Career Links Vol 3 No 3 November 2003

The Mechanics of a New Career:

richard_fort.jpg (126 KB) Richard Fort

An Interview with Richard Fort,
Associate Professor and Career Program Facilitator,
Automotive Technology

Interviewed by Kit Gorrell Frankenfield,
Employment Systems Technician,
Career Services Center

Richard Fort is a full-time professor in the Automotive Technology program at JCCC. Automotive technicians generally begin their careers in service repair shops, with continually expanding industrial and service career advancement opportunities. Technicians work with experienced professionals and have frequent contact with the public. This field requires good mechanical aptitude and manual dexterity skills.

The two-year associate of applied science degree, which is certified by the ASE, concentrates on a theoretical background in diagnosis and tune-up, chassis, electrical/electronic and hydraulic systems, automatic transmissions, engines and emissions. Students work on developing the skills needed to advance to a supervisory position, including customer relations, estimating materials and labor costs, and managing the work of others. JCCC supports the ASE Certification of technicians and encourages students to become ASE certified. For more information on this program, visit the department website at http://www.jccc.net/home/depts/1210 or contact Richard by email at rfort@jccc.edu or by telephone at (913) 469-8500 Ext. 3127.

Career Services Center: What do you do at JCCC?

Richard Fort: I’m the career program facilitator of the Automotive Technology program, which means I am a full-time instructor first. I also do most of the paperwork for the program area, order the supplies, do the purchase requisitions, order and repair equipment, and help prepare the budget. In addition, I help do the program review, which we had this year, and manage most everything that goes on in the area.

CSC: What classes do you teach?

RF: I’ve taught almost everything here except air conditioning and automatic transmissions. I teach electrical, engine performance, brakes, and manual transmissions. I have also taught Intro to Auto Shop Practices, Engine Repair and Steering and Suspension.

CSC: Tell us about your career path. Did you mess around with trucks and toys when you were a kid?

RF: Yes, I tinkered with all kinds of stuff. I was always extremely mechanically inclined. I think I got hooked when I was very small. I don’t know who gave me the book, but I had a book about engines. I still have it. I used to look at that book for hours, and I think that’s what hooked me. Also, there was a guy who lived behind us who was putting an engine in a car. I was probably six or seven years old. He was taking an engine out of a car and putting another one in. I went over and helped him. You can imagine a six or seven-year-old doing that! I got dirty and greasy, but had a good time. It’s kind of strange, but my dad was never interested in cars at all.

CSC: How did you decide on a career in Automotive Technology?

RF: When I was seven or eight years old, my grandpa gave me an old outboard motor that didn’t run. Of course, I tore it apart, cleaned it up and put it back together. I was able to fix it and that’s what got me started. I actually sold that motor later and made money on it. From there I worked for a small engine repair shop when I was about 12 or 13. I was underage, and unfortunately got my employer in trouble, because I was working too many hours for my age. I was working a 40-hour week during the summer and making great money for a 12-year-old. I wasn’t able to work there anymore after he got into trouble for working me too many hours. After I got a little older, I worked for a tractor dealership. I worked there for quite a long time. Later on, I worked for a casket manufacturing company repairing equipment. Among other things, I actually fabricated [constructed] equipment for sanding the casket lids to put streaks in them across the top.

CSC: Where did you go after high school?

RF: After high school, I attended Pittsburg State University (while it was still a vocational school) and got a certificate in Automotive Mechanics. Afterwards, I worked for two or three years. I started at the tractor dealership again; and then moved up here to the Kansas City area, working in Olathe and Overland Park at Chrysler dealerships. I found out that my former instructor, who taught me at Pittsburg State was retiring, and they called me and told me to apply. I did. I got the job and started teaching in 1985. At this time I only had a certificate—no degree whatsoever. I think I was 23 at the time. During that time period the Vocational Technical Institute was absorbed by the college, so it became an actual college program. We changed it into an Associate’s degree program and a certificate program. Since I was on a college campus, I knew that if I was going to advance in my career, I was going to have to get a degree. So while I was teaching full-time, I got my Bachelor’s degree in Vocational Technical Education and my Master’s in Technology. Then I came to JCCC in 1996.

CSC: How did you hear about JCCC?

RF: I had started looking for jobs and noticed they had a job opening up here. I applied for it and was very, very glad that I was hired. I’ve been extremely happy here. This is a unique place to work.

CSC: When did you move into the Career Program Facilitator role?

RF: After about a year, I moved into the Career Program Facilitator position. I think they hired me with that intent.

