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Originally Posted by DryPowder
If your going the diesel route, go with a factory sponsored school IMO. I think that's the best value going if you are paying for school. Deere has a tech program and Cat has Think Big. They are community College based and a lot of dealers will pay around 5K a year toward your student loans when you go to work.

Learning a brands parts and information system is a pretty big deal that probably takes a year to be good at. Dealer specific paperwork is another thing you learn at a sponsored school. If you know these things you are worth more on day one vs someone coming from a genetic school IMO. Butler Cat was starting new techs around $24.00 an hour out of school.

Most of the major brands have something like this


DEERE TECH PROGRAM

CATERPILLAR THINK BIG

Or, you could go in the Air Force as a generator technician grin


Gen tech ain't no joke. I ran a ground support shop for an airline. Most techs do not know GPU's. I hired an air force guy who worked on them in the service. Best damn money spent. Although, as a Marine the military jokes were constant

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Thaddeus Stevens Trade School, Lancaster Pennsylvania


Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want!
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Originally Posted by Teal
Originally Posted by mathman
Originally Posted by Hotrod_Lincoln
After spending 30+ years teaching auto mechanics at the state trade school and high school level, I have some definite opinions about trade education. A lot of the state programs are "last chance education"- - - - -trying to give people some entry level trade skills before they have to go on some sort of welfare program for the rest of their lives. High school- - - -"trade and industrial education"- - - -now known as "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing) is where the counselors used to shove the special ed kids and others who couldn't handle the "college prep" curriculum. Most of those "counselors" would starve to death if they ever had to leave public education. They have NO skills that qualify them to make a living other than sucking up public dollars.

I don't think that's right about STEM.

STEM is where the brightest kids went for my kid's school. It's where future engineers and math kids (prob all quants at IB firms now) focused.

.
Here in N.C. also.
And I believe STEM = Science, Engineering, Technology, and MATH.

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If a person wants to be a welder, enlisting in the Navy and going through their welding program would be a great way to learn a trade. Their welding school ain't no joke!
Follow that up with dive school and you would have endless job possibilities.

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Originally Posted by Ramblin_Razorback
Several years ago there was a glut of diesel mechanic program graduates with poor job opportunities and a ton of debt from their for-profit schools. My impression was it was a similar situation for auto mechanics. Not sure what the current state of affairs is, but 20 years or so ago it sounded like a bad situation.

I'm guessing like a lot of things choosing a trade should take into account a person's attributes and interests, with some trades a better match for an individual than others.

For example, I'm not sure a person allergic to numbers with no attention to detail would be a good match for the machinist trade. Lots of things that might not be as obvious as someone with a fear of heights not being a good match for a job replacing light bulbs on top of towers.

Got a buddy who hired out as a mechanic in a dealership. He has a real knack for Cummins diesels.
Dodge dealerships would send him to schools.
Super nice guy and an absolute genius when dealing Cummins motors.
1) when working on his own, DO NOT be in a hurry! Took him forever. He wasn't slow, just easily distracted.
2) he was a "wheeler-dealer"! Made boatloads of money, but never had 2 dimes to rub together

Last time I heard from him, he was teaching at a local trade school. That was a couple of years ago.

Learn to bid electrical jobs and you can do very well.
To be any kind of contractor, you gotta have and keep your wits about you!
Druggies, alcoholics and spendthrifts need not apply.

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Originally Posted by shootsacreed
Thaddeus Stevens Trade School, Lancaster Pennsylvania


Mom was certain I was going there.
At that time, you pretty much had to have been at least a half orphan.
I was.

Without telling me, she scheduled an interview and enrollment
thing. Loaded me up one morning and drove me there, not telling me
what it was about untill we got there. Then, the big pressure BS.

Got accepted.

Not a chance in Hell it was going to happen after the crap she pulled though. Good intentions, rotten execution.


Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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Regardless of what one wishes to be when they grow up, any trade skill picked up will benefit one in the future. I am now in the composites trade , learning OTJ and basically training myself . The composites industry is so huge, I had no idea! I am not a youngster anymore, but I have outworked all the kids and some knucklehead veterans (milking the system). Hard to find good help these days, but it is cool to still get excited about learning a new skill at my age!

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10 years ago.........before our wad of a gubner effectively killed the gas and oil patch........an 18 year old kid that came outta the vo-tech at high school could graduate into a FINE living wage welding pipeline. That was then...........

