 What's happening guys thanks for stopping back by here for another episode with the rust belt mechanic today We've got something that is really awesome, and it's something that you guys have all been asking for here in the most recent months It's the fact of how short we are on technicians and how you guys can get started in the automotive field becoming a technician So stay tuned. We've got a great panel here, and we're gonna get into answering the questions that everybody has Getting into the video. We're gonna give a little bit of Pretext to everything that we're gonna give the viewpoints based on kind of what we're dealing with here in the dealership community Yes, there are a little bit of differences when it comes to getting into the field at like a mom-and-pop shop The independent dealers that kind of stuff, but here in the Chrysler program, you know, we're here working at a dealership So we're gonna show you guys the ins and outs of what we have gone through in that time Like I said, we got Brandon here who is a first-year cap student So he is fresh green right in the cap program And then we have Captain Ron over there that we've been seeing a couple of times here He is a second-year student. It's about to graduate here pretty soon to my left here We've got Mr. Tom Freels who is the Chrysler cap coordinator at Sinclair Community College Yes, I'll let you go into more detail on what you are and where you've been I'm the coordinator for the Mopar cap program. That is a two-year associate degree program to train technicians up through level two across our skill category There are roughly 30 cap schools in the country Our cap school in Dayton, Ohio services basically all of Ohio and Indiana Southern Michigan Northern Kentucky That's basically technically my area. We will be sure to put a couple of links down in the description below for The cap program and everything through Sinclair Community College is located in Dayton, Ohio so usually the first thing that people have to ask when it comes to Thinking about getting into the field is how much money am I going to make? How much it'll cost everything along those lines? So the first question I would have for Mr. Freels here is the cost of the program What is it going to cost you to get started in it? So cost is a lot depends a lot on the region. So I'll just use ours example, of course, but Most the most cap schools are located in a state funded school So it's a public school and that's a good thing because that means it's subsidized by taxes so our school if you're if you live in County your tuition fees and Incidentals and things get you about six to eight thousand dollars for the entire two years, which is very good Yeah Then it goes by out of County since out the in County people have more levy support for taxes and the out of County is still a state Supported but it's less so with the bumps up a little bit. It's more like I would say 12 Without the numbers for right in front of me and the variables there with tools and books and stuff when I was in it That's about what it cost me it cost me about $12,500 to be able to go through the entire program for two years and then out of state would be about 18 I think is about what that comes in at and You know again, it's the little variables that come in there are going to be Whether or not you need housing or not and that's a whole nother discussion, but most of most people they're out of state Obviously they're gonna unless they're right inside the border of Kentucky or Indiana and they want to make that commute They could I have people to do it before What I'm experiencing now is you got Students that are all from a close to Dayton and it starts to get a little saturated So if I have like right now two students in the same dealership It starts to get harder if these guys are successful as they intend to be and I know they'll be Then it's gets hard to keep putting a new person in every year Whereas a bigger dealer in a bigger market might just say give me one every year and I you know if it works out It doesn't if it doesn't I keep the flow going that's easier to do in a bigger market Cincinnati market Columbus market So I need people from farther away and that way the housing thing really helps out so So it's not just for the the students who are right here in the immediate vicinity Like you said, they're you know ten or so schools nationwide who who do things like this in a 30 Schools nationwide that do things like this that are in this You know local range to you, but you can not be local to the school and still be able to go through that One of the next biggest things that we get questioned about for the cost of everything is going to be the cost of tools Here in the US. I know it's different in the UK and Canada a lot of dealerships there supply a lot of tools, but here in the US 90 to 95% of the time the dealerships require the technicians to own their own tools Yes, we do have certain specialty tools that the dealership gives and provides But you do need to buy your own tools Some of the cost is able to be offset here and there mostly by tool grants are available here and there as well as different Different subsidies and grants that you might have through graduating from different high school programs as well Financial aid financial aid as well. Yep, and then also the tool programs that a lot of these Schools offer through the different manufacturers are topped off and much better even than that Macco Mac and snap on usually offer their students a 50 to 60% discount on Tools which makes it easier and is actually even cheaper than what most dealers and truck drivers can buy these tools for So the cost at which you get these high quality tools are insanely cheap and they're deals that can't pass up on Now you can still go out and you know spend your money on a lot of the cheaper tools and things that Barbara Fritz Here's what not I'm not going to knock them But you can you know be cost-effective in what you do now under my experience when I first started out I spent right around $4,000 to $5,000 on my initial tool setup, and I think that's a good round number At least in this area to get you guys started on being able to start off on a good toolbox What do you guys see in the spending? How much did you spend in your original tools? I think on my original toolbox. I got a toolbox and just a basic set of tools that I would need I