Career out of High school

[Josh Watson]

Hey guys, I wanted some opinions on a career out of high school. I love in Florida which brings good opportunities. I have a ton of common sense( working in things, building motors, problem solving, etc) I’m also very book smart. I was thinking about getting into power sports and making a career out of it. I have a lot of family friends and people that always have me working on there fourwheelers, dirtbikes, side by sides, Jetskis, etc. I absolutely love it and can’t get enough of it. It comes very easy to me and it’s what I find joy in. My question is well is there a way to make a good career out of something I absolutely love! If not any tips or ideas, I want to make good money but I also want a job I find joy in. Thanks for any feedback

 

[Mike W]

Look into Wyotech. Having a certification from a school like this will definitely open a lot of doors.

 

[jetx]

Not sure about Florida but up here in ontario Canada you won’t make any money as a power sports tech...I went back to school at 24 for small engine repair and quickly realized that. Made more money as a service advisor. Marine mechanics tend to make better money and would be a better route if you want to pursue mechanics, or better yet work for the town in any capacity, usually has better pay, benefits, etc. I’m 37 now, If I was to do it all over again though I would be trying to pursue a career in a trade...or even some sort of electrical engineer type job working in automation. I will say this too, anything you can do for yourself you will be much further ahead, maybe do the mechanics on the side if you love it so much.

 

[jetx]

Being in Florida too there is a huge marine demographic , you could always try and be friend a boat top/upholsterer and get them to teach you the trade. Likely will never be out of work, that sun/uv damage destroys things quick.

 

[Jr.]

Powersports is not going to pay the bills on its own! If your a hands on kind of guy?
Skilled trades is where its at! HVAC, plumbing, electrician, welder / fabricator. Then there is speciality spin off for all of those that get into high dollar salaries. Florida is generally lower pay scales than other parts of the country.
It is also plagued with poor work ethics. Keep a clean life path, and you will go far.

 

[yamanube]

Go to some sort of vocational school, keep it inexpensive, learn as much as you can. It's good to have a fallback even if you pursue another path and it helps show potential employers you have motivation and are willing to learn.

 

[KMN]

While it sounds dreamy to follow your dreams and do something you like now, it may not lead to the happiness you desire. If you look at what jobs are out there, talk to people who are successful, and see what can actually make money then you can always wrench on the side. I don't know squat about the business side of the the powersports industry, but it certainly doesn't look like its all that lucrative.

Find a career where you develop a special skill where it's always valued in this world. High skill trades are great. I know plenty of people without much education pulling down 100k easy. You have to be reliable, a hard worker, smart, and have your poop together.

 

[Josh Watson]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Quinc]

Find a powersports shop and get a job there. That will show you if you like it or not. If you can find a small shop you can also learn what it takes to run a shop, ordering parts, dealing with vendors, customers, etc Do that for a year or more and then decide if you want to stay in the industry or open your own shop or move onto something else.

 

[Jhucke]

Powersports is not going to pay the bills on its own! If your a hands on kind of guy?
Skilled trades is where its at! HVAC, plumbing, electrician, welder / fabricator. Then there is speciality spin off for all of those that get into high dollar salaries. Florida is generally lower pay scales than other parts of the country.
It is also plagued with poor work ethics. Keep a clean life path, and you will go far.

+1, if I didn't go into engineering, I would 100% go plumbing, or electrician. They kill it ***if you work hard****, big opportunities to own your own business down the road. In Wisconsin, reputable elecs and plumbers are always booked solid for work.

Making your favorite hobbies a business sounds like crap, to be honest. Seems like jetski people like making this mistake. Looking at you, hull builders, who come and go within a couple years. Powersports tech might be fun for awhile and you might not think its about money, thats what people say, but trust me, things start to become about money when you don't have much rolling in.

 

[Pro-pulsion]

Agreed! ...with everyone lol. When I left high school I had a bit of a bad deal handed to me through the pains of life. I ended up getting a job at a marine and powersports dealer as a yard guy at 18 or so, living on my own about 6 months later. That job translated into an apprenticeship to be a powersports tech which gave me a certification. It's great, on the resume it helps in the job market in terms of "I can be trained, look, here's a government issued piece of paper that says I am a certified tech". On the pay side of things...a certified deisel marine tech would have been a FAR better trade to go for which was an extra year of the apprenticeship if my boss took interest in it. He did not. Having seen a great many thing over the years, if I could go to school and re-certify, I would have opted for electrician, plumbing or general contracting/carpentry. If I were to go more high tech, green energy sciences, automation engineering, or medical instrumentation sciences. Working on the toys with competency and little squares of paper saying you went to school for it is great but will by no means pay the bills beyond the very basic means of living. And I do mean basic, renting an all inclusive room only, minimal food expendatures, and maybe a bucket of bolts for a vehicle...unless you own your own company which you will be only a little further ahead but still not by a lot. Repair work alone isn't going to cut it, you will need to know and offer additional services like machine shop details, or production of new parts. Being a wrench head is fun and for me relaxing when I can go at my own pace...which I can do now that it's not my primary profession anymore, but for the generic noname shop, it's not going to give you a bank account with a healthy safety net, especially if more times like these happen...it will always leave you on the jagged edge of paying those bills or not.

