Motorcycle Mechanics Institute
#2
08-28-2014, 10:20 PM
Ultimate HDF Member
#3
08-28-2014, 10:39 PM
Road Master
#4
08-28-2014, 10:53 PM
Tourer
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Timbuktu
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Like with any tech school grad, they fall victim to student loans and stealership flat rape. They have a 6 month life span before they quit and go back to school for something else, or get another job making pizzas for 2x the money...
The industry is rapidly changing, but the pay and bennies get worse. Stealerships pay their techs (of 30+ years experience) no more than $25/Flat rate hour (techs were making that in the mid 1990's. 20 years later and the pay has stagnated and is rapidly declining).. And you will only average 5 hours a day.
The trend is, even with motorcycles; they are increasing maintenance intervals or eliminating maintenance requirements on certain things all together.. This is so the "cost of ownership" is down for the owner of the vehicle. This translates into less money for the mechanic.
Building engines, transmissions and all the other "enjoyable" work, pays the worst especially under warranty. To make a living you'll need to sell accessories, tires, brakes etc. To make the money. But, hopefully you don't deal with stealership politics, because if you do, then your pay will really suffer. I can write a whole book on this problem..
To aspiring youth with mechanical aptitude: DO NOT go to chain Tech Schools and DO NOT become a flat rate mechanic. You'll be sorry.
There is good money working with your hands. And it's for government fleet garages. It won't be on bikes, cars or trucks in stealerships and independent shops. Save your passion for bikes as that. A passion. Make it a career, and you'll hate it.
All the MMI, UTI, Lincoln tech, Wyotech schools are, are Puppy Mills that supply victims to stealerships. Stealer principals sit on the boards of these schools and "sponsor" them to have first crack at cheap grads. This pimping happens at all these schools. I've lost count on how many kids I've seen graduate, show up at the stealership, starve out and quit. Explains all the nice shiny Snapon tool boxes on Craiglist.
The industry is rapidly changing, but the pay and bennies get worse. Stealerships pay their techs (of 30+ years experience) no more than $25/Flat rate hour (techs were making that in the mid 1990's. 20 years later and the pay has stagnated and is rapidly declining).. And you will only average 5 hours a day.
The trend is, even with motorcycles; they are increasing maintenance intervals or eliminating maintenance requirements on certain things all together.. This is so the "cost of ownership" is down for the owner of the vehicle. This translates into less money for the mechanic.
Building engines, transmissions and all the other "enjoyable" work, pays the worst especially under warranty. To make a living you'll need to sell accessories, tires, brakes etc. To make the money. But, hopefully you don't deal with stealership politics, because if you do, then your pay will really suffer. I can write a whole book on this problem..
To aspiring youth with mechanical aptitude: DO NOT go to chain Tech Schools and DO NOT become a flat rate mechanic. You'll be sorry.
There is good money working with your hands. And it's for government fleet garages. It won't be on bikes, cars or trucks in stealerships and independent shops. Save your passion for bikes as that. A passion. Make it a career, and you'll hate it.
All the MMI, UTI, Lincoln tech, Wyotech schools are, are Puppy Mills that supply victims to stealerships. Stealer principals sit on the boards of these schools and "sponsor" them to have first crack at cheap grads. This pimping happens at all these schools. I've lost count on how many kids I've seen graduate, show up at the stealership, starve out and quit. Explains all the nice shiny Snapon tool boxes on Craiglist.
Last edited by ColoFXDC; 08-28-2014 at 10:58 PM.
#5
08-29-2014, 08:01 AM
Road Warrior
#6
08-29-2014, 08:52 AM
Ultimate HDF Member
After cancer treatments screwed up my ability to speak well as a trial attorney, I thought of giving up my law practice and go to MMI. I called and spoke to those filthy crooks. One year at MMI was about DOUBLE the cost of one year in law school. All that for a $12 an hour job..... maybe. Don't waste your money and get entrapped in their debt cycle.
