How to Become a Auto Body Technician I

Finding Auto Body Technicians for a body shop is challenging as there are fewer young people entering the field. One reason is because those young people who go to school often aren't hired for more than light hit body men, because shop owners know the capabilities of recent graduates. However, there are ways to come out better prepared and pay the dues needed to become a full fledged journeyman.

Things You'll Need

• A good high school background in Math, Computers, English, and Shop.
• A three stack tool box, nothing fancy (as the other guys will laugh at you behind your back.)
• An after school job working as a porter car washer in a body shop.
• Simple, beginning tools such as ball peen hammer, pliers, etc.

Instructions

1. Enroll in the high school class that will get you an internship at a body shop. Be prepared that you will not be put to work on vehicles. Be sure that your instructor makes it clear that you are there to work on the vehicles not just act a porter or car washer during the times you are site.

2. Ask for a job after school moving vehicles and washing cars. The time you spend detailing cars will give you a new respect for masking off your journeyman work. It will also make you pay attention to how vehicles are put together. It will teach you attention to detail, a skill you will need for working on vehicles. Also, it will allow your coworkers to watch you. They will put their time and energy into training a person that is a hard worker and someone that they like. You will earn their respect as you work hard to make the job come together.

3. Over time you most likely will get more responsibilities such as replacing rear view mirrors, back panels, and other small pieces of work. This is the beginning of light technician work. You will slow every job down as you learn, but most technicians remember how hard it was for them the first times. Find the ones who are willing to let you slow them down in return for speeding them up by taking on some of the work for them. Sooner or later people will take the time to teach you.

4. Take any I-Car classes the owners tell you about, or request information from the human resources person concerning I-car classes. Keep track of your records and be prepared to present them if you seek employment in the future elsewhere. Gold I-Car educated employees are an asset to any business and employers are glad to see you have kept up on the latest in your industry.

5. Ask the owner about any additional training he/she can get you into. This includes frame rack training that is provided on site by frame rack trainers. Ask the body men if you can watch as they set up vehicles, and use your federally mandated breaks to do so. Then if you have the money or financial backing to go to school, consider it. However, it is not necessary if you already have a staff willing to train you.

Tips & Warnings

• Becoming a body technician is difficult only because it takes perseverance and good relations with the men you work with. Just about the time you think you will never have to wash a car again, you'll have to fill in for a missing porter or car washer, since you are the man lowest on the totem pole. Eventually you will find a position where it is just you and the car.

• After interning from high school, you will still need to work drudgery jobs several years just to get the experience putting together small jobs accurately. There is very little way to circumvent this, because not every shop owner wants to hire new grads out of post secondary schools.

• Eventually you will become a light hit man, then move on to harder hits. Technicians who have been in the business seven years are considered full technicians as long as they have been given additional responsibility each year.

• Craftsman tools are fine, as are Snap Ons. But buying out a retiring body man's tools are the best way to bring yourself up to speed quickly in the tool department.

• Learn to keep an organized workspace. Pay close attention to wearing safety glasses and the proper welding shield. Safety needs to be a top priority, something the owner will appreciate. No one thinks you are a tougher guy just because you weld without wearing the proper equipment; they'll just think you are foolish.

• Learn by watching other body men and women. Each has his/her own style, and you will eventually develop your own.

• If the boss is willing to train you to write estimates, grab the chance. Don't throw away a great chance to prepare yourself for the day your knees will no longer handle crawling under the vehicles. It won't pay as much, but it makes you more employable, especially if you decide to make the eventual transition into the world of insurance estimating, where the money is fairly good.

• Don't expect to get hired and respected right out of tech school. Unless you've had some hands on experience previous to school, your skills will won't be adequate for your expected responsibilities.

• Expect to always keep up on the newest information in your field.

• Shop owners are wary of hiring guys who work out of their own house. Most aren't that skilled or they would have been recruited to a top notch shop.

• It's easy to get discouraged about the dues you have to pay to become a technician, but each step provides you the necessary background to becoming an expert in your field.

• Shop owners know which procedures produce money for the shop. If you disagree with the procedures they are implementing, such as an assembly line type of repair set-up, ask if they will teach you why they are doing it that way.