 

[SXIPro]

Get a job on a crab boat fishing the Bearing Sea. That looks damn exciting, and the deck hands can make bank in a short amount of time, as long as you don't mind getting maimed or killed or drowned.

 

[Storbeck]

If you are good with academics and good with practical hands on, you could go get an engineering degree and during your time in school get involved in one of the the various intercollegiate competitions (Formula SAE, Baja, Clean Snow, there a a bunch more). I did that, my first job out of college was for an OEM in snowmobile development, left that job to work for a different OEM doing testing in their lab. I have since moved on, but I have a whole lot of friends who work at Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Polaris, Mercury Marine and several of their suppliers, Polaris in particular recruits heavily from engineering schools with emphasis on hands on and practical. If you're a gear head who can handle the academics mechanical engineering is not a bad way to go.

 

[Jhucke]

If you are good with academics and good with practical hands on, you could go get an engineering degree and during your time in school get involved in one of the the various intercollegiate competitions (Formula SAE, Baja, Clean Snow, there a a bunch more). I did that, my first job out of college was for an OEM in snowmobile development, left that job to work for a different OEM doing testing in their lab. I have since moved on, but I have a whole lot of friends who work at Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Polaris, Mercury Marine and several of their suppliers, Polaris in particular recruits heavily from engineering schools with emphasis on hands on and practical. If you're a gear head who can handle the academics mechanical engineering is not a bad way to go.

Good advice here. If you want to work for Polaris, you better be on the schools Clean Snow team, or don’t even waste your breath!

 

[Storbeck]

There isn't really anything special about clean snow (I was an FSAE guy), but involvement in any of the hands on competitions is a big selling point.

 

[Jhucke]

There isn't really anything special about clean snow (I was an FSAE guy), but involvement in any of the hands on competitions is a big selling point.

I did Baja for awhile. I only say clean snow because at my school, they acted like such hotshots lol. Couldn’t have a conversation without bringing up how sick clean snow was.

 

[Storbeck]

I used to say it should be called boring snow because the whole point was to take a snowmobile and make it as boring as possible. Just poop talk among friends.

 

[Big Kahuna]

If you dont mind hard work and are very meticulous, Look in to becoming a Ceramic Tile Mechanic. I say mechanic because there are people who can install Tile, But that is all they do. Slap up tile. I have had installers that could install a flat floor, give them walls with 8 outside corners and inside corners, and they get it all screwed up. A Mechanic knows how to make everything come together. Deal with every possible bad situation and make the job look perfect. Some of my guys go home with a $2000-4000.00 check a week. (They have to pay their helper out of that), but still. You can make some damn good money. It is hard back breaking work. But if your good, you will never be without work.

 

[Storbeck]

If you choose the college route, mind the costs. Student loan debt is no joke. Be aware of what you're paying for and why, get summer internships (they pay well and they are huge for your resume and networking), it's not a bad idea to go to a local community college for a year or two then transfer to a university. I did that and saved a huge amount of money. You have to make sure that the classes you take at the community college will transfer to the university and that they'll transfer to something useful. (In other words, it has to be a class you would have taken at the university for credit toward the degree). You should be starting out with where you want to end up, and work your way back. Get in touch with an advisor at the university and plan the whole thing out from the start. It's what I did, two years at a community college and I had the whole degree schedule mapped out at three different universities right from the start.

I'm only familiar with the college route, people make good money in trades, but if you want to make a career out of being a gear head I don't think there's a better way than engineer. The downside is there is a high upfront cost in time and tuition, and some of those classes can be tough. I'm told people make good money in trades without the upfront cost. I believe it, but I don't know.

 

[veedubs]

I’ve done very well in my life being a technician (automotive) but wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Working flat rate is a super stressful way to live and it will suck the fun right out of your hobby. When you wrench all week to pay bills it can be not so fun to wrench on the weekends. You can make a good living though if you hustle.


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