CSC: How long does it take to complete the program at JCCC?

RF: The certificate usually takes one year; you could finish in one year if you take both day and night classes. The Associate’s degree takes around 2-1/2 years for most people.

CSC: What’s the first automotive class that students take in the program?

RF: Introduction to Automotive Shop Practices is the prerequisite for all of the other courses in the program. It’s an overview of the car, and we get quite a few people who take this class who aren’t even interested in completing the certificate or Associate’s degree program.

CSC: Are students required to have an internship to complete the degree or certificate?

RF: They are not required, but about 90 percent of our students are working.

CSC: How many students are in the program now?

RF: Around 150. We do things a little differently in this program. We go by credit hours generated by each class, and I think we had 850 credit hours last semester. We had almost as many credit hours generated last semester as we did the entire year in 1999 and 2000. The program is growing.

CSC: What about the job market? Is there a growing demand for auto mechanics?

RF: I don’t think it’s changed. There is still a need for technicians. The nice thing in this field is that there’s always a need, no matter what’s going on, for a good technician. You find that quite a bit. Five technicians may work at a shop, and a couple of them aren’t so good at what they do, so employers are constantly looking to upgrade their staff to find someone who’s better.

CSC: What tips do you have for students entering the field of automotive technology?

RF: This field has changed a lot. It used to be that the people who became auto technicians were those whom counselors thought couldn’t do anything else. That has changed. You have to be able to read and comprehend what you’re reading, because there’s no way you can know everything there is to know about cars now. They are very complex. When you go out to work on an anti-lock brake system that’s not working, there are 500 different systems possible. Every one is different for each make, model and year. The only way you know how to fix it is to go to the manual, read it, comprehend it, and do the tests suggested. Then you find the problem and fix it. Unfortunately, if you can’t read and comprehend, you can’t be successful in this field anymore. You can change tires and oil, but you’re not going to be successful.

CSC: What can someone do to prepare for the program?

RF: When I go on my high school visits, I tell them about my dream student. He or she would be the person who has taken all the mathematics, physics and chemistry he or she can take in high school because everything we work on has to do with those subjects. The math helps you think abstractly. Most of the cars you work on in the field you can “touch and feel” some of it, but a lot of it are things you can’t, like the electrical systems. That’s had a drastic effect on cars. Every system on a car has something electrical to make it operate. That’s not something you can touch and feel; you have to understand what’s going on just by thinking about it.

CSC: What are the personal and professional characteristics a person needs to be successful as an automotive technician?

RF: You have to be a self-starter. That’s very important. In my opinion, you also have to be honest. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of publicity about dishonest repair shops. It’s a pet peeve of mine. There’s enough money to be made in this field fixing what’s broken. You don’t have to fix things that aren’t, but unfortunately there is an element out there that does do that. There’s plenty of money to be made being honest—honesty and integrity are very important in this field.

You’ve also got to have common sense and be able to deal with people. Even if you’re a technician and you’re only working in the shop, you’re going to be dealing with fellow technicians and the service advisor. You have to be on time. One of the first things that will get you fired at a job in this field is not showing up, because they’ve got cars lined up waiting for you to work on them. If you don’t show up, it puts them way behind. That’s very important. People also need to be analytical and able to problem solve.

CSC: What skills do the “good” technicians have?

RF: They have to be able to work on electrical systems. They have to understand completely and be able to work on electrical problems, be able to read and comprehend and read between the lines. The manuals don’t tell you everything—that’s the bad thing. The manufacturers leave half the information out of them. They don’t want to let you know everything because it may be “too technical,” but you need to know that information to do your job. Sometimes if you work for a dealership, you can call and ask about repairing certain automobiles, but there are a lot of situations where you can’t, so you have to try and work your way through it.

CSC: Are there very many women in the automotive program?

RF: We don’t have a lot, but we have a few. There are some very successful women in the field. Women can almost name their wage if they go through the program and look for a service advisor job. Lots of dealerships are looking for women to be service advisors because most people who take their cars to the dealership are women. They want someone there to interact with the women who come in, who knows what they’re doing. They are in very high demand and can almost name their wage.

CSC: What is the typical day like for someone in the automotive industry?

