Going to Diesel/Heavy Equip School

[Dl5treez]

Tomorrow, test on clutches. I'm a little confused by all of the different travels and clearances, but I'll have them sorted out in time. :-laf

Remember them just long enough to get out of school, then throw them away.



Unless you're setting up a brand new clutch, you'll never need them... . and the books have the specs in them anyways.



I never was a fan of having to memorize specs for test purposes... too many variables and different units out there, can't know 'em all.



(off soapbox)

 

[obert]

Wow, glad I triped onto this thread. Takes me back to my days up at Northwestern College (now University of Northwestern Ohio). Looks like ya got your ducks in a row Sri Ram, and good to see you found an interest in the industry.

... I get sent to school for work about once a year. In the winter when it's slow, we get sent to the manufacturers schools to learn on the machines we handle. Most are 1 week of intensive partying, I mean training! They do cram alot of info in a week. And the after hours drinking is unbelieveable! I think this is the only time some of these guys get out away from their wives! ... ...

:-laf :-laf Ditto! Sounds like Bobcat school. I like our training classes, good times during and after class... .

Heavy equipment can be fun.

Of course it was fun figuring out why this D8 no longer wanted to move.

#ad

... . oohhh, what I would give for that jobsite!

 

[Sri Ram]

Uggh, sick for a week and a half... I missed five days of school and the entire unit on drivelines. I did manage to make it to a prep-class for Fire Apparatus Electrical Certification, however. I took an exam at the end and I think I did well. It'll take four to six weeks(!) before the results are in, though.



Also, I scored an internship with the regional transit company in Olympia, WA. It starts after I pass the DOT physical and lasts four months. I am very excited to have such an opportunity when so new to this industry.

Looks like ya got your ducks in a row Sri Ram, and good to see you found an interest in the industry.

obert, thanks for your encouragement.

 

[Sri Ram]

Oo. I passed the Fire Apparatus Electrical Systems exam and now have my certification in that area. I feel like a kid having this cool shoulder badge to put on my coveralls! I probably won't though. I've got the cert and don't need to flaunt it. Oo.



I don't have the requisite experience yet, but I plan on getting ASE cert in addition to EVT. Dl5treez has his ASE Master HD truck cert, right? Anyone with ASE or other certs care to share your thoughts?

 

[Dl5treez]

Oo. I passed the Fire Apparatus Electrical Systems exam and now have my certification in that area. I feel like a kid having this cool shoulder badge to put on my coveralls! I probably won't though. I've got the cert and don't need to flaunt it. Oo.

I don't have the requisite experience yet, but I plan on getting ASE cert in addition to EVT. Dl5treez has his ASE Master HD truck cert, right? Anyone with ASE or other certs care to share your thoughts?

I have the master certs, except School Bus... ..... which isn't hard to get, I just haven't done it.

I don't wear the patches, and have my own opinions about the cert's, but they do help from an image standpoint... . particularly if you want to work for a government agency. (transit, city shop, state, county, feds, etc)

I'd work in the field for a few years before trying to get the Master certs..... the regular ones can be had right out of school while your mind is still fresh. :-laf

Definitely, if possible, get your EPA Universal A/C cert and, if you end up working with hydraulics a lot, try to get Fluid Power Certified.

 

[Sri Ram]

I'd work in the field for a few years before trying to get the Master certs..... the regular ones can be had right out of school while your mind is still fresh.

You mean take the ASE tests, but don't go for the master level? Or are there tests unique to master certification?



I have the ASE Refrigeration card already... took the test after the A/C unit here at school.

 

[Dl5treez]

Things on the master tests might not be relevant to your training, and if you just come out of school with little real world experience and a whole book of certs, some companies don't look as high on that as some may think they do. Guess what I'm trying to say is get some experience before trying to get the "expert" patches... . :-laf





The ASE cert is good for automotive, the EPA cert is good for everything... and is a lifetime cert.



The EPA cert is more valuable overall.

 

[Sri Ram]

I hear you, Dl5treez. A cert would reflect that an entry-level tech has a basic understanding of vehicle systems. But, no question real world experience is far more valuable.

 

[Dl5treez]

I hear you, Dl5treez. A cert would reflect that an entry-level tech has a basic understanding of vehicle systems. But, no question real world experience is far more valuable.

General consensus in the industry is anybody can take a test... . but not anybody can turn a wrench effectively.



But you know that already.



March 2008, market for mechanics up here is still crazy good. Probably the best skill to have right now in the Pacific Northwest is being a mechanic, in terms of job availability.

 

[Sri Ram]

March 2008, market for mechanics up here is still crazy good. Probably the best skill to have right now in the Pacific Northwest is being a mechanic, in terms of job availability.

oh yeah!



