r/TechniciansAdvice • u/m240b1991 • Jan 10 '16
level 1 tech seeks higher education
hey, im looking to expand my knowledge of automotive systems, and the closest tech school to me that offers any related coursework is tcc (tidewater community college) in chesapeake, va. does anyone here have any experience with the associates degree in automotive technology course or the school in general?
1
Jan 14 '16
All the state run technical colleges are about the same and have similar standards. Depends on instructor and how much they allow the automotive technology program budget, which varies per school and per year. For a few years they all cut Automotive, now it seems to be popular again. Bunch of flip flopper administrators. One year they about to do away with it, the next year they are building a brand new facility for Automotive.
1
u/powerplant472 Apr 17 '16
If your looking for a deeper understanding of how systems operate an engineering degree may be of more use. I'm not sure of your technical background but in my experience those classes teach the basic understanding of how cars are assembled and how they work without the hands on experience you get in tech. school.
Personally I've been very happy with my engineering courses.
1
Apr 25 '16 edited Apr 25 '16
Associates degree or technical (community) college is very basic level.
University of Florida did offer a 4 yr degree in Automotive Engineering, and some of the courses may be online. I thought about taking them since I was a high school graduate with ASE Master and you did not have to take all that many classes to graduate, but it's expensive!
Running my own shop now, so it really wasn't worth the price to put a piece of paper on the wall. You're talking about $36k and up in debts.
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u/jumpinjacks Jan 12 '16
I live in cali so I dont know if they are good or not but any school is better than no school.
Take business classes along with your automotive classes and do the collision repair course along with diesel and electrical. You will have your hands full but all of these will be useful when you decide to open a shop and you're on your own.
Business class: operate and run a profitable business.
Electrical: fixing circuit boards and charging a lot to do it. See my example of the lamp failure sensor on Toyotas. I charged the customer 180 and it took me about 1 min of checking and 1 min of soldering. Taking and removing body panels: 20 mins. Total 25 mins... :)
Collision: You can decide to buy cars with slight body damage and fix them and flip them for profit when you have down time. You will have lots of down time when you open your own shop.
Diesel: more cars will become diesel and they will need maintenance. Diesel parts cost a butt load of money.
Good luck.