#7
08-29-2014, 08:59 AM
Wyotech is mentioned in this article that came out yesterday.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/opinio...html?hpt=hp_t3
Good luck.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/28/opinio...html?hpt=hp_t3
Good luck.
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#8
08-30-2014, 06:03 PM
Cruiser
My two cents...I went to MMI and took the Harley-Davidson Program, I had job offers before I even graduated. 1 month later I'm working for the "Stealership". Now I HATED Phoenix, the cost of living is stupid and you can easily find a job for 6 bucks an hour, part time, and the only way to make it out there is to get student housing were you get crammed in a small apartment with 3 or 4 other guys OR you work your *** off to get a decent place to live on your own. Now as for the school, you get what you put into it. Day 1 I saw a bunch of guys that knew all about Harleys cause they worked out of their garage or wrenched on their own stuff or whatever, and guess what, they didn't make it through. I saw a bunch of young kids, right out of high school treat it like its some kind of party and put forth little to no effort into school and guess what, they didn't make it either.
The school isn't JUST about the hands on instruction, there's a lot of bookwork to it too, you WILL learn how to read a service manual! There were too many guys with bad attitudes, little to no work ethic, DUIs on their records, no motorcycle endorsement, and couldn't figure out how to keep their damn shirts tucked in and these guys expected to have jobs when they got out and they were unpleasantly surprised when they weren't getting offers before graduation.
Dealerships scan through your transcripts and one of the most important issues to them is attendance. They wont hire someone who has a record of not showing up. Yet guys were still surprised come graduation.
Yes the school is expensive but its A LOT cheaper than a college or university. Yes SNAP ON absolutely loves to sweet talk the students, but its your own damn fault if you fall for it. (FYI, the local SEARS gives AMAZING student discounts on Craftsman).
Yeah there is a lot of nonsense that comes with it, but like I said, you get out of it what you put into it. If you have a good attitude, good work ethic, decent grades, and a good attendance, you will already stand out from the pack.
People that talk crap about MMI either have never gone there or were one of those students that expected everything to be handed to them and put no effort into achieving anything. Yes on rare occasions even the GOLD STAR Student may be passed up for a job, but the opportunities are everywhere, you just have to take advantage of them..Oh and just to finish this off, at my shop, 2 of 4 techs, the shop foreman, 1 of 2 service writers, and the shop manager are ALL MMI grads.
The school isn't JUST about the hands on instruction, there's a lot of bookwork to it too, you WILL learn how to read a service manual! There were too many guys with bad attitudes, little to no work ethic, DUIs on their records, no motorcycle endorsement, and couldn't figure out how to keep their damn shirts tucked in and these guys expected to have jobs when they got out and they were unpleasantly surprised when they weren't getting offers before graduation.
Dealerships scan through your transcripts and one of the most important issues to them is attendance. They wont hire someone who has a record of not showing up. Yet guys were still surprised come graduation.
Yes the school is expensive but its A LOT cheaper than a college or university. Yes SNAP ON absolutely loves to sweet talk the students, but its your own damn fault if you fall for it. (FYI, the local SEARS gives AMAZING student discounts on Craftsman).
Yeah there is a lot of nonsense that comes with it, but like I said, you get out of it what you put into it. If you have a good attitude, good work ethic, decent grades, and a good attendance, you will already stand out from the pack.
People that talk crap about MMI either have never gone there or were one of those students that expected everything to be handed to them and put no effort into achieving anything. Yes on rare occasions even the GOLD STAR Student may be passed up for a job, but the opportunities are everywhere, you just have to take advantage of them..Oh and just to finish this off, at my shop, 2 of 4 techs, the shop foreman, 1 of 2 service writers, and the shop manager are ALL MMI grads.
