[swain66]

I was just wondering if anyone knows if
how good the hto rod fab program is a wyotech.

[Dutchman]

Swain66,
Some of these threads may give you some of the answers you need. If you need more conduct a "search" .

http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech
http://hotrodders.com/showthread.php...hlight=wyotech

Dutch

[bluesman123]

My neighbor's son just graduated HS and is heading to Wyotech in a couple of weeks. They did some SERIOUS homework, checked other places, and settled there. I have a lot of confidence in these folks, they are careful and very professional. Did I mention they are also really great folks? He just won the Good Guys Young Guys best truck this spring with his yellow 55 Chevy PU, and will be featured in Classic Truck later this summer. He'll be taking that to Laramie.

The only drawbacks I have heard them mention is the expense (yes, it is expensive) and some difficulty arranging housing.

Of course...coming from California, he has absolutely no concept of a Laramie winter!!!!


Hope this helps,

Dave

[Spottty]

Sorry to bring up this old post.

I have been enrolled in Wyotech but man the waiting list is looooong. I dont get to start till April 2005.

I did alot of looking around and decided that this is the place to go. I think just about any shop would hire you after your grad if you have decent marks.

Thats the only part I am worried about. After spending $40k (CAN) on school I hope I can find a good paying job!

Thanks for those posts Dutchman, it made me feel better

[MARTINSR]

A young man I work with went there and had a lot of great things to say about it. I was very impressed by his knowledge, he is an expericanced custom bodyman/fabricator already because of Wyotech.

[Pencilneck314]

20k+ for automotive technology or autobody classes?! You're kidding right? 9 months? I don't see how this could be a good deal.
http://www.theltc.net/tuition_fees.htm
This is a local technical college that I'd planned on attending beginning of next year. This school has government funding, so the fees are very affordable. The courses are 2 years and it's about 400 bucks a semester. I've spoken with the instructors(4), 1 has 15 yrs( the junior), 2 have 25 years, and 1 has 35+ years. All very intellegent guys. I've gone by and looked at the campus facilities and they're as cutting edge as I've seen in any shop. There has to be a more affordable college than 20k+ in your area. I don't care how good the instructors are, you'll never convince me that you can cram more information into 9 months than you can in 2 years. I'd keep looking, and research every school.

Pencilneck

[Spottty]

Well, tech schools are nice and all, I was gonna go to one here in town but I dont want to be a mechanic, I want to be a HotRod builder. Wyotech teaches that, I dont know of another school that does.

If I wanted to be a mechanic though I would stay here and go to the tech school and in 2 years and $8k later I will be a tech.

[Pencilneck314]

What is Wyotech? I just went to their site and they offer an associates degree in automotive technology. That's a tech school. The link that I posted above offers the same associates degree for roughly 1/10th the cost. I do have to admit that the autobody degree is fairly unique. I don't think I've seen any Tech College around here that offers that exact degree, although Collision repair is similar, with the exception of top chopping. It does seem like a nice school, I just thought you guys should know that you can get a very similar degree for alot less. You know you could always get specialized experience by finding positions in the field after you get out of school. If you consider that for 20k of schooling, you probably won't actually net anything until you've started your second year in your occupation. If you only pay 1600 bucks for your schooling, you can use that first year to sell yourself cheap to get the exp. your looking for.

Just a different way of looking at it,
Pencilneck

[Spottty]

That is a very good way at looking at it.

I thought about it for awhile. I'm 26 now and start just before im 27. 1 Year in school, 28. get a job and start to make good money 30.

If I went the other way. Start school 26, mechnic at 28 but still need all the hours. Learn body work (probly a year) 29. Learn to weld and build nice chassis (atleast a year) 30. Now I have all my school but have yet to do anything custom such as a roof chop or suicied doors or a body drop, add 2 years at a shop learning, now i'm 32 and starting to make good money.

I think the major selling point of Wyotech is the custom stuff. They teach you how to build a chassis, make a high performance motor, do body mods. I wouldnt go there if I wanted to work at a dealer.

I hope it doesnt look like I am trying to argue with you, I just want to point out why I and many others have choosen Wyotech.

I think the saying is "There is more than one way to skin a apple (or something)"

[Pencilneck314]

There's more than one way to skin a 67' mustang. I'm pretty sure at least. To each his own. Good luck with your edu-mu-cation.

Pencilneck

[BarryK]

Originally posted by Pencilneck314 after you get out of school. If you consider that for 20k of schooling, you probably won't actually net anything until you've started your second year in your occupation. If you only pay 1600 bucks for your schooling, you can use that first year to sell yourself cheap to get the exp. your looking for.

Just a different way of looking at it,
Pencilneck [/B]

************************************************** *
Pencilneck, i think you about hit it on the head. I teach 1-8 classes per school a year for different tech schools. I also set on the board of one school. My feeling is only a couple of the schools
really produce a painter or a body man that is capable of walking into a shop and have the qualifications to be a full fledge helper.
A lot of the problems is due to budget limitations and the dean not looking upon the body shop as his first love. I could write volumes on the above subject but the above is the highlights.

When I do career days for high school seniors I make the following statement. If you cannot afford a high class tech school plus the cost of living away from home why not live at home pick the best body man or painter in town and let him hire you as a helper? Plan on making no money for next two years but making some is better than spending a bunch and making none! The nice part about letting the bodyman or painter hire you instead of the shop is it will be serious training where with a shop you may be mowing the owners yard Friday for that party he is having Saturday washing cars and chasing garbage. Not everyone can afford additional schooling.

