Re: MMI mech.. school
ugh I don't know for sure but...
My son is attending UTI and for the life of me I don't remember what the tuition is, I can say that the study is aggressive which has been a godsend for my son, he struggled in high school because the pace was so slow and we became keen on the term lack of application, the pace at UTI keeps him engaged and while he dropped out of high school in favor of a GED he is currently carrying a 4.0 at UTI, the phases are completely determined by the student of course they suggest a certain path for determined goals but the school has multiple shifts to deal with difficult personal schedules, I have nothing bad to say about UTI, it is expensive but manageable and inline with my daughters education at a State University albeit he will be completely Diesel Certified in less then two years.
I know its a different course study but keep in mind his first thoughts were like you he loves my boat and has claimed dibs when I go under, but I had a come to Jesus with him and explained that unless he wanted to move to an area which is more Marine oriented (like yours) finding a job would be difficult, after time he agreed and decided that diesels were the way to go and I couldn't agree more since I have two!
Educating your self is important, especially when going into the mechanical field, but far more important is developing your personal reputation, over time you will find out that specialized vehicles(boats, diesels, motorcycles and hot rods) typically have very particular owners, and they will pay for good honest service, but keep in mind everyone starts at the bottom, especially when doing an apprenticeship, you will start with modest jobs, cleaning shop and holding difficult to reach bolts for the top guys, then you will do oil changes and brakes then slowly move up, attention to detail and closing your mouth and opening your ears as my mentors would say go a long way.
If you have the means I would go to school first then start at a dealership or good sized shop and get your experience up, apprenticeship doesn't matter if you have the education or not you will have to prove yourself regardless in any good shop, get used to having a top guy review your work for quite awhile but you will find that once you have gained the top guys confidence they will throw you some pretty big bones and give you the rope to hang yourself with, In my experience the most difficult guys to work with were the ones I wanted to get close to and learn from, if you can gain their confidence it will make you a better wrench.