think it was about $4,000 $4,500 that I spent on toolbox and tools It's out-of-pocket, but you know That's one of those initial investments that is going to make you a lot of money Ron about what do you think you spent on those if I remember correctly my initial order from Snap-on when I ordered all my tools and my box was just over $6,000 Is this both at the discount through the school? Yeah, yeah Yeah, I got about you know if you were looking at If you're looking at full price on snap-on, I probably spent $12,000 in tools and tools and storage When in reality, I only spent six easily so so you're getting a good bang for your buck in that area So you're spending you know, but depending on what area you live in compared to the school You're looking at spending anywhere from 10 to you know $18,000 on tuition and then you're also looking at the cost of another four to $6,000 in initial tool costs Yes, you will have more tool costs later in the future as you become a you know Better technician and everything you'll need more tools better tools bigger toolbox And you'll get that something shiny syndrome and just want more tools in general like most of us So that's where you're looking at in your cost You set off by grants some of the grants you can get a lot of the times Usually schools will offer usually a thousand dollar tool grants some of the times for their incoming students if you're able to get one of those So it's offset by that So when you're looking at cost, that's about what you're looking at for a program that is generally Done by this now the biggest thing that you could have is to offset this is when you are able to go into a dealership and Become a technician here and go in for the program Sometimes the dealership will pay for your tuition So offset that even more if a dealer is able to pay for your tuition You're just out the cost of your tools. How often do you see that the ball is basically in the student's court? to as far as tuition tools However angle they want to do it because this whole theme is need for technicians The need for technicians you need them and you need to keep them. So in the past there I've had students do Agreements or contracts or how do you want to call it about the dealer paying half the tuition or reimbursing for tuition after graduation? I've thrown around some other ideas about You know pay for their tools and if they stay the tools stay and they stay if they leave the tools stay You know if they leave the dealership so that way there's basically an asset that doesn't just go away like a piece of paper when somebody leaves a contract sitting there, so It's it was actually more common years ago that almost every cap student had a Contract and that was a 50-50 contract 50 50 percent tuition that kind of went away in the dark days of 2008 slash 2009 when a couple companies wound up going bankrupt and we won't talk about that anymore, but when that all you know Cleaned up and things got better and the economy improved and car sales went through the roof and everything It's starting to be and especially the need for technicians and the need to keep them like I said It's starting to get more more popular I actually have a dealer group that's actually gonna it's not so much a contract as much as if you stay with the dealer They basically reimburse you for continuing education, which means that if you're in the CAF program, that's education so They're basically paying for you to go to school not up front, which is probably smart But you know you got to have you got to have a skin in the game on each side That's that's about what we do with the dealership here. These two we have signed on the contracts I won't go into too much detail But it's based on they have a contract at the setting that they will go to school and After they get done with school, they'll work at the dealership, which okay now I've got a contract where I've got a guaranteed Job in the market for two more years. All right, most people just sign on at that one But then our dealer will also give them a tool stipend for a certain amount to pay for that initial set of tools as well Or they'll pay for part or half of their tuition Which is another great thing for for these guys as well It keeps them, you know in the green somewhat on some of their initial costs helps offset that as well Let's give them a guaranteed future at a dealership and in working towards that one now It's something they've they've worked really hard for and The they'll continue to work hard for but this gives them an opportunity to work more after the fact as well Their contracts are also going to be depending on how much they might make afterwards After they graduate there are still more certifications to get whether it be level two and three Certifications a se certifications the more certification you guys can get the better you are off That gives you more bargaining power at the table when it comes to your dealer or if your dealer wasn't as great You're able to bargain for more money in that aspect as well so it's something where you need to be your own advocate and you need to Want to do this training and certification go out there and find a dealership who's going to want to pay for you and Those are happening. You know occurring more and more lately. So the shortage that we have in technicians is absolutely Huge right now. I know you have a couple of statistics on that. Don't you? Yeah, so we throw that that terminology around of a shortage of tax and things like that and I Wanted to make sure I had real numbers. So the bureau labor statistics sounds official enough so So the number of graduates of auto tech programs Basically, this is gets goes back away. So 2016 will be the the the latest numbers. They got for data-wise. So there were 38 Let's just say 38,000 graduates from auto tech programs. That's any kind of program in the country That's not just capped that would be any automotive school for-profit non-profit manufacturer non-manufacturer The industry needed 75,000 new tax. So we're not graduating Half the people barely over half the people that you need to cover the need of new tax now That's tax in every category from Retail stores to mom-and-pop stores to dealerships to Government to whatever so you got every aspect as a whole. So basically there's those are real numbers now on the Chrysler side I was hoping to find that in print, but I didn't because that's