Question on Motorcycle Schools

Hey All. Haven't been here in a bit and pretty thirsty. A round of
drinks for the house....
My question is this. I have decided on a career change to motorcycle
mechanics. I live in Florida so I have two choices, MMI and AMI. I'm
not a young guy so time is of the essence. MMI's program takes alittle
over a year where AMI's program is about five and a half months. I
visited both campuses and have to say that MMI is like the Harvard of
tech schools. Does the school you go to actually matter in the
industry when performing a job search?

 

derch wrote:

Hey derch,

congratulations on making a change for the better. I can't comment
specifically on those two schools, but maybe you could get better
answers from some graduates. Ask if they have any referrals you can
talk to. A good school should be able to give you names of employers
who hire their graduates, and the teachers may put you in touch with
current or former students who can let you see what going to school
there can get for you. Both of my jobs in machine shops were the
direct result of employers looking for students, so going to a school
employers farm for people is where it's at.

Later,

Charlie

 

I would suggest MMI, when given your choices.

I shop owner (whose opinion I greatly respect) gave me this answer
when I posed a similar question to him concerning my youngest son:
"MMI will get him ready to apprentice under a good mechanic."

Jim Cook
Smackover Racing
Gas Gas DE300
Team LAGNAF
www.smackovermotorsports.com

 

The following dialog was found on rec.motorcycles.harley recently.
It doesn't answer your question, but I thought it might be of some
interest. Replies to this posting can be found on Google groups.

Sean_Q_

Subject: So, you want to be a Harley mechanic?
Date: 14 Apr 2006 21:42:46 GMT
From: Phil Boutros <>
Organization: Total lack of...
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles.harley

[The following is non-fictional. No names are mentionned to protect
the guilty. Any resemblance to actual people is definitely
intentional.]

So, you want to be a Harley mechanic (or "technician", as some
of us edumacated folk like to say)?

You probably think you'll get to work on some cool bikes.
People will think you have a cool job. Some people will look up to
you as someone who knows more than they do. You'll see people's
reaction to the great work you do. You'll help people out with their
bike troubles, and save their vacations. You'll get to ride the
latest, coolest new products.

All the above are true. BUT, there are lots of caveats, too.

You'll have to ride some really nasty POS bikes. Some
downright unsafe ones too. Raine or shine. Freezing your ass off
sometimes. On the exact same loops of traffic. Over and over. And,
every time, you have to get all your gear on, and back off afterwards.
While someone checks your efficiency.

You'll have to fix some really messed up stuff, caused by the
customers. Those who are qualified to work on their bikes usually
don't need to bring them to shops, except for tire changes and major
work. Now you have to explain why fixing a non-operational turn
signal took several hours, since you had to replace miles of crimped
together, electrical tape, silly-puttied together wiring.

You will deal with an incredibly large proportion of
small-penis syndrome wannabe tough-guy idiots. This includes
customers, fellow employees, and management. Note: This is not to
say that it is the majority, but a larger percentage than in the rest
of your life.

You *will* be at the very bottom of the totem pole. Salesmen
will want you to do the impossible, and won't give a shit if it can be
done. Parts department will want you to fix shit without the proper
parts, either because they don't have them, or they fucked up and
ordered the wrong shit.

You will find out that there are very, *very* few "bolt-on"
items. Surprisingly, *most* of the H-D branded stuff fits fairly
well, and *most* of the aftermarket accessories are pure, total
garbage. This does not include high-performance stuff. You'd be very
hard pressed to find a bad product from S&S, Headquarters, Zippers,
ets...But the accessories suck. For example, White Brothers has been
making the Easy Clutch for years. I've put in hundreds, if not
thousands of these. You'd think they'd have figured out by now that
you have to grind down 99% of these to make them fit with a stock
cable, or the little hook won't fit on the coupler.

You'll find that sales people lie (shocking, I bet). And
it'll be up to you to try and make what they claimed would work
*actually* work. This is true of parts departments too. Some of it
is due to cluelessness, lots of it is due to greed and a desire to
"make the sale". You'll get no recognition for fixing their mess. A
good parts person or salesperson is worth his weight in gold. There
are very few good parts people or salespeople.

