Job questions.

[89Notch]

I'm a mechanical engineer; don't let srothfuss fool you, it sucks

 

[Daggar]

And once i turn 18 I REALLY want to work at discount auto parts or autozone. My question is, what do i have to do to get a job there, just be 18? Be interested in cars alittle? Do you have to pass a test? I know some of you guys work there.

Have a heart beat and be able to read your name off your shirt 8 out of 10 times.

 

[srothfuss]

I'm a mechanical engineer; don't let srothfuss fool you, it sucks

LOL you must be one of those engineers who do something! Currently I am responsible for no parts, only paperwork

 

[Aaron]

Time to think about what you want to do with the rest of your life...

The State of Florida will do aptitude testing for free. Check with the local unemployment office near you. That will help you find what your talents and interests are. Once you have found out what your interests & talents are, find out how to improve them. That means more education. UCF for a 4 year degree, Seminole Community College for a 2 year or some vocational training, or Mid Florida Tech for vocational training.

Don't really know what to do and want more time and a paycheck while you are thinking about it? Consider 4 years in the Air Force or Navy if you are a techie kind of guy. The Air Force is good for techie types, live off base, work regular hours and just be sure to show up for formation clean & neat looking. If you are one of the guys who likes the thrill of combat, and there are some that do, the Army & and Marines are good. They both have techie type jobs available, but you are a gun toting solder first and a technician second. When you finish your enlistment and decision time rolls around you can re-enlist or take what you have leaned and head for the outside world. Then you have you VA benefits to pay for college or vocational school.

Whatever you do, don’t just settle for a paycheck You have a long time ahead of you, and doing something you are good at and like to do makes life a lot easier.

Best point made here. Whatever you decide to do, try to incorporate some sort of higher education into your overall plans. You seem like a smart person, so PLEASE try to shoot for something a little better than Autozone parts guy.

 

[rigamaroles]

Eh, it is kind of tough to decide what to do though. Im in pretty much the same condition. I've never really known what the hell to do with my life, I've always been well in sports, and Im very computer literate, I also did well in school. But I've only really ever been passionate about a couple things, sports...and cars. I did the car gig, I was a mechanic apprentice, until I wrecked my back pretty bad. I ended up slipping 2 discs at L4 L5 and have a difficult time doing any real hard work. Both being a mechanic as well as anything involving sports went out the window and Im pretty much struck stranded. I was going to take my automotive and heavy duty partsperson certification so that I could work at a Napa or a heavy duty franchise. But I'd also like to amount to something more....I really have no idea either.

 

[tonys88lx]

damn

heres one for ya quit bitching about working 30 hours a week and step up the hours to about 50 and you will bring home some decent cash for your age.





















just kidding man, i know its tuff being young and trying to make money, im 21 now but when i was in hs i got a job at a restaurant , my dad owns one and i grew up in that field so it was natural for me, but i started at this restaurant, not my dads his is in north carolina, washing dishes for a year, for 5 dollars and hour.it sucked but i busted my ass and begged and pleaded to be a line cook at the place and finally they gave in and they gave me a dollar raise, so i was making 6 bucks an hour and i started out as the third man on the line and moved my way up to the top lineman during the weekdays , i ran kicthen bymyself and my manager/head cook got to flirt with the hot waitresses and slack off, but on the weekends it was me and him together, u needed two guys on the busy nights, but anyway im just saying i showed them that i could do the job and they gave it to me and i was making 300 bucks a week while i was in hs 9 to 11 grade. and that was 50hrs x 6$ equals 300 no taxes under the table.

 

[mob]

I would work 50 hrs a week, but by law I cant work more then 30 hrs a week because my employer will get a LARGE fine. And I go to school from 7am-2:20pm so that limits me from working days. Thats why i cant wait till I turn 18 and can work overtime and dont need a break.

Im thinking about going into parking cars, like vallet parking guys, That would seem like a great job, not because of driving nice cars, but the pay would be good I think. Plus if they have vallet the people that go there are usually rich=nice tips.

