Are You Looking For A Career As An A&P Mechanic?

what's up everybody welcome back to class uh so i knew i said i wasn't launching anything super huge over the next couple days uh until that series about transitioning from military to civilian on october 1st but i've had a whole slew of questions that i've been answering like crazy uh over the last couple of days since we launched and i wanted to cover some of them today so we'll go go ahead and start that list we're going to cover things like what kind of training is available after you've finished your schooling uh what benefits are provided by most companies uh companies to stay away from or that are hard to get into companies that are easy to get into or really or that you really want to go work for uh average hourly schedules so like how many hours a week are you working um how much did you actually know how much did you feel like you were prepared for your job when you got there useful higher education pathways uh positions you can move up into from entry uh level positions and average pay so a lot of these are really subjective questions um like what companies to go work for or stay away from or that are hard to get into are easy to get into all those that's entirely subjective you could search all day and you'll find nothing but negatives and nothing but positives about multiple companies but it's always one way or the other either you want to love this company or you hate this company it's never somewhere in between so it's really about talking to people that work there and seeing if you can get in there and see what it's like to work there go tour the facility i got a chance to do that with my amp program and i loved it i was able to see into different aspects of the industry from manufacturing and mros to flightline maintenance and smaller shops and it was it was a really good way for me to see what kind of environment that i fit well in and where i thought that i wanted to go and i discovered that heavy maintenance wasn't something i really wanted to do so i went a different route unfortunately uh i went with contracting for now which is great it's great it's good money i'm making six figures but uh we'll cover that kind of stuff later in the video um average hours average hours is a really hard one to pin down as well um it can be typically 40 hours to 84 hours a week it depends on how much you want to work the industry you're in how many hours are available um you're typically going to start on like a night shift or a swing shift in most industries like mros or or line maintenance and you're going to be there for a long time until there's a position open on a better shift you're going to typically work 40 plus hours 48 plus hours a week i'd say the average is between 40 and 65 hours a week 40 and 70 maybe um benefits benefits is a good one but it's pretty standard across the industry um health dental 401k with matching usually a lot of them provide profit sharing some companies like a specific manufacturing facility that i have known a few people to go work for in certain programs offers educational assistance so one of the people that i know that went through one of these programs got his pilot's license paid for because he was able to justify to the company that his pilot's license would make him a greater asset to the company so you can go anywhere you want you can get anything out of these companies really as long as you know where you're looking know what you want and you go for it you talk to the right people training after graduating is the same thing uh there's tons of programs out there from independent schools to uh little shops that offer their own in-house stuff uh avionics classes are all over the place which is a good one to get into because avionics is pretty sought after along with sheet metal and composites by the way if you can only afford to get your a or your p and you're trying to decide which one to get i highly recommend starting with your a because your airframe ticket a good sheet metal guy a good composite guy are hard to find and they are very sought after no matter where you go in this industry higher education pathways i am one of those people that's going to tell you don't get a degree in aviation and i know that sounds crazy coming from someone who's literally working in aviation education but don't get a degree in aviation uh you want a degree in something else because our industry is so cyclical it has such high highs and such low lows that if you don't have a backup plan you are screwed and i know especially right now with the huge layoffs that are happening because of covid and nobody flying uh there's a lot of people that are stuck because they put all their eggs in one basket so uh there are great aviation programs out there aviation degrees in business and maintenance and sciences and and aerospace and they're great for getting you further in this industry uh but i still in the of the opinion that you need a degree outside of this industry so that you can have a fallback that will provide you with income when we have a downturn which happens every few years uh right now is an amazing time to get into it though because almost every pathway you're looking at is 30 months or more because you've got to get that time you have to get that experience and you have to get that education uh let's see what else we're going to cover we're going to cover positions you can move up into uh positions you can move up into it they're all over the place okay just like everything else in this industry it's all about your