You'll work next to people who are clueless and/or clearly
don't give a rat's ass about the quality of their work. You'll see
stuff that makes you cringe, and stuff you'd never, ever, want to do
on your bike. They'll take shortcuts. After all, how is a customer
going to know if the clutch and throttle cables got lubed proplerly
during a service? Smart customers will figure it out and start
requesting you or other wrenches like you who actually care and treat
bikes they work on like their own (or better). Once again, expect no
recognition from this.

You'll find out that you are a disposable ressource in the
eyes of management. People who claim you are "family" will turn
around and screw you in a second if they don't need you anymore. I
have worked for many kinds of people from mobsters to MENSA members.
Ironically, the mobsters were the only ones who made a real effort to
meet their promises, and were honest when they could not, and
explained why.

You will work next to some people who would have to multiply
their IQ by a factor of 2 to be able to reliably tie their shoes
properly every morning. If you're as lucky as I was, you'll also get
to work next to some like-minded people, whom you can count on, who
will indeed treat you like family, help you through rough times, and
do anything short of giving you the shirts off their backs, and know
that you would do the same. Those people are also worth their weight
in gold, and also very rare.

You'll have no job security. Your schedule may be required to
change often. You may be told many times that "If you don't like it,
the fucking door is that way."

You'll have to buy your own tools. Lots of them. Including
some specialty tools to make your life easier. If you decide to buy
*good* tools, you will have more invested in tools than many people
have in their primary vehicle. I'm afraid to add it all up, but I'm
sure I probably have at least $20k invested.

You will face an incredible amount of bigotry and intolerance
for anything different than what some people's limited life experience
has opened their tiny minds to. You can try to change that. You'll
probably fail in most cases.

You will work with some people who have *no* business anywhere
near anything customer-service oriented. They will still be there,
either through an unwillingness to deal with them, the fact that some
money is still coming in, or pure nepotism. Or a combination of the
above. It will be made very clear that "the bottom line" is all that
matters. The quality of the work is secondary. The work ethic or
integrity is secondary.

If, like me, you take pride in your work, and you take your
work very, very (i.e. way too) seriously, the above will drive you
mad.

All the above are based on the last 7 years of my life, which
have been spent working in the motorcycle industry, with the last six
as a Harley technician. I have learned a lot. I have made some very
good friends. I have done pretty much anything on a Harley that you
would find in a dealership, and more. From a simple tire change to
building strokers, machining cases and heads, using a lathe, milling
machine, boring bar, Sunnen hone, etc...

But, due to many, many factors (including all the ones listed
above), I've decided that it's time to end this particular chapter in
my life. As of yesterday (or today, technically, since this is a
statuatory holiday), I am no longer a professional wrench (purely by
my choice).

My tools are at home. I'll eventually get a lift and
compressor in my shop here, and I can enjoy working on my own stuff
again. If I decide to do a few small projects here and there, I'll
pick the customers, the quotes, the hourly rate, and how long I
decide it'll take until it's done.

In the mean time, I have a few things lined up. Like another
job in something totally unrelated and stress-free, and the
possibility of going back to school and pursuing a degree (I'm
thinking a Physics degree, so I can get back to my former geekdom).

It's been an interesting ride. Would I do it again? Who
knows. And why even worry about it. I did it, I learned, and now
it's time to move on. Hopefully it'll give me a bit more time to
spend in here, nitpicking at some of the tech posts <sfsf>.

Phil...the "Times, they are a'changing..." Asshole(tm)...

 

Disclaimer: open if one needed...
I like the one Phil Boutros uses: "[The following is non-fictional. No
names are mentioned to protect the guilty. Any resemblance to actual
people is definitely
intentional.] "

