I spent the first 30 years of my professional career in the car bidness, doing everything from tech to parts to sales to management, but I got very tired of the long hours and finally decided to do something else. I took on a whole new career running a manufacturing plant and learning industrial process from ammonia refrigeration to HVAC to telecom to physical plant maintenance to specification, purchase and commisioning of expensive production lines, but when I turned 62 my employer of 14 years showed me the door, and the last year or so I've been trying to find a job I'd like to do, one that would hire me, and something I feel physically able to perform..... That's a lot of variables isn't it? Probably something to do with why I've had so much success too..... One of my friends suggested applying at the local community college as an adjunct professor teaching automotive courses, so I put in an application last fall.............nuttin. A few weeks ago I noticed they were again looking for teachers so again I put in an app, not really expecting a reply, but Monday the dean called and set me up for an interview, which I did this morning. I thought it went pretty well, and sure enough even before I managed to get out of the building after the interview they caught me in the hallway and offered me a position. Monday morning I go fill out the papers with the HR dept and one week following that I'll be teaching my first class! Yikes! I've never been a teacher and I haven't been in school for 40 years, this could be interesting to say the least! However, I have trained numerous young guys in all sorts of disiplines, automotive to industrial and I regularly hold garage days in my shop for the local MINI club, so it's not completely foreign to me, but it's definitely a change. The school is well funded, located out here in the 'burbs instead of the 'hood, and is well regarded scholastically nationally. I did a walk thru of the "lab" (shop) area and the equipment is first class, clean as a pin and very new. It will be fun to see what happens, but so far I'm looking forward to the experience..... It's going to be a lot of work, especially for the first semester as I get my feet wet and figure out what to do. I also have to learn how to use some of this new fangled equipment before I can teach others how to use it. So, come Monday, it will be Professor Minidave! Pray for me........ :crazy: :biggrin5:
Good on you Dave..... I did a similar thing after working for a company for 25 years, but left on my own accord to run the family business..... The change of pace was the best thing I did.... Good luck Professor..... Has a nice ring to it....
Congratulations – I am the same age and recently went out on my own. I suspect we have a similar view of our previous employer. As part of going on my own I went to school to get a license. I had not been in class in 40 years. The whole thing was a little scary but seems to be starting to go well.
I think it's just great that you'll be imparting all those years of knowledge to our young people. Good On Ya! Best of luck with the new career.
Wow, Professor Minidave, that has a nice ring to it. Congratulations. So all mechanical or are you mentoring the paint shop too? How many times you going to let them work on the Clubman as a class project. Super.... Don
Great news Dave. We all know you will be a great teacher. And my experience has been that folks who go to a community college actually want to learn something and they make the best students.
Only mechanical and electrical for me, no body shop..... And they're never going to touch my Clubby, or my Jag! (Unless I "let" them wash and polish it ) I won't know till Monday what I'll be teaching, but they need someone for 3 different areas - Brakes, Front end and Suspension and Intro to Electrical. But who knows, they might have me in transmissions or diff repair.... it was kinda funny, one of the other teachers also sat in on the interview, and he was a tech at the Porsche dealership I ran the Parts dept at in 1971!
Yeah....... I try to look at it as them doing me a favor, cause they got me out of there. After the ownership changed, I knew it was just a matter of time and I probably should be glad they let me stay as long as they did. But then, I could have gotten on somewhere else while I was young enough to be considered. Once you're over 60, it's a whole new ballgame.... So, I'm trying to take the long view....the "all things happen for a reason" view......and just be happy I'm out of a negative management situation. I was really getting to hate the place and those that ran it. I'm glad your situation is working out too, what field did you wind up in that you needed a lic?
Pretty cool. Congrats! I'm the Chairman of the Career and Technical Advisory Committee at the local vo tech school and they do a lot of dual enrollment with Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA. I'm pretty sure you'll do great, especially when they find out your level of knowledge. There are a lot of good people out there looking to get additional education. If they need a bodyshop instructor somewhere down the road, drop me a line. After 32 years I could use a break, might be a helluva commute from SE VA to KS! Keep us informed.
MiniDave, I am new here, but don't sweat it. If the students are interested, they will pay attention. If they pay attention, they learn. Example: I am interested in all things Mini. I read your posts, I learn from them. Simple. If a student is going through the motions, but not motivated to learn, you will know. You can't fix that. You can still try, but don't drive yourself nuts over it. Good luck!
I think it is great News.!! I have some friends that are skilled tradesmen and I think it is sad that we are losing out on that ability with the "follow the flowchart" mentality of repair. Teach them how to use that tool between their ears.
I think I'm pretty much everyone's senior! But this guy is my muse and my mentor.... I only hope that I can live up to his standards! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw]Professor Irwin Corey at the Cutting Room NYC - YouTube[/ame]
Hey "Professor Minidave", good luck! I've been a professional instructor a good many years, even when my title had things like "Supply Chain Director" or "Lead Consultant" or Project Manager" in it. If you can bear a few words of advice... - Organization is key, especially when instructing in a lab-type environment - You can almost never spend enough time prioritizing the basics of keeping "things" clean, organized, and especially SAFE. Your first class should focus on that - I've even used that as a kind of a topic when teaching people about Inventory Management! And by "things", that includes not only personal protective equipment and safe practices, but includes things like mindsets, and priorities (What are we doing here? What's our ultimate goal? In an auto repair business, that's for every employee to be uninjured at the end of the day, and for every car (and OWNER) that enters the building to leave in better shape than they were when they came in.) - I've had professors who took the first 5 minutes of class to play an obscure pieve of music, and discuss its history and composer, before teaching, say, Physics. What does one have to do with the other? WEll, yeah, you can draw some obscure connections, but the fact was that those 5 minutes allowed the Class to get our heads out of the commute, our relationships, and everything else that was going on and focus on the class, AND it formed a bond of interest between us and the prof, made him "human" without having to get all personal. - Breaking things (and practices/procedures) down to their component parts works GREAT. Start with a high level overview of everything, then break each task down to subtasks. - You will spend 2-3x your "class time" on preparation. If you do this, your class time will be more productive, and your follow-up and administrative time will be far more effective, and shorter. - "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em". There's your lesson plan for EVERY class. Now just fill in the topic. - Always keep in mind where their heads are, and map a path to get them from where they are to where you need them to be. View your world from their perspective... ...and importantly, it doesn't mean CRAP if your students like you or don't like you. Spend exactly zero effort trying to be "liked". It does, however, mean EVERYTHING that your students RESPECT you. I'm not saying to be mean, or cruel, but to provide the best education they can get, as best you can, and as kindly as possible. Be a great human, but recognize that it's a TON easier to be firm and then get lenient, than it is to start lenient and get out of control. You sound like you've got it going on and didn't need any of that, but believe me if someone had taken me aside and told me a few of those things beforehand, I'd have had an easier time on the way up! Do let us know how it goes!
Thanks to all for your encouragement and positive thoughts! I got my class assignment, I'll be teaching Steering and Suspension I, my lecture is 10am to 11, then I have lab from 11-2pm, Wed and Fridays. No 6 am classes for me, Yay! I also found out the shop is air conditioned! I have a lot of reading to do between now and the 22nd (my first class) and I need to get familiar with all the equipment - the have two brandy new alignment racks, with some kinda super fancy schmancy computer operated deally bobby - I mean it's got fricken lasers! :biggrin5: (obscure movie reference - Austin Powers)