RF: In a typical day for a technician, you spend a lot of time bending over, which is pretty hard on you. You also spend a lot of time with your hands above your head. When I first started and worked in a shop with a lift, I was sore for a month until I got used to it. Most technicians, if you look at them, usually have a pretty strong upper body. The reason why is that they’re constantly working over their head when the car is on a lift. You do a lot of standing. One of the unique things about this field is that you are hired by a dealership, but you are actually working for yourself. You’re paid on a “flat rate” system, which means that each job you do pays a certain amount of time. For example, let’s say I replace a water pump that pays two hours. If I complete that job in an hour and a half, then I still get paid for two hours; but if it takes me two and half hours, I only get paid for two hours. So you have to be fairly quick and accurate with your diagnosis. If you have a “comeback”, which means if I fix a water pump, it goes out, and the owner brings it back because it’s not working, I do the job for free the second time. I “eat it.” The company doesn’t; I do. So in actuality, you end up working for yourself. The technicians who make a lot of money are the ones who show up early and stay late. They put in a lot of hours, but these guys will flag 60 to 100 hours in a work week. They work 40 or 45 hours a week, but they flag 60 to 100 hours, because they are working faster and more efficiently. Good technicians work at two or three jobs, or stalls, at the same time.

CSC: Do technicians work alone or as part of a team?

RF: It depends. There are some dealerships where people work alone and some who use a team approach. I can’t say that one system is any better than the other one. When I was working, it was an individual; there weren’t any teams at that time, but that’s kind of evolved and some of the dealerships around town are using the team approach. Both of them can work with the right leadership in the service manager position.

CSC: Are shops set up so that technicians can ask each other for help, or are they so competitive that people stick to themselves?

RF: It really depends on the shop. Some of them aren’t so competitive. Some are extremely competitive to the point that they charge someone to use one of their tools.

CSC: What kind of environmental conditions do auto techs work in? Are they comfortable conditions?

RF: Most of the shops are not air-conditioned. There are some that are, but most of them are not, so it gets hot during the summer. They are heated, so in the winter you don’t get cold. When it rains outside, cars come in wet, it goes up on a lift, and the water and mud go in your face. Sometimes it is a dirty job, but it is a job where you can make quite a bit of money at it. There are some technicians working up and down Noland Road and Metcalf Avenue who are making six figures a year. Those are the very best technicians in Kansas City. They have learned to work efficiently.

CSC: What are some of the companies that might employ our students after they complete the automotive program?

RF: All the car dealerships, in addition to independent shops, would hire our students after completing either the degree or certificate program.

CSC: What are some of the job titles that someone might have?

RF: Most of them will be line technicians. They may start out on a lube rack and then move into a line technician position. It depends on how much experience they have and how well they impress the service manager when they interview. We’ve got some students who have jumped right into service advisor positions. Those are the people who greet the public when someone brings their car into the dealership for service and write the service orders for the technicians. There are other things graduates can get into also, such as parts or sales.

CSC: Is there a difference between the jobs a student can qualify for with a certificate over having an Associate’s degree?

RF: Students with a certificate are just as hirable as someone with an Associate’s degree. In actuality, the core classes we teach about the automobile in both programs are the same. However, the Associate’s gives a person the opportunity to advance in the future, because there are some management classes required.

CSC: Is computer experience good to have in the automotive field?

RF: Yes. Everything on a car is computerized anymore. Computers are used a lot for repairs, in addition to scanners.

CSC: Do students get computer classes as part of the program?

RF: The computer classes they take are not the same as those they would use on cars. We teach specific computer skills in our Engine Performance and brakes classes.

CSC: Do technicians and students have to provide their own tools?

RF: Yes. When they are hired, they are hired for themselves and their tools. They have to have their own tools to go to work.

CSC: Is it expensive to purchase the tools required to start the program here?

RF: You can buy a tool set for $500- $800 to start off. Students have both lockers and tool boxes to lock their tools up in. A person who’s out there working the field right now may easily have up to $30-$40,000 worth of tools. Their tools are how they make their living. If they find a tool that saves them time, and spend a little money on it, they will make money on their investment.

CSC: What about a career with Nascar?

RF: That’s a high-end area, and it’s very difficult to break into. They do have schools that teach that type of curriculum to get into racing teams. On the other hand, if you’re into Nascar, there’s a group of team chiefs, and the head mechanic is almost as well-known as the drivers. The main mechanics don’t change very often. There isn’t that much turnover and there aren’t that many of them.

CSC: What do you like most about your job?

RF: I like teaching students. Truthfully, I tell my students I hate cars. But I love teaching students. I like to see the light go on. If you’ve been teaching long enough, you can see when the ‘light goes on’ over their head and you know they caught it. I like doing that. It’s a lot of fun. That’s probably the best thing I like doing, that and talking with the students who are graduates of our program who are working and successful. Seeing that our program has made an impact on their lives—that’s very rewarding.