I went through what you're going through in 2004. I taught special
education for 14 years to: homicidal, suicidal, emotionally disturbed,
abused, fetal alcohol syndrome, schizophrenic, mentally retarded, etc.
public school children, those in state psychiatric hospitals, and
county facilities. My wife and I wanted to have a child so, to be the
best father I wanted to be, made a 180 degree professional/life/career
change. I quit teaching other people's kids to devote all my time and
attention on the one kid in my life who means the most.
I hung my Bachelors of Science on the wall and moved from Austin to
Orlando, leaving all I knew behind for uncharted waters. The College
of Education at The University of Texas at Austin, is a matriarchal
society as well as the public education field being a predominantly
female profession. Interesting perspectives resulted from me being a
male in this sometime Amazonian culture.
Now I'm in the total polar opposite environment. Male dominated,
testosterone driven, unquestionably phallic motor sport industry. I
think there's four to six girls on the campus in the mornings. I
really appreciate the comments by Phil Boutros in this thread. He hit
it on the head with the points he makes in his post. Thank you sir.
I've completed everything MMI has to offer in the Harley-Davidson
curriculum and finished with a >3.8GPA. I am one of the older students
(36), one of a very few with a Bachelors from a major university
(U.T.-the largest in the nation), and can honestly say I've got more
formal education than many of the MMI instructors. That don't mean a
hill-o'-beans though to the experience some of these instructors have,
(and some claim to have). A class at MMI is only as good as the
teacher. Some teachers are genuinely interested in making sure his
students have grasped the concepts that are being taught. Conversely,
some teachers have a chip on their shoulder, have small-man's syndrome,
and want to humiliate the students and behave in an unethical manner.
Instructors are evaluated by their students at the end of the class.
One will find this true for any institute of learning and isn't unique
to MMI.
I have two more Japanese imports to learn and then I'm thrusted into
the world of being the low-man-on-the-totem-pole; this doesn't feel
good at all considering I left something good back in Austin (full-time
employment, benefits, good holidays...) but I made this choice and have
no regrets. A wise principal once told me as he hired me: "Put your
family first, your health second, and your job last. Without the first
two, you won't have the last."
MMI is 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, with rarely anyone doubling up on
classes. When I last looked, AMI is full time only and this is hard
for someone with a family, rent, utilities, etc. not to have a job in
Orlando.
The rest of the student population of MMI: some are fresh out of high
school riding off of mama and papa and have the F.T.W. attitude (unsafe
to partner up with in lab), those fresh off the battlefields of the
military using the G.I. Bill to go to school, the retired gents looking
for something to spend their retirement on, and guys like me making a
career change. Just like any other sample of the population, one can
use the Bell Curve to represent the intelligence levels, ability to
display socially acceptable behaviors, and those with ethics, and more
importantly, morals.
I've met some awesome people at school. Some who I'd love to work with
because they are genuine, loyal, smart, skilled, and trustworthy.
Conversely, there are others who think the exhaust fan is turned on
with the bright-red pull-lever by the back door with the letters
F-I-R-E written on it.
Living in Orlando has its' drawbacks: tourists, hurricanes, tourists,
heat, tourists, traffic, tourists, lack of decent paying employment
opportunities.
If you want to work at a tech in Orlando be prepared to not make any
money, get no respect, and know that there are 400 other techs waiting
for your job. Reality.
I chose two imports and Harley so I'd be prepared to work in any
geographical location/climate. Snowmobiles, watercraft, generators,
quads, motorcycles, etc. If I went the Harley route, I'd have limited
my professional opportunities.
I have no doubt that I'll find a job when I'm finished with MMI.
Consequently, like any other trade, I'll have to know my stuff, be
confident, prove myself, and earn the trust of my coworkers in order to
earn any money.
All I've said here was just personal observation/opinion and is just
that. Nothing was said to hurt, insult, or humiliate anyone. Someone
somewhere has the exact same observation/opinion I have shared so this
can't be copyrighted.
Get information in writing! Ask questions and check for understanding!
MMI doesn't have a basketball or football team. You do not get a brand
new Harley upon graduation (unless you pay for it).

 

This narrative, describing the author's MC industry views,
are very interesting. And, not a bit surprising because the
events outlined, except for a few very specific MC only
topics, can/do apply to every business form.

Gary

 

If I may ask, how much total cash did it cost you to go through two
imports and harley?

charles

 

Smarts ain't cheap. For the final cost of tuition I could have
purchased a Victory Vegas 8-Ball and a FLSTCI; or a R1200GS and a
FLHRSI.
The way I figure it: The cost is minimal compared to an enjoyable
lifestyle doing what I love. My wife and son are happy when I'm happy.
I'm confident I'll earn more turning wrenches than writing curriculum.
It was time to leave teaching. I was getting burned-out and fed up
with restraining myself daily from telling abusive parents what I
really thought about them, or just sockin' em in their blankety-blank
noses.
Now I'll have a job where I can say hostile obscenities when someone
throws a chair at me, I can be rude if I feel like it, or have a bout
of flatulence as I walk across the room and not be concerned with all
present bursting out in giggles.
My calling to be a teacher will now focus on my 3-yr-old, and the baby
I'm working on making.

ttocS
"I'm just me."

 

$30,794?

 

Ballpark. Sure.

ttocS
"I'm just me."