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BoomDaddy666 (05-23-2018)
#9
08-30-2014, 08:28 PM
Nice write up cavsportster! My two cents on tools is this. I worked at goodyear from the age of 15-25 and I watched these guys spend crazy money on tools and interest rates from the tool trucks. I never understood it. I would always get my tools from sears and very rarely ever had any problems. And if I did they would replace it.
#10
08-30-2014, 09:09 PM
Extreme HDF Member
My two cents...I went to MMI and took the Harley-Davidson Program, I had job offers before I even graduated. 1 month later I'm working for the "Stealership". Now I HATED Phoenix, the cost of living is stupid and you can easily find a job for 6 bucks an hour, part time, and the only way to make it out there is to get student housing were you get crammed in a small apartment with 3 or 4 other guys OR you work your *** off to get a decent place to live on your own. Now as for the school, you get what you put into it. Day 1 I saw a bunch of guys that knew all about Harleys cause they worked out of their garage or wrenched on their own stuff or whatever, and guess what, they didn't make it through. I saw a bunch of young kids, right out of high school treat it like its some kind of party and put forth little to no effort into school and guess what, they didn't make it either.
The school isn't JUST about the hands on instruction, there's a lot of bookwork to it too, you WILL learn how to read a service manual! There were too many guys with bad attitudes, little to no work ethic, DUIs on their records, no motorcycle endorsement, and couldn't figure out how to keep their damn shirts tucked in and these guys expected to have jobs when they got out and they were unpleasantly surprised when they weren't getting offers before graduation.
Dealerships scan through your transcripts and one of the most important issues to them is attendance. They wont hire someone who has a record of not showing up. Yet guys were still surprised come graduation.
Yes the school is expensive but its A LOT cheaper than a college or university. Yes SNAP ON absolutely loves to sweet talk the students, but its your own damn fault if you fall for it. (FYI, the local SEARS gives AMAZING student discounts on Craftsman).
Yeah there is a lot of nonsense that comes with it, but like I said, you get out of it what you put into it. If you have a good attitude, good work ethic, decent grades, and a good attendance, you will already stand out from the pack.
People that talk crap about MMI either have never gone there or were one of those students that expected everything to be handed to them and put no effort into achieving anything. Yes on rare occasions even the GOLD STAR Student may be passed up for a job, but the opportunities are everywhere, you just have to take advantage of them..Oh and just to finish this off, at my shop, 2 of 4 techs, the shop foreman, 1 of 2 service writers, and the shop manager are ALL MMI grads.
The school isn't JUST about the hands on instruction, there's a lot of bookwork to it too, you WILL learn how to read a service manual! There were too many guys with bad attitudes, little to no work ethic, DUIs on their records, no motorcycle endorsement, and couldn't figure out how to keep their damn shirts tucked in and these guys expected to have jobs when they got out and they were unpleasantly surprised when they weren't getting offers before graduation.
Dealerships scan through your transcripts and one of the most important issues to them is attendance. They wont hire someone who has a record of not showing up. Yet guys were still surprised come graduation.
Yes the school is expensive but its A LOT cheaper than a college or university. Yes SNAP ON absolutely loves to sweet talk the students, but its your own damn fault if you fall for it. (FYI, the local SEARS gives AMAZING student discounts on Craftsman).
Yeah there is a lot of nonsense that comes with it, but like I said, you get out of it what you put into it. If you have a good attitude, good work ethic, decent grades, and a good attendance, you will already stand out from the pack.
People that talk crap about MMI either have never gone there or were one of those students that expected everything to be handed to them and put no effort into achieving anything. Yes on rare occasions even the GOLD STAR Student may be passed up for a job, but the opportunities are everywhere, you just have to take advantage of them..Oh and just to finish this off, at my shop, 2 of 4 techs, the shop foreman, 1 of 2 service writers, and the shop manager are ALL MMI grads.
I've got a buddy doing the Harley program in Orlando and said basically the same thing as you. Almost makes me wish I had used my GI bill for that rather than going back to college.