T-Ten Program, Anybody in it? Or done it? Options

[samir0189]

Hey guys. Im at a point in my young life where i dont know what i want to do with myself.

Im strongly considering the toyota technician program, i really love working on my and other people's cars when i have free time and now im thinking, well maybe i could make a career out of it!

Anyway, i was just looking for information from anybody or thoughts on the program, experiences or life as a mechanic, you know, whatever.

Any input is welcome, im so lost.


I guess, uh, well ill just include that im nearly done with 2 years of gen ed studies but absolutely 0 of the career options interest me.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Apr 17, 2009 - 8:53 PM

[MaskedMan]

I've been through the whole T-Ten program, and personally, and have visited several school which offer it. Each school is different in terms of what you're going to actually learn from it. The school I attended was very thorough, covered pretty much everything, but there were a lot of classes and they were each about 8hrs long (a lot of which was lecture). But some schools compress classes as much as they can. You'll get to finish sooner, but you will probably not get absorb as much information.

The way the T-Ten program works here is first you'll need to apply for the program at your local school. From there you will begin your courses in Automotive and your General Ed. If you happen to work at a Toyota dealership while taking the courses, Toyota will cover the cost of your books. If you do not currently work at a dealership, they usually host seminars where managers from Toyota dealerships will come and interview you for a position as an express tech.

The thing is, you can get a job as an express tech without going through with the program. Most dealerships promote technicians by seniority anyways, so once you're in and you do a good job, you're going to move up regardless of what classes you've taken. Having ASCs will move you up faster than attending the T-Ten program. The biggest part in moving up is supplying your own tools. Tools will be the biggest cost to you when becoming a technician, and will cost at least $10,000 to get you a basic setup. You're going to need air tools, torque wrenches, multimeter, etc, and also a tool box to keep them in, but that's later on. It usually takes about 2-3 years of doing oil changes at a dealer to move up in position unless you're really good. So for the first 6 years or so, you'll be spending a lot of money building up your tool collection, but after you have all your tools set and you're getting paid flat rate, the money is good. You just gotta work your way there.

The T-Ten program is good if you plan on opening your own shop. The main purpose of a Toyota Certificate is so that you're able to open up a Toyota specialist shop and have the certificate to prove it haha. But seriously, if you want to open up your own shop, you should look more into the business aspect of it, instead of being the one doing all the work. Like someone mentioned above, it puts a lot of stress on the body and a lot of my co-workers wear back braces to help them get through the day, and these are people in their early 20's already having problems with their backs and knees.