been meetings and things I've been into over the years they said within a couple years This was probably to say 2016 to keep it consistent They told us at a national conference that they need 5,000 technicians by I'd say 2020 so The cap program isn't alone can't graduate 5,000 students in that amount of time So there's the need the needs there. It's documented the government document the manufacturers documented So I just like to make sure I got real numbers before I just thought some things off I did find a couple of numbers here and there here in our region our Training centers they certify and they help to train all these technicians So the technicians that they are training in this area is usually from the Pittsburgh area all the way over to Indianapolis from Toledo down through northern Kentucky area. So in this General area we average that there's about a hundred dealerships and just for round numbers sake We'll say that on average there are 10 Technicians who are Chrysler based in each one of these dealerships. So you're serving servicing right around a thousand Technicians who are in the field wanting to be certified out of those thousand technicians There are only 30 fully master certified technicians for Chrysler based in That entire area 30 out of a thousand. So to put that in perspective That's absolutely crazy and you guys could be part of what you know fills that void There are only 55 To level certified master technicians and now we can get into the different specifics of what a certified master technician is But you know in Chrysler's standings They are certified to do all the Chrysler things. They are also ASC certified as well in those respective areas. So In three levels and two levels of certification through Chrysler There are only 85 of those guys or girls in that respective area So when we talk about a shortage of technicians and good technicians at that the need for them is Absolutely in sign The biggest thing that you guys are going to need to find out is what kind of a technician you want to be Do you want to be one of those other? You know 850 to 900 technicians who aren't on that certified technician list You could do that you could get by escape by with you know what you can do You could be working on suspension stuff here and there But if you're if your one is greater the field is there and it's starving for technicians like that Now the the technicians that we have here with us They've been doing this thing for a couple of months. So What is your perspective on What you think about the dealership and working at the dealership and going to school at the same time? So the difference I see between the school and the dealership is this So for people who come into come into wanting to be a mechanic who are not very savvy in the field of being a mechanic Which to be honest was me I came in knowing really basic stuff about vehicles Didn't know a whole lot and I've actually learned quite a bit from the school itself You learn all the technical sides of things on how to you know, properly do things properly try to diagnose things Um and go through the steps of what's you know in the curriculum of learning from the school um, but the big difference is is that Being in the dealership and being at school are two are two totally different environments Um, I feel like there's a lot of times that I learn stuff from school But there's times that when I'm here at the dealership I get a lot more and a lot better experience and learning experience from working on live cars with You know season techs who who know what they're doing like Kyle and The other technicians that are here that For some people may not be the way they the way they learn but for me personally having that Sit down and go through the steps of how to do something and having someone explain as you're doing it Why you're doing it this way? Makes working on a live vehicle a whole different learning experience than Sitting in the classroom and taking apart, you know an axle that's been taken apart 50 million times Um, yeah, you learn the ins and outs of it, but until you get out into the real world You actually see these You know imperfections or these problems that show up um It's hard to translate between You know point a and point b. So that's one of the big things about I agree with that one I think one of the biggest things that this kind of a program offers is training not only in a school, but the on the in On hand, you know kind of training And I know that some of you aren't going to have you know the best of times there There aren't always the best master technicians to follow around every, you know chance that you get You may you know get that one one guy that really doesn't really care that much about Working, but there also might be that dealership that doesn't really care about you that much as well Sticking you in and will change bay. Have you pushed a broom all day long? that's where again, you need to be your own advocate for things and know your value in this market is A lot greater than those guys can put forward so you make your goals And you stick to them and this kind of a program generally will take care of What you need and how you want to move forward in your career that being said Since you brought that up Remember that when you start you did just start and this is this is a hot topic of the day with a couple students right now but Like ron if you started and basically was what we would call green and he admits that and I like that and I appreciate that And you can't expect that you're going to do the most awesomest things in the first couple weeks of working somewhere um basically your uh Your punctuality and what they can rely on you for is probably the most important when you start out of just like any job so I I get feedback from some students some of the better students and some of the not so Good students, but oh i'm changing oil. I'm like, okay. Well If you just started at any job I have no way to gauge where your skill level is at until they put you in something that is consistent To see if that's what you can handle So I basically kind of say then you better be the best damn oil changing guy they've ever seen And basically you get out of that job by being so darn good at it that you have to but they have to They're conveyed to give you something else to do if that's the best political correct way to say And and what I mean by