I’m 37 been in the trade for 7 years in dealerships of 3 different makes, Maserati/Alfa, CDJRF and Volvo. same dealership tech exploiting bullshit at all 3. Corporate chains, franchise chains and one salary position (no benefits) in commercial fleet maintenance shop. I hate it. Long hours, working days off, stress of flag, moving toolboxes between jobs, extraordinary tool costs. I like electronic controls and computerization diag and generally the technical aspects of the work itself but the environment and employers and never ending financial catch-up game are sucking the life out of me. Nor do I want to be a self-employed mobile mechanic as working on broke peoples shitboxes in their driveways sucks even more.
What are the other options?
Have you ever thought about working in publicly transit? I know a lot of people who used to work at dealerships and now in public transit. The pay is great and benefits even better. Guaranteed 40 hours a week pay every week. At most I work only 3-4 hours a day.
I worked in fleet garage when I was in federal prison and lost my fkin mind bc they didn’t do shit. Days were so long, When they finally let me do shit, fixed everything they’d had for ages in like a day n then there wasn’t shit else to do. Was only serving 6 month sentence and not required to have a job so they let me quit after 4 days. Thought it would pass time but… nope.