My kid came out of his vo-tech welding program as one of the top 3 welders to go through the school in its 45 year history. He tossed the welder and went to SLTC (Southeast Lineman Training School) in northern Georgia. Did a 15 week program and came home to a job. Now.........one month before he turns 25........he's an Apprentice 4 union lineman and will make journeyman sometime between now and March. He got married last month and moved into a newly constructed 2500 sq, ft home. Drives a GMC Denali 3500 crew Duramax. So he's doin' alright on his 15 week investment.


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If i was going into a trade, it would be more modern and go after a 5 Axis CNC programmer. Couple that with training as an operator if you want (doesn’t take much to align a part and push a button though).

I went to Carver Career and Technical Education Center in High School, 2 years worth, 1080 hours. Electricity was the field of study. Ended up going to WV Tech and graduating as an EE. It’s been a good ride the last 36 years.

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Perry Technical Institute in Yakina Washington has a very good 2 year instrumentaion technician program that is very well respected by industries all over the world.
Beginning salaries of graduates probably average $60-70k per year and can easily rise to over $100k with 5 or so years experience.


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Union trade schools are the best if one can get in, did a 5 year apprenticeship

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I retired from the electric & gas utility business 3 years ago and our company was hiring apprentice linemen from the local tech school. I heard there's also an 18 week school in Georgia for linemen. They get their foot in the door in the utility business and within a few years they're earning over $200K per year with overtime.


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The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too


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Tulsa Welding School. Several locations, Tulsa, Houston, and Jacksonville.

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Originally Posted by CMB76
One critically overlooked trade is the machining/manufacturing trade. Students that come from fresh trade schools for manufacturing can't even do the simplest tasks that are asked of them. I place the blame on the schools. the curriculum must be just to broad and they only get a brief exposure to machining specifically.
It boils down to pay.
Pure and simple.
Get some young guy can't indicate a Bridgeport vice straight or square up a block of steel....
It's because you're getting exactly what you pay for in machine shop instructor....


dave


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Originally Posted by Triggernosis
If a person wants to be a welder, enlisting in the Navy and going through their welding program would be a great way to learn a trade. Their welding school ain't no joke!
Follow that up with dive school and you would have endless job possibilities.

We had guys who did that, and couldn't weld for schitt. I have no idea what the Navy teaches their welders, but every Navy welder I've ever come into contact with has been a terrible welder. Also, it seems like the military hires contractors to do all of the serious work, and not small and fast repairs. I've worked at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and at NSF Dahlgren, and all of the welders and machinists were civilians. I want to add that I am not King of the Welders by any stretch of the imagination, but I have been around long enough to know what a good welder (weldor) looks like. Most of the Union welders I've met could weld a diiiikc to a snowman. I have absolutely no idea what a Union welding program looks like, but it must be pretty great because those dudes are no joke. And their pay is no joke too.

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Again
You get what you pay for.
Assclown wages.
Give assclown results.

dave


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My #1 grandson went through TSTC in Waco for welding. It's what he always wanted to do and he's good at it. He worked in Pecos/Midland oil and gas pipeline work for 6 months before biden destroyed the industry. He's doing good doing fabrication welding. Works for a RR support outfit and still making good money. One of my son's former students went through TSTC diesel mechanic school and put in his own shop. Making big money now.
It's what you make of it. All any school can do is give you a starting point and enough knowledge to get you started. It's up to you to grow your education.
My BIL who sadly is dead now was in the Navy for eight years during Korea. He was a Machinist/Millwright. He quit the Navy because they changed and were too much spit and polish. The guy was phenomenal. He could take apart any motor and fix it, put it back together better than it was. He was a great machinist. He took with him a mountain of knowledge.

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Originally Posted by dave7mm
Again
You get what you pay for.
Assclown wages.
Give assclown results.

dave

Cheap labor ain't skilled.

Skilled labor ain't cheap.


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Originally Posted by rainshot
It's what you make of it. All any school can do is give you a starting point and enough knowledge to get you started. It's up to you to grow your education.

So true. Even the best schools can't make a kid show up or apply themselves. You get out of it what you put in. A work ethic, attention to detail and the desire to succeed can't be taught if the kid doesn't really want to buy in. Many think they work hard and want it, but in reality they are just going through the motions.

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