If that dosent work out, Im going to apply to a ford dealership, and an autoparts store.

and srothfuss, I really want to go into engineering. Id love to get some kind of internship at an engineering firm, but I wouldnt know how. I took drafting in 10th and 11th grade at my school, got pretty deep into the basics of autocad, I have autocad2006 on my computer. Unfortunetly my school canceled the drafting program this year. Didnt get into 3d stuff, but We just ifnished all the basic designing of parts and stuff and the 3rd year of drafting was archatecture(sp?) and more complex work designing houses and stuff on autocad, I was VERY angry that my teacher got fired, he was setting us up with our resume's and possible getting an internship at an engineering firm, we took lots of field trips to some.

If I had to say where I wanted to go in life id say its engineering, not sure exactly what in it, but thats the field id like to go into.

 

[KCoppola]

ALWAYS have a plan! you dont have to try and be a millionaire right away, experience and networking are always key. when i was your age, i had a plan that i kept adding things to, and somehow i managed to be exactly where i wanted within my time frame. i have always had at least 2 jobs, beacasue i like to be able to buy whatever if i feel like it. when i was in high school i landscaped after school during the week, and worked some nights and both weekend days at my uncles gas station ( paid for my car that way) at 17 i joined the marines and became an infantryman ( no room for a second job there!) went to a war, got hurt, got out. i worked overnight security and landscaped during the day when i got out for a year until i got the job i wanted all along, which i have now. As for whoever said something about their L4 and L5 causing them to not do physical labor, get surgery and rehab it! When i got out my L4 and L5 were dripping down my spine and i couldnt walk anymore. i had surgery and rehabbed it, which enables me to do my job, which involves chasing people an fighting with them a few times a week. it hurts sometimes, but it is waaaaaaaaaaay better than it was before. Now i need to go to school so when i retire from this job, i can teach criminal justice somewhere..... like a few of us said, it isnt always about the money, although with most "career" type jobs you will usually be ok anyway...... you gotta have goals and be willing to do whatever to get there

 

[mob]

Thanks kcoppola. I have many goals but on differnt levels. Like a goal for now, a goal for a year from now, a goal for 3 years from now, goal 10 years from now. Highschool has always been a joke for me, I HATE school and I hate going to class, theres always that one or two classes I cant go to so I skip. I messed up really bad my sophmore and junior year. Some how I came back and fixed it though, through making up classes, taking classes online, and going to summer school, as long as I make a's and b's this year in school, I can make a c in english and ill still get a 3.05 gpa whitch will set me right at the standard for getting the bright futures scholorship here in florida whitch pays 75% of tution for any florida school. My classes and sat scroes arent so good so given Im probably going to be attending a community college and working my way up slower to a career, and maybe ill have to get a small grant for my books and materials and such, but I had always been worried the last two years the im not going to graduate highschool or not get into college, and I finally feel like things are falling into place, and with alittle effort and organization you start getting what you want. Luckly this year of schooling wont be hard, my first and last period is OJT whitch is a class that you dont go to school for those periods because you work, you need 5 hrs a week per class you take off, and its a credit so two easy a's. And the rest of my classes are electives like weight traning personal fitness, life managment, the little classes I needed to graduate, the classes wont look so good for big universities, so with a better sat score i can get into a community college. I just hope my senior year flys by and I can get on my way to working and going to college.

My goal in the next year to 3 years is to be in school and working at a decent job to make money to support myself in my own apartment and do something I like.

After that, I want to graduate college and go onto working my way up in my career, start building some credit so i can buy a house.

Once I get a decent job and income, Buy a house and get married, make enough money to support me and my wife, and a kid or two eventually.

And then after that just keep working till I can create a foundation to where when I retire I can just sit downa t my house everyday and watch my gradnkids play.

Thats pretty much my life goal, just to have the life my dad always had, never rich but having enough money to support myself and my family and do things we enjoy.