[SCRATCHNDENT]

I graduated from WyoTech back when it was still called Wyoming Tech. I had slightly over a year experience in a local independent Body Shop as a shop helper and wanted to 'Hurry Up' and expand on that as quickly as possible. Now remember, the following is only my opinion. One person's experiences compared to another's could vary greatly. I don't expect anyone to make a choice about their future based on my lame observations. Also, It is my opinion from the collision repair program training that I had. I did not go through their Street Rod program but I do know this. To take it, you must take another Core Program. Collision Repair of their Mechanical Program. Then, they will attempt to teach you the other because both are necessary for Hot Rodding. I don't know about you, but I doubt I could learn enough of either plus customizing techniques in 3 months to get a decent grasp on it. 8 hour days or not. Anyways, a little general info. Laramie Wyoming is a very beautiful town. It is true that it has only two season's. Winter and July. The Winter is very harsh and cold and the Mountains are very dangerous in snow storms. (duh!) Laramie can be a very boring town. Last I knew, there was not much to do around there except drink, party in the mountains, and use your imagination. Rumor has it that the locals do not like tech students and I agree with that. Some of the locals are serious red necks with their cowboy get up, gun racks, and excessive abuse of CB radios. Others have just had bad experiences with Tech students. Wyo Tech draws a wide variety of people. (What school doesn't) Many of them criminals, trouble makers, and what have ya's. I do know that my roomy and I have had a number of unsolicited confrontations in Laramie for just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Dorms were small and somewhat uncomfortable, but acceptable and livable. I lived in the two man dorms on the edge of town. I've heard the four man dorms were better.

Now, about the school. As in everything, schooling is only as good as the instructors and the student. I had a very good collision instructor and a very poor refinishing instructor. I swear to god that I knew more about paint with only a years experience than this guy did. I received my Associate degree of Applied Science from Wyo Tech. It is NOT a body and paint or Service Tech Degree. It is a degree that you get from completing their Applied Service Management course, which I might say was pretty informative at the time, and a core program. Wyo Tech is extremely professional and holds their students to extremely high standards. That is good. However, the school is very unforgiving. I got sick with Mono for a month. It was Hell. I missed a week of school and almost was sent home. They had a 3 day policy. Miss 3 days and you are kicked out. It allows for NO EXCUSES. Not weather. Not an act of God. The doctors note and the fact I was hospitalized do to near death was not enough. Nothing I could try to say would do. It took a phone call from my father,(a very convincing man), to the head of the school. After he chewed on him for awhile, only then was I allowed to stay. I still had to drag myself to school for the rest of the month. The schooling also is not intended to make you an overnight journeyman repairer, customizer, or whatever . It only gives you the knowledge to go into a shop and not just stand around watching technicians. It gives you a basic to moderate understanding of what is going on and why it is going on like it is. That is all. The chances of making any respectable amount of money right out of school is slim an none. In fact, upon graduating and going back to a body shop to work, I made little more than minimum wage and was still treated like a trainee. And rightfully so! I didn't realize that then. I even was very bitter about it. I WENT TO WYOMING TECH! I AM A SKILLED TECHNICIAN! That is when I found out the difference between knowledge vs. skill and experience. I still needed to learn, grow, and fine tune my own repair style and technique. Ironically, I found that even after spending a fortune in schooling, I learned far more in the body shop, then I could ever learn from a school or a set of books. The massive amount of knowledge and training that I had obtained from fellow body men and painters who had been doing this for years and years had far exceeded anything else. Tricks, shortcuts, and nearly everything else was learned in the shop. It's been over 10 years since I have graduated from Wyo Tech. I am still learning new things every day. Sometimes its a new answer to an old way of doing something. Sometimes it is completely new technology. The "Schooling" NEVER ENDS. There are absolute musts such as I-CAR and ASE training that will keep you in the know and up to date. And yes, I believe that these things especially apply to Hot Rodders. You are the ones cutting, designing, and modifying to your own imagination.

Finally in summary-Is it a good school? I personally didn't care for it. Neither did a lot of people I knew. I would drive around Wyoming to avoid going through Laramie ever again. But there are many people who did like it. I just think that for the year and the money spent, I should have gone to the local community college at night and worked in the shop during the day. Or I could have simply just remained an apprentice and certainly, in due time, I would become an excellent tech. The flip side of the coin is this. I think that many repair shops recognize the name WYO TECH and having it on your resume may actually help you in your future. I am not to certain that it hadn't done just that for me. But unfortunately, that is the reality of all things. You could be the best tech in the world, but if you don't have a silly piece of paper stating that you had formal schooling, you may get passed over for some whack who has no clue and is willing to butcher a vehicle and compromise some family's safety for a quick buck. Like I say. You still learn more out here than in there. But there are still PRO's and Cons. Make the choice that best suits you.

[BarryK]

Could not have been said better!

[Spottty]

Wow, that was great! Thanks.

I am in one of those situations right now. I dont have a peice of paper saying I can work on cars so I get the crappy jobs (Tires and oil changes).

Maybe someone will hire me because I am going to the school and train me so I dont have to shell out the cash