with a glorified general studies degree...anyways I'm a management analyst and I was looking to find a way to get closer to my dream again. Seeing this thread though maybe there are better ways for me to get what I'm looking for out of work and not just this 9-5 I do now.

whatever you choose, make sure you proofread your resume.

Typos can kill your chances, especially on a word like "brakes"

Talking to people in the industry is a great idea. I left a banking job to get my MBA in hopes of moving into the auto industry in marketing. After speaking to a few people in the industry (including @Tcoat) I found that what I wanted to do would require moving my family to Detroit or elsewhere in the States, which I didn't want to do. Take a good look at where the jobs are, and decide if you and your family can get on board!

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Dai brings up some vey good points.

Not sure if the same service is available in the US but here the Government provides counselling services on career or job options. They will do aptitude tests and recommend jobs and the training or experience you need to get them. It was very easy too help Dai since we were able to sit down face to face, drink some coffee and talk about very specific things. There has been some great advice given here but there has also been some sort of iffy stuff since we can't really ask all the questions that need to be asked and therefore make some sweeping assumptions. If you can sit down with somebody that can actually give you real life info you are way ahead of just being told try this, this or that as is happening here. There is certainly some value to this sort of info but it needs to be tempered by the fact that in most of the cases advice is being given by people that just may not really know what they are talking about. We have no clue if that guys saying "Just start your own business" is somebody that has run their own for years or is a 16 year old that has never worked a day in their life and has no clue just what it takes.

Now the other side of the coin is that places such as this are a great place to make contacts. I have to hire engineers and techs on a regular basis and although some are only contract jobs many become permanent. Now, I am certainly not going to forward resumes from every random person on the forum but can point them in the right direction or would even consider some for my own sites if they qualify for open positions.

As Dai said you frequently have to be willing to move to get into many of the professional positions in the automotive field. The large companies naturally tend to keep their resources in or around the large cities (for us it is Detroit and Chicago in the US). Below is a tiny fraction of the positions open where I work. These are just the jobs listed for Design and Development in two locations in the US. In this category alone there are another 60 similar positions ranging from Europe to Japan and China. There are 20 other career classifications with just about as many positions posted for each.
BUT you would probably have to move to get them since the odds of you just happening to be in the vicinity are pretty low. Most of the list shown are mid to high level positions that pay well but there are a couple of entry/intern level ones available. The entry level ones are a great way to break into the industry but you would need to be prepared to move to the Detroit area and get paid like crap until you can climb the ladder. You do not start at the top!

Now of course I am talking jobs well beyond the detailing or local repair level here and none of this applies if you don't have the education or experience to even be considered. So referring back the Dai's post people looking to get into the industry should really sit down with somebody that knows what is required and map out a plan.

Now we see how many try to click the links in my pic

Or if you REALLY like cars....with them but the pay probably is not that great: http://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/...ar_450x250.jpg

These are all great replies and good advice.
I spent 10 years at Kinsler Fuel Injection doing technical sales, in 06' I launched the Honda ITB program there.
Left there to join Motovicity where I was the brand manager for HKS, Kelford, Quaife, and Tokico for 5 years.

It took a lot of focus, dedication, and hard work to get there.
[One day I asked the UPS guy if he knew anyone that was hiring]

For as technical as the performance industry can be, there are very few jobs that require prerequisites, experience, or education.
For the most part, it's a revolving door.
And that, in itself, is the performance industry's greatest Pro and Con.

Thank you all so much for the time and effort you all took to respond to my post.

The industry is massive and as time goes on there's far too many positions and certifications. I just get lost in it all and have the hardest time finding a place for myself.

I believe my skills and talents will prove to be incredibly helpful in my search. But I am also tired of being under someone all the time. I'd rather be my own boss and promote myself, my skills and talents and truly add something positive and amazing to this world and be compensated properly for it. I understand it won't be easy or even reliable but that's life isn't it, chaotic, unreliable and bound by circumstance.

Once I find something I enjoy, I become driven and nothing get's in my way. I just have to find my confidence and motivation. As time goes on the world grows ever so complicated, but I believe this is the perfect time to do this.

Thank you all so much once again, you're all amazing. <3

I understand how you feel buddy. I always had passions for cars and did automotive engineering from univ. But after I graduated, automotive industries were recovering from recession and no one was hiring. I ended up moving to Alberta to work for oil and gas company and I hated it everyday. I ended up quitting just after 6 months and coming back to Ontario for try my luck. Luckily I got 2 month contract to work for motorsport company and I jumped on it as design engineer. 2 months turned into nearly 3yrs and I got to work on lots of cool project revolving around V8 powerplant. I just recently switched jobs to another automotive company as product designer.

But let me tell you, automotive industry is very cut throat and if you want to be your own boss, you need to have some serious skills. As many people have said before, go to school and get a certification or something in field that you want to go in. I personally can suggest CAD designing as you can get into R&D fields and thats were all the excitement is. Companies are always hiring for people who are good with CAD.