im thinking of going to UTI

[TheDon]

today while i was sitting in my garage putting the clips to hold my grill screen in i was thinking.. this sucks its a pita to do .. i wonder how much it would cost a mercedes benz tech to do it.. probably somewhere around 150$ including parts and labour.. when i figured out what to do i was done in 3 minutes..

i love working with my hands on stuff like machines and the whole lot.. i live in davenport not far from orlando which has a UTI school im also in engineering at my highschool. i really dont like sitting behind a computer all day doing stupid part's sure itd be cool to work for mercedes benz making parts but i doubt ill ever get there..

do you think it would be worth wile to go to UTI and get into the Mercedes Benz Elite program? their will always be a need for mechanics of any nature even when our robot overlords take over

[Frank X. Morris]

Howdy The Don,
Smart move. Remember one thing though. Like someone said in another thread. When your hobby becomes your job the fun can go out of it. Butgive it a shot.

[mbzkid]

I'm going to UTI in August. I'm a High School senior. I'm shotting to be a Master Mechanic, or getting into an MSAT program (manufacturer specific advanced training, for BMW, or Mercedes Benz.

Its about a full year of school, no summer vacation. No english classes or anything useless like that.


~30k a yr, + an apartment in the area which will be about $1000 a month with four guys to a room. Its pretty expensive, but if you get into BMW's STEP prgram or Mercedes' program, they pay for tuition.

[TheDon]

i live by orlando so i could stay at home and commute to orlando .. i can probably get a loan or financial aid .. id love to get into the mercedes elite program id also settle for volkswagen or porsche

[mbzkid]

Originally Posted by TheDon

i live by orlando so i could stay at home and commute to orlando .. i can probably get a loan or financial aid .. id love to get into the mercedes elite program id also settle for volkswagen or porsche

Porsche is VERY hard to get into. I want to say 30 students a year, out of all 10 schools.

[WANT '71 280SEL]

mbzkid, you said in a previous post that the school does not teach "english or anything useless like that." I would strongly urge you to read over your original post and tell me why it might be important for you to study English. Please do not perceive me as trying to be rude, but I believe your post speaks for itself. Writing, particularly rhetoric, is important no matter what occupation you are considering.

Thank You
David

[mbzkid]

Originally Posted by WANT '71 280SEL

mbzkid, you said in a previous post that the school does not teach "english or anything useless like that." I would strongly urge you to read over your original post and tell me why it might be important for you to study English. Please do not perceive me as trying to be rude, but I believe your post speaks for itself. Writing, particularly rhetoric, is important no matter what occupation you are considering.

Thank You
David

Oh, I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant, for this profession,
English is not really needed. Having an English or Biology class, would only distract and cause unneccesary stress. Now, if I wanted to become a professor, learning about automatic transmissions would be useless, wouldn't it?

When I spend 30k a year, I like to decide what I'm learning.

[Jorn]

My buddy made around $110K at the Mercedes dealer as a master mechanic, 30K is not a bad investment. Good luck.

[WANT '71 280SEL]

All I suggested is that you study other subjects other than mechanicals. You have numerous mis-spellings in your post and a composition class would be beneficial for you. Most anyone will tell you that an educated man knows more than one subject. How educated is a person who can rebuild an automatic transmission in 20 minutes? How about a person who can do that and quote Oscar Wilde? Colleges teach more than one subject for that very reason. I am not saying that you should not go to professional school, but learning about subjects that do not directly affect your life (in your short view) is certainly not useless. Would you not like to be able to carry an intellectual conversation with someone about some other topic other than the newest Mercedes-Benz body module scanner? An education is the best investment one can make.

Remember, I am not trying to convince you to change your life plans, just to be aware that English, Literature, Biology, and Chemistry are not useless.

My favorite quote: "knowledge is being aware of how little you actually know" Heed those words my dear friend.

Thanks
David

[cmac2012]

Learning to be a top-flight mechanic could be a spring-board to bigger and better things. And if you dedided to go to mech. engineering school in your late 20s, you'd have a great job to fall back on to pay for school.

Also, studies have shown that people who have done hands on techincal work have a leg up in engineering studies. It's like your hands learn stuff that your brain stores up.

I wasted a lot of time in my youth -- the old saying, "The wages of a mis-spent youth" haunt me a bit. I still can't weld, and that would be a nice skill to have under one's belt. I can solder like nobody's business though.

[mbzkid]

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Learning to be a top-flight mechanic could be a spring-board to bigger and better things. And if you dedided to go to mech. engineering school in your late 20s, you'd have a great job to fall back on to pay for school.


Also, studies have shown that people who have done hands on techincal work have a leg up in engineering studies. It's like your hands learn stuff that your brain stores up.

I wasted a lot of time in my youth -- the old saying, "The wages of a mis-spent youth" haunt me a bit. I still can't weld, and that would be a nice skill to have under one's belt. I can solder like nobody's business though.

That's what I was thinking. I can use the education and hands on experience to advance in the industry.

As for salary, I hear 30k-100k+ per year.

[waybomb]

My kid has been approached by UTI as well. Their sales pitch is very strong, so I am leary of what their value is over, say, Devry, Lincoln, or a local community college. UTI makes it sound as if the only way you can get into ELITE is to go to UTI. That simply can't be correct; why would MB lkimit themselves. UTI also stresses the 70k-100k and more pay. So my kid is all ready to buy that SLR.

What paths have other techs here taken to get their 100k per year jobs?

I am nmot attempting to sway my kid from being a tech or a service writer, but I don't want him taken to the cleaners as well.

[mbzkid]

Originally Posted by waybomb

My kid has been approached by UTI as well. Their sales pitch is very strong, so I am leary of what their value is over, say, Devry, Lincoln, or a local community college. UTI makes it sound as if the only way you can get into ELITE is to go to UTI. That simply can't be correct; why would MB lkimit themselves. UTI also stresses the 70k-100k and more pay. So my kid is all ready to buy that SLR.

What paths have other techs here taken to get their 100k per year jobs?

I am nmot attempting to sway my kid from being a tech or a service writer, but I don't want him taken to the cleaners as well.

Their marketing worries me a bit as well. UTI claims the euro car companies need technicians, and asked them to train students. I guess I can believe that, but when they tell me I'll be making 70-100k/yr, I feel I'm being lied to.

Alot of people who aren't in the industry, keep telling me how great the pay is, yet when I talk to someone who's a tech, they say "No tech is making 100k/yr."

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by Jorn

My buddy made around $110K at the Mercedes dealer as a master mechanic, 30K is not a bad investment. Good luck.

o god.. i must get into that

[WANT '71 280SEL]

I think they mean you CAN make that much money, most likely the people making $100k/year are probably service department managers or are high up in the dealership hierarchy. I would doubt the guy putting brake pads on an SL is making that much money.

Thanks
David