The guy on here going to school for this stuff,
Kirun
, are you going to school to program these cars or to work on them? and what is a modern mechanic other than a parts swapper? If it wasn't you I apologize, I @'d someone who got real butthurt about it.
Nope, it was me. Although I'm not entirely sure what I was supposedly "butthurt" about. Maybe that's just your interpretation?
I spent the last 17 years of my life working in and around the logistics industry. Everything from Inventory Control management to picking and packing when I was younger, freight control, domestic and international transportation (particularly during COVID), Operations Management, etc. The thing is, logistics was never a career I actually chose. I started young, around 23, unloading trailers and moving freight for UPS. I was competent, worked hard, and gradually worked my way up through various companies and positions.
The industry was "fine", but I was never particularly drawn to it and just kind of worked my way up out of necessity. Then COVID hit, and the industry essentially did a complete 180. People stopped showing up for work, on-time shipments became a fucking nightmare, inventory was perpetually out of whack, and dealing with line-haul drivers became increasingly difficult. Between language barriers (line-haul drivers are like 85% Pajeets or Eastern European now), communication issues, and an industry that was already stretched beyond its limits, everything became an uphill battle. It was a fucking nightmare.
Needless to say, the last five-plus years of that experience took a massive toll on me. My relationships with friends, family, and my wife all suffered. I became a bitter, grumpy asshole, and the industry was genuinely starting to consume my mental well-being. The worst part was that this wasn't even a career I had any particular interest in pursuing. I simply fell into it, developed my skill set out of necessity, and continued climbing the ladder because I needed to support myself and take care of my sick mother before she passed away. There was never some grand ambition to spend my life in logistics. I was just good at it, and it paid the bills. Eventually, I became incredibly resentful of the entire industry and wanted out. Completely.
Fortunately, I had managed to accumulate around $155,000 in savings, stocks, and other investments over the years. So I sat down with my wife and laid out a plan. I wanted to pursue a degree in Transportation Technologies (essentially Automotive Technology/Technician), spend at least a couple of years working in the field as a good old-fashioned "wrench turner", and then potentially transition into Automotive Engineering if I found that I didn't particularly enjoy the hands-on side of things.
There were a couple of reasons for that. First, I wanted actual experience working on the things I might eventually be designing. One of my biggest criticisms of modern automotive engineering is that the people designing these vehicles often have very little practical experience maintaining or repairing them. It's one thing to design something that works on paper; it's another to design something that a technician can reasonably diagnose, access, and repair without wanting to put their head through a fucking wall.
Second, I know myself. I'm an incredibly curious person, and once I've mastered something, I tend to get restless and start looking for the next challenge. Engineering would potentially give me that opportunity down the road. But there's also a very real possibility that I'll absolutely love the hands-on work and never feel the need to transition. You can make excellent money as a Master Technician, and there's nothing wrong with spending the rest of my working life doing something I genuinely enjoy.
I also spent a considerable amount of time researching different career paths, specifically looking for something that was relatively resistant to automation and AI while still being something I could genuinely envision myself doing for the next 20 years or so. Ultimately, I wanted a career that I had deliberately chosen, rather than one I had simply stumbled into and spent the better part of two decades pursuing out of necessity. So, I decided to go to technical school last year and "start over" at 41 - we'll see how it goes, but so far I fucking love it and wish I had done it 15 years ago (but likely wouldn't have been as successful at the schooling part, nor was I financially ready/wise enough yet).
Now, as for your comment about what constitutes a "modern mechanic" versus a "parts swapper," I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at. Maybe you should ask some of the instructors who have been working in this industry for 40-plus years. Virtually every one of them will tell you that vehicles were
considerably easier to work on back in "their day". And that's not necessarily because older vehicles were inherently better; it's because modern vehicles have exponentially more systems, sensors, electronics, modules, and potential points of failure. The technical knowledge required to properly diagnose and repair them has increased substantially. This whole boomer mentality of "it was older, therefore it was better" gets pretty fucking tiresome.
Do we replace components rather than repair individual internal parts? Of course we do. But there's a distinction between being a parts swapper and understanding when component replacement is the most logical, economical, and efficient repair.
For example, why the fuck would I spend an hour disassembling a starter to diagnose and repair an individual solenoid, only to save myself $30, when I can replace the entire starter for $60? Especially when my labor, time, and the customer's time are worth considerably more than the difference? That's not a lack of mechanical knowledge. That's understanding economics, efficiency, and the practical realities of automotive repair. Knowing how something works, knowing how to diagnose what's wrong with it, and knowing when it makes more sense to replace an assembly rather than rebuild an individual component are all part of being a competent technician. They're not mutually exclusive skills.