that is this is a process and this is a training program So the best thing that I heard out of ron, which I agree with is You are and I want you to learn more in the dealership than you do with me or my colleagues And that's intentional because we only have you for so long and we're trying to convey so much information And yes, we're the book side of it to the most part most of us like myself have plenty of Time in the in the shop and swinging wrenches But we're following the curriculum. We're following asc standards We're following standards of the state because we're basically awarding you a degree if you complete So we have to follow a lot of things, but there is no substitute or replacement For on the job learning and that's the best part of this program or any of the ones like it I just like for people to understand when they get started that is you are starting out in a career This is not just what you're doing for the next couple months And I think some of them can't see past the door On worrying about only doing this and only doing that the intention of the program And when it works correctly like it's working here because there's three people sitting here that either graduated or going to Is yeah, did you change all of when you started? Two years straight you change well you take out trash when you started Yeah for about eight months when you turn down an old change when it's the middle of winter and nothing's going on Still don't damn right you won't They're not seeing the big picture. Okay, so Everybody wants to jump in and start putting super chargers on hellcats and that's just not day-to-day work Okay, hopefully so I'll be cool stick to the stick to the plan and the goal That was another big thing is some some guys that are starting I could see they don't really have a goal past What's going on for the weekend if they didn't even thought that far so um The need is big we've talked about that But when you start out, it's a big picture You're not starting out to make all kinds of millions of dollars while you're a student You're still a student Soak it up learn it because flat rates for real and it will make or break you so you got to get so prepared so Little so box Hey, that works all the same and and once you get to that point of you know, you actually made it You can you can get there Um, like I said, some of the biggest questions that people ask is how much money are you going to make and doing it? And I know that will greatly differ from the regions that you live And I know you guys out in california you're going to make a lot ton more money than us out here in the sticks of Ohio but The need is great and if you're your own advocate and you can fight for what you Are trained to do and you're the best at what you can do you can make good money at it So i'm going to put a couple of numbers out there just uh for reference on about what you guys could make around here Um, usually guys when they start out in the program Just making your hourly rate. They work hourly right around 12 an hour You can expect that, you know, generally just about everywhere middle of america here The more certifications you get the further you get in the program They might bunch be bump you up give you a little bit of a raise once you graduate That's your big step. You're going to be going to flat rate whether you're ready for it or not It's usually how the thing works and i'll do another video later on flat rate work and what that means and how that works But you're going to be going flat rate and usually they'll bump you out Uh, usually to about 14 15 bucks an hour Now after that point you're going to be getting more certifications Um, you're going to start doing ase testing you can start being a little bit higher on in there And i think a good round number for for a technician who is fairly well certified is going to be in the 18 To 20 dollars an hour range right around there if you get all your certifications now once you start getting some Um years under your belt you get all your certifications You start getting a couple of master certifications Then you're going to start getting up into the 22 to 25 dollars an hour range and then once that more of you know that certification You've gotten there then it's all about experience If you can turn the wrenches and you can make money for the dealership and they see that you can make that money That's where you can make your own golden road for yourself As long as you continue to move forward continue to get training literally every year of your life You might as well expect that one You can move up in the world and this is the field in which you can do it You can write your own ticket. So just think about that and whatever you can do for yourself Is how far that you can really move on I guess uh, I'm going to go across the table here and Give one bit of advice for the viewers on what you think if you saw somebody who was going to go into this program What would you advise them? So my big advice is um Go in with the mentality of I want to go in and do this and learn Don't go in and be that goof-off person in class That's all your friends Yeah, yeah, don't Don't follow your friends in because that's what they're doing if it's something that you want to do do it But if you're going to go in go in knowing that you're going to have people that are going to be more than likely in at any point of their walk of life anywhere between 18 at right out of school to I think in my class. I've got a couple people who are in their 40s um older than me and We're there to learn and get our education and there are several times that I personally have had to get on people because they're goofing off in class and Making it hard for me to be able to actually learn what I need to learn Um, they may come from an automotive background. I don't I need to be there and I need to learn these things So if you're going to go to school and this is what you want to do for a career Be there to be serious about it. Don't be there just to goof off and do whatever you want to do Which are the ones that usually don't last past the first couple semesters This is good. Yeah, it all works out. Yeah. Yes Brandon whether Whether you Know you know cars. Maybe that's been your background before you got into the automotive program or you don't Show what you know, I guess you would say prove yourself um Have a humble mentality. Yeah Whether you