I've been at Transit for almost two weeks now. It's hard being a beginner again. Any of you guys out there with entry-level techs, have mercy on them! Be patient. Remember what it was like when you started out. We know not what we do!

 

[Dl5treez]

Any of you guys out there with entry-level techs, have mercy on them!

Mercy is for the weak... now quit whining and get those brake drums off, greenhorn.

Be patient.

I said get those brake drums off. So shut up and do it. And when you're done with that, take the rest of the core linings out to the bin... and then go get lunch for us. We're hungry, and the longer you take the worse we'll get. Chop Chop!!!

Remember what it was like when you started out.

Yes, clearly... and you're lucky I'm not that mean to you. There wasn't any PC liberal touch feely sensitivity training to protect me.



Now get with the program, and just a lil tip, it helps to back the slack adjusters all the way off there, gumby. :-{}

We know not what we do!

This is evident. Now get out of the way, grasshopper, and watch an expert at work. But we'll take lunch first. What? You haven't gone to pick it up yet? Friggin' greenhorns... hopeless I tell ya.







:-laf

 

[Sri Ram]

Well, Dl5treez, you just about summed it up there! It's not quite THAT bad working transit due to the touchy-feeley sensitivity training you mentioned, but I do get a lot of techs standing around watching me screw up instead of offering advice or lending a hand. Actually, it feels good to be a novice, very humbling. My whole career is before me, the future unwritten. I get kinda misty just thinking about it…:-laf

 

[Dl5treez]

Keep on the lookout for the senior techs who are really quick to show you how to do something.....



At times they'll show you the most walkabout fiddle farting long way around, and only after watching you struggle with it for 5x the time it normally should take, they'll walk over and say something like "Ya know, if you'd been paying attention you would've noticed 67 of those 134 steps I showed you didn't need to be done... "



Of course, if you would've noticed that and skipped them, they'd be on your case for not following directions.



It's a vicious circle... . but if you play along you're in like Flynn. :-laf

 

[biggy238]

I've been out in the field full time for almost a Year now.

I was working for a mine site reclaimation outfit and was fixing everything I could get my hands on. Everything on trucks. Hydraulics on Excavators/Dozers. Even Did a frame off on a Mack R model and then the Finn Hydroseeder on the back of it. We were Refurbing a P&H (Terex) 40 ton crane when I quit. The owner showed his true colors a few weeks ago so I left. I went from the #1 position on the site to apprentice at CAT. I start training next week. $15 dollars/Hr to $12/hr over night. And the bills don't let up.



IT is very humbling to have it pulled out from under you.



Why did everyone at our school insist that we had to have 1 year field experience before we could do our ASE testing?



You will never be able to show an old Tech up... You will, however, be able to show him something he didn't expect from you.

 

[obert]

... You will never be able to show an old Tech up... You will, however, be able to show him something he didn't expect from you. .

Heh!! As a twenty-something in a middle aged + world, it's been a long road building my reputation. You know..... just another damn knowitall kid.



Humbly, I have had a few of those moments, but I do savor the more frequent and Oh so delicious opertunity to say "I told you so!" :-laf:-laf

 

[biggy238]

It's hard to prove that you DO actually know something.



Oh well.

 

[Dl5treez]

Too many youngsters are so eager to show what they know to try and fit in that they inadvertently come off as show offs and big-headed egomaniacs... . rubs the old school guys the wrong way.

Don't act like you know everything and it works out better. Even if you know the answers, ask them the questions, and even if their answers don't agree with your own, proceed with what they say and then during the repair or diagnosis you can "discover" something (the thing you already knew) and the old techs will:

A) Be impressed you respected their opinions
B) Be impressed you found the problem
C) Be impressed you kept them in the loop
D) Be impressed you carry yourself in a respectful manner
E) Be impressed you value their opinion enough to show them what you found... kinda like a little kid saying "hey dad look what I did!"

or something like that...

I'm only 30, but was raised around this stuff and am already treated as "old guard" by the real "old guard" so maybe I'm biased, but it works...

 

[biggy238]

That has been my experience so far... .



However, i've always been direct in saying "I don't know anything about that YET, so I don't really want to tear into it until I know more. "



I guess being new in this, there's a part of me that wants to take up for the young guys. On the other hand, you are all too correct on all accounts.



I have found that being 25 makes a difference in how elders react to me rather than if I were 18-21.

 

[Sri Ram]

How many interns does it take to remove a stuck inner dual?

Only one, but it takes four journeymen to stand around and watch!:-laf:-laf:-laf

 

[Dl5treez]

How many interns does it take to remove a stuck inner dual?

Only one, but it takes four journeymen to stand around and watch!:-laf:-laf:-laf

How'd ya get it off?



:-laf