Commentary and response to an article found in the Philly Inquirer

Here is a link to an article in the Philly Inquirer and the e-mail that I sent the author.


http://articles.philly.com/2014-02-12/business/47238848_1_pep-boys-philadelphia-auto-show-technicians




Hello.

After some 38 years in the trade as a technician, (I also own my own shop and teach continuing educational classes nationwide) I have a problem with the article that appeared in the Philly Inquirer.

I'll refer to my blog where you can see a post written by one of the best technicians in the country, and you can also find this same post in a fixed operations managers forum on linked in. (I sent you a request but have not see it be accepted).

Here is my blog. http://johng673.blogspot.com/

The simple facts amount to your article was really nothing but an advertisement for UTI to try and attract students to try and get jobs that they cannot possibly be trained for in that short of a period of time, and even the most stellar students if they have all of the natural gifts to be a great technician are decades away from being that person when they do graduate. These kids are being saddled with a huge debt to try and get entry level jobs in a trade that routinely eats its young.

BTW the fixed operations forum on Linked in is here..

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=3945201&item=5839734171479601155&type=member&commentID=5839741901611241472&trk=hb_ntf_LIKED_GROUP_DISCUSSION_COMMENT_YOU_CREATED#commentID_5839741901611241472

It should be noted that the thread is getting next to no response at this point essentially because the real atmosphere in the workplace as an automotive technician is on display. In any other career advice like work harder than the rest, be the first one in the door and the last one to leave should lead to success. But as my blog demonstrates the only thing that is important to these managers is how many hours a tech produces, even if the way the hours are calculated is terribly flawed, and even dishonest. Before we try and attract the young people that the consumer needs us to have, we need to genuinely fix the compensation packages and working conditions of the current technicians. Your article made it seem like there is a lot of money to be made. How about going to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and try to confirm that position.

Here is a link.

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/automotive-service-technicians-and-mechanics.htm

With the quality of todays automobiles climbing, there are fewer repairs to do than there was just a few years ago. While the technician workforce, especially the real top techs are aging and leaving the trade, there are in fact too many shops and techs. That's a two-fold problem because anyone coming in won't generate enough income to make it worth sticking out and life is going to do what it is going to do and the senior techs will all be gone, with no-one to step in and take their place. When you article said that dealerships will be happy to see Ms. Lukatchik in two years, the reality is she won't be who you need the dealer to have for at least fifteen to twenty years. Even then not she nor anyone else can ever be the master technician that we had in the shops when I was a kid just starting out. Back then there wasn't much that really needed to be learned, today there is so much that the best anyone can do is specialize in one or two areas.

Please follow up on this.
John Gillespie
ASE CMAT L1 A9
Owner/ Technician/ Technical Writer/ Instructor
Electronics/ Diagnostics Specialist.
724-728-5484 Shop
724-312-4939 Cell

#Philly Inquirer, #Auto Technician, #Auto Mechanic, #Automotive, #Service, #Technician