know it or not you go in there you learn and You can prove yourself at the dealership that will again Maybe help out your pay help out Who you know there at the dealership make friends while you're at school you While you're learning not kind of like Ron was saying don't goof off don't Follow. I mean yeah make friends there. Um, but if they're going down the wrong path Don't Follow them Make your own path make your own goal Set your own goal um And just follow it Very good. Pay attention. Hey, yeah attention in class Tom My bars sign up Sign up Where's the pen? No, I mean this is the question was basically somebody that's starting in in like my program In general or We're just going into the field into a program like this or wanting to start into it. Yeah Basically, if you're in be all in um But the other side of it is Don't fall for the how big a toolbox can I buy in my first year? You know, maybe get some experience and uh income under your belt before that goes on So what we're saying is that that bond is not the only what we're saying What we're saying is that when you start you're not going to end up with what he's got Let's just put it that way 10 years in made me It is a training program and sometimes sometimes I feel like some of these guys get Uh impatient about wanting to be the top dog when they don't even understand what it takes to be the top dog and they haven't put their They haven't even put their uh their own work into it yet and uh It's you know and back to the question of what kind of money you're going to make That's a really hard one to pin down obviously regionally, but it's not just regionally It's your own skill set because there I have graduates That I just talked to a couple in the last couple weeks because I was doing my normal dealer visits around the area to the students like Brandon that are in on their intern right now And graduates from four and five years ago, right? So now this isn't brand new out of school This has been in not only been in the training program I'm not sure what level they are without looking them up But they're flat rate tax turning hours and they can basically dictate what kind of money they need to stay there So I'll just give you generally the gist is I talked to one that was going to leave where they're at to go to another dealer And when they were going to go to another dealer the dealer said, uh, how about this much to stay? so that's basically what's going on because They can't afford to lose somebody that it has the training and is turning hours to start all over To get somebody to fill that spot you figure this out after a while. I don't just mean yeah, I know cars you see similar patterns You I used to have fun with we'd look at tickets and guess what it was before we even went and pulled the car in because We saw what model it was and we saw what the customer complaint was and you could you could throw dollars down and go I bet it's this Just by the complaint and that's cool because that's that's proficiency and that's That's how you can start turning some hours and experience. I can't teach you experience He can't teach you to you. That's why it's called experience. So you bring um anyway, I've got guys Honestly, the last one I talked to that blew my eyes out of my eye sockets. He's getting 30 bucks an hour flat rate Wow to stay where he's at Not saying who it is not saying what dealers there's a hundred dealer to take a pic But the point is big money can be made but not it's not a given This isn't a oh, I signed up to work at the plant in a few years. I'm going to make that kind of money. No training experience Showing up doing it You got to be all in you got to love this stuff to do it or it wouldn't be here I think I think if I were to give a bit of information or a bit of advice That's what I would build on When I first started into it, I'm one of those all in or nothing kind of guys And unless you can say a hundred percent that you are going to be all in And you're going to be the best in your field Then what's the point to it? Why would you want to get into something that's going to be a career or something that you want to make Your everyday, you know living for Why would you want to go into something unless you were going to be the best at it? Me under my personal beliefs If I'm not going to be the best at something then there's no point of actually getting into it So you got to be persistent. You got to do the training. You have to be a self-advocate for yourself You have to be the that guy that says yes, I'm going to be the best at what I do And I'm going to go do all the training. I'm going to be humble and I'm going to Listen to that other certified master technician who has 30 years under his belt Because he might know a couple of things. I'm not going to be that cocky guy in the corner of this You know, that's for you know, reading the books is for pussies. No, that's not what it's about You're here to learn and if you stop learning in this field Then you just wrote your ticket out of business. You're obsolete. You're obsolete. You're ready to You're done. There's not many carburetors to rebuild right now Exactly. There's no distributors at the time right now Moving forward in in the in the car industry things are going to change There's going to be huge changes in the industry in the next five years guaranteed It's going to turn itself upside down and you better be ready for what's coming It's going to change and you're going to have to change with the times So my advice would be to be your own advocate keep learning and be the best in your field for what you can do That's about all we've got for this one I know we could sit here and talk for another hour or so But we might do another couple of uh, little live stream interviews here and there So if you guys have any other questions for any of us, you know You've seen the different perspectives from being a new guy in the field to somebody who's Been through training for 10 years to the actual guy who's doing the training for them If you guys have any questions feel free to drop those down in the comments down below And we will get back to you and answer those maybe in a future video Thank you again. I really appreciate all the help and support that you guys give for the channel If it wasn't for you guys, we wouldn't be able to do awesome and cool stuff like that As always guys, thank you and you guys stay awesome