passion your drive your knowledge okay uh i know some guys who went from an entry level mechanics position to being a pilot with the same company i know some other guys who went from being a mid-level mechanic to working in the engineering department on on modifications i know uh some other guys who have gone from uh like a mid-level mechanic to working up in the corporate air uh corporate bit doing like hanger management and uh pc work and qc work um you can go be a ti you can strike out on your own and may and and go be an independent mechanic working in people's private aircraft that's a great one you get your ia after a few years of being in an mro with some experience go work on go work for yourself and then wage pay is is whatever you want sky's the limit as long as you can get away with charging it you can charge it in that in that aspect um typical pay is going to be for someone who's just starting out with no experience straight out of 147 school or right out of your ojt you're looking at 17 to 20 an hour this is west coast i can't speak for the whole rest of the us but this is typical uh wage distribution for the west coast uh 17 to 20 an hour for uh entry level no experience 20 to 23 for someone with a couple years experience who's done with their ojt and they've been working at a facility for a while longer 23 to 30 for someone with three to five years once you get beyond that you're looking at 30 to 50. i've seen mechanics who go out on their own and charge 100 an hour for uh doing an annual on someone's aircraft you can charge whatever you want whatever you feel you are worth and you can get away with someone paying you charge it because they couldn't get their aircraft in the air without us i mean it's as simple as that and if you're good at your job and people are willing to pay you what you feel you are worth take that money um let's see prepar how prepared does school and ojt get you for your job never ever ever assume that you will be 100 prepared or even 50 prepared for a job okay uh i went from doing my job as a chinook mechanic to uh doing my job as a chemist mechanic i had four years of experience working on this helicopter as a military mechanic and i went and decided to change and be a civilian mechanic on these helicopters and i still had to learn relearn things i was ground zero again and i thought i knew stuff about the helicopter like i know how to change parts and diagnose things and and do what i need to do but i still had to relearn i was unprepared as hell for this career change and it wasn't because i didn't know anything it was because every place you go is going to be different nothing is going to prepare you for where you're going and these certificates are not something that shows you know everything once you get these certificates these certificates are licenses to learn okay the day you stop learning is the day you need to change careers because there is never a point where you know everything there are some guys in this industry who have forgotten more than i will ever know in my entire career and i love learning from them my favorite thing to do is to go to the hangar or go go to the airfield and just sit in the fbo and talk with those old hats who sit there in the morning and talk airplanes while drinking their coffee on the county's dime because their wives are tired of them doing it in their own house okay it's this whole industry this everything about this is figuring out what you're passionate about what you want to learn about and learning as much as you can about it and then going and doing it and the harder you work the better off you are so i hope you guys learned some stuff i know i learned quite a bit while i was answering these questions uh i did more research than i thought that because i i thought i knew stuff and then i started looking into it more and even i'm still learning and my whole job is to is helping you guys figure out these answers so if i'm still learning and that's my job is to teach you guys this obviously we all have things to learn so thanks for coming to class i really appreciate you guys coming and learning with me i really enjoy learning and teaching and growing with all of you and if you have any more questions hit like subscribe if you haven't already uh leave your comments down in in the comments down there hit me up on facebook at remote amt school or email me at contact remote amt.com i will gladly answer your questions i will do as much research as i need to to get you something in depth if you're looking for someone to learn your ojt stuff from let me know where you're at what you're interested in and i will do my best to try to find you someone who's willing to work with you um i'm still getting that part of the business up and going so i don't really have a whole lot of resources there but i will do my best to place you in contact with someone who will help you get where you need to go thanks again for coming to class i hope to see you guys in the next one

Channel: Remote AMT

Views: 12,731

Keywords: A&p, A&p mechanic, A&p school, Aircraft, Aircraft mechanic, Airframe, Airframe and powerplant mechanic, Amt, Aviation, Aviation mechanic, Career, Mechanic, Powerplant, aircraft maintenance, aircraft maintenance school, aircraft maintenance technician, aircraft mechanic job, aircraft mechanic training, airplane mechanic, amt school, aspiring aircraft mechanic, become an aircraft mechanic, how to become an aircraft mechanic

Id: 4jdLcYJf3Vo

Length: 12min 49sec (769 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020