Oh and I dont spend money on parties and drugs and alcohol and that stuff, not to say I wont party in college, but I already got arrested once a year ago and luckly I was able to get it exponged from my record, and swore to never do drugs again, and ive been clean ever since, some of you guys may remember saying I wont be able to do it, etc.

 

[RYC CUKR]

Mob,

It kinda all depends on what you are looking for. Are you looking for a job while you go to college or a tech school or are you looking for a long term job/career?

I went to college right after high school and only lasted about 2 years cause it wasn't what I wanted to do. I decided that I was tired of going to school and I was gonna go make some money. After I bounced around a few oddball jobs for a few years I got into the electrical apprenticeship, ended up going to apprenticeship for 4 1/2 years and have a job that I really enjoy.

I know that right now the apprenticeship that I graduated from is looking for people and I believe that the start at just over $9.00 an hour. You do have to go to school, it is for about 3 1/2 years and is one day a week for 6 hours. Its hard work and alot of it is outdoors but if you like building things and enjoy working with you hands, the rest of you get your minds outta the gutter , it is a pretty good gig. I believe that after 3 or 6 months you get health insurance coverage, and it is paid by the employer not out of your check, we have a pension and an annuity for retirement. Right now a journeyman/wireman electrician tops out at around $19 an hour. If you interested shoot me a pm and I can get the name and number of the guy that is the apprenticeship director.

Like Strype said find something that you like to do. All the money in the world will only be a temporary fix for a job that you hate. I got lucky and found something that I really like.

 

[90_Red_LX]

I'm 18 years old and an assistant manager at a car wash. I don't make $hit but I'm responsible for a lot of things and I've learned a lot about dealing with people, money, and solving problems. It's definetly something I'm not gonna continue, as I got my inspection license and I'm fixing to help my dad out with doing inspections, oil changes, brakes, and other car repairs so I can get experience in that field. I talked to my cousin though and he does machining, so he got me hooked up with the teacher at our family cookout and I dropped by to see what it was like. I really liked it a lot. It was neat watching a boring piece of metal take form and become something. It looks very challenging but rewarding at the same time. My plan is to get some experience and get hooked up with a race team and build parts for race cars. I love cars but theres not a whole lot of money in fixing regular joe's car anymore. You have to get so much equipment and all that crap so it's tough to come out on top. At least in my area anyways. Theres just not enough volume to do it all, with all the shops around here and all. The only reason my dad done it is because he had a very well reputable shop that his father owned for several years before he took it over, and now he's opening another after selling the other one (long story.) Thats just my goal and it's probably meaningless to a lot of folks, but I thought I'd share it with some others my age. The key is to really honestly be happy with what you do. Thats what I have really learned from the car wash. We have our fun times, but it can be stressful at times. It's just something I'm not satisfied with. I used to think I would love to sit around and not do anything but mess on a computer all day, as thats what I'd used to do before and shortly after I received my drivers license, but after work in a convience store (dad converted old shop to a store and sold it b/c it was boring) I realized it's definetly not me. I really enjoyed getting out and working with my hands. The only part I really enjoy at the wash anymore is fixing $hit that breaks. So I'm going to try machining out and see what it's like. Good luck to you man.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Get into a trade. I did electrical when i was 16 and even starting out was making almost twice what you are now.

At 18 years old i was over $20/hour.

Now i'm an engineer.

 

[grey5.0beast]

I am 16, I have only worked at a few places, I worked for a directory/newsletter place, 8 bucks an hour and family operated so it was very stress free. My uncle's warehouse, very fun, had a radio blasting and got a good work out making 10 bucks an hour to boot. I am currently job less, I have an interview with Wally world tomorrow, From my buddies experience, he gets fired and quits from more jobs than he can count, Chucky Cheese's was a fun job lol. He was the guy that wore the costume and did parties. He said he got 50- 100 bucks in tips from one party!!! and made 8 dollars an hour. Just a thought lol