What do y'all do for a living? Does it involve cars?

I work in auto and general liability insurance claims.

I research dirt ownership and do the work other people get the credit for. I do a lot of driving.

I own my own speed shop (see signature) and advertise in GRM. Get to sell cool parts and work on peoples toys. It hasn't hurt my passion for my hobby, but my cars have to take a back seat to customer projects.

Was an IT guy for 25 years. Did everything from build XT clones back in the stone age to engineering and managing software deployment for a global pharma company. Supported the groups that guys like BenB work in on the last page.

Been selling OEM car parts for about 13 years now. I spent the first 3 years selling Hyundai/Kia/Suzuki/Daewoo out of the same building (can you say cluster f**k?). Moved to where I am now selling Acura parts and now selling Honda and Acura parts Online as well as wholesale.

I was a ASE certified tech for GM and a certified Honda tech. I was going nowhere in that career and wasn't satisfied, especially after I got my Bachelor's. It killed my passion for the hobby and I wanted something different.

I am a reservists now and on the civilian side I analyze information from computer and network incidents. Pretty boring stuff.

While this career field pays well my future plans involve something that doesn't involve turning a wrench or being a desk jockey.

19 year IT pro over here. I've done it all from digital janitor to first in line to strangle.

Currently working as a team lead/process dude for a Middleware team.

I couldn't work on cars for a living since I'm sooooo slow

I'm a Service Advisor at a Ford dealership, and the only resident "Car Guy".

I am an analyst for the Missouri Senate. I do, however, work on the MoDOT budget. Does that count?

I work at a private school as a Maint tech and keep all of our busses running down the road as well as electrical and appliance repair in the kitchen. It works out wonderfully for my car/bike hobby as I have a very large well equipped shop I use for my personal stuff. its heated and everything .

I am in the pinball business, specifically Williams/Bally. Buy, sell, trade, repair, restore. My company also manufactures replacement parts for the DIYers. We specialize in paint stencils for the restoration of cabinet art. Our stencils are authorized by Williams/Bally as genuine products. I'm also a full time student, pursuing a degree in technical communication.

For you guys that work in parts, how did you make the transition from a guy with a garage full of junk to something more legitimate?

I'm a Technical Writer for a company that builds LMI's, winches, hoists for a variety of industries.

Strike_Zero wrote: 19 year IT pro over here. I've done it all from digital janitor to first in line to strangle. Currently working as a team lead/process dude for a Middleware team. I couldn't work on cars for a living since I'm sooooo slow

Oh man 19 years? How do you do it? Even working in a very newish IT field where things are changing everyday, it still drives me nuts as I'm one of those people who just loves to do things hands on. Like an engine I can take it apart when something is wrong with it. 3 years in on the IT world and I'm starting to question the move into it despite the pay. It all comes very easy to me its just very mind numbing stuff.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I get to play in 3d in both Solidworks and Inventor to design the machinery that takes flat stock steel, de-stacks it, coils it into a hoop, welds the hoop ends together, forms the bead seat profile, punches the valve hole, and welds the stamped disk in to finally end up with finished car and truck rims.

I've never done anything related to cars for a living. And i refuse to start.

DirtyBird222 wrote:

Strike_Zero wrote: 19 year IT pro over here. I've done it all from digital janitor to first in line to strangle. Currently working as a team lead/process dude for a Middleware team. I couldn't work on cars for a living since I'm sooooo slow

Oh man 19 years? How do you do it? Even working in a very newish IT field where things are changing everyday, it still drives me nuts as I'm one of those people who just loves to do things hands on. Like an engine I can take it apart when something is wrong with it. 3 years in on the IT world and I'm starting to question the move into it despite the pay. It all comes very easy to me its just very mind numbing stuff.

I've been doing it since I was a teenager if you count PC repairs, and while corporate IT is incredibly boring, not having to deal with physical problems beyond "chuck this thing out and replace it with a new one" is why I'd think long and hard before swapping it for just about any job working on cars if the pay were similar.

Physical problems means stuck, sheared, and rounded bolts, damaged rare parts, modifying other parts to replace those parts, corrosion, sanding, waiting for shipping all the time, all that horrible E36 M3 that you'd have to use a horrible clusterberkeley of closed-source garbage to get anywhere close to re-creating in software.

And you can't make a backup before you start work, get access to a staggering number of tools, or quickly make your own tools if you need to with physical stuff. Working on computers is like working on cars with a Star Trek replicator and an army of nano-robots. And most cars are boring fleet vans and commuter appliances too.

In reply to DirtyBird222:

The IT field is vast. I move to whichever part of the field that is in demand and before it becomes saturated.

Few positions in IT:

• Helpdesk
• Programmer
• Database Administrator
• Network/System/Server/Email Administrator
• Project Manager
• Process Engineer
• Technical Writer
• Business/System Analyst
• IT Manager
• Director of IT

Some of those positions were inclusive or exclusive depending on the client/company I was working for. I had the MOST fun being a plain consultant. Each dy had a different set of challenges were a broad skillset paid dividends. Especially, when dealing with end-to-end solutions.

im a mental health clinician for my day job. for nights/weekends/holidays, i run the local hot rod shop soing chassis/brake/electrical/restpration/track car stuff. i often dont want to work on my own cars, or CAN't when the desire is strong.

Another 19 year IT nerd here, System Admin at the moment. No car stuff at all at work but that is what keeps it fun on the weekends.

RoughandReady wrote: For you guys that work in parts, how did you make the transition from a guy with a garage full of junk to something more legitimate?

I've been "around the block". I worked for Walmart while in college (as a music ed major), then loaded airplanes before being downsized. I went from that to a factory making interior autoparts, which laid off a crap ton of people to pay for the union. Went from there to selling stuff at Autozone. Realized numbers are something I'm really good at and have a really high retention rate for stupid E36 M3. HAd a "falling out" 3 years in with them, went to work at a Steel Mill for 10 months before it shut down. Went from that to a John Deere warehouse running a forklift pulling parts. Met my wife. Decided to get back into the whole parts thing but in a dealer format so started applying. Took the part's manager's son's job there. Lasted 3 years of hell before moving to my current employer. Been here just shy of 10 years (10 in August).

Growing up, Dad taught me a lot about any and all things mechanical. Working on old Farmall tractors, trucks, cars, etc. As I got older I got interested in doing my own stuff and I saved money doing maintenance things on my own.

So I've done a little bit of everything at one time or another, but by far selling parts has been the biggest (16 years worth). It's just something I'm good at.

I haven't done anything with cars in the past for a job. I worked in the electrical and lighting industry doing sales for the past year, was let go and will start on Friday being in charge of pricing and inventory for a group of dealerships for all the used cars.

I'm the Editor (Content Manager) for AutoTrader Classics. I get paid to be a car guy.

I go to car shows: http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/Report%3A+2013+Amelia+Island+Concours+d%27Elegance-204928.xhtml

I go on adventures: http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/2013+Focus+ST+Road+Trip!-208487.xhtml

I drive new cars: http://www.autotraderclassics.com/car-article/Classic+Reviews%3A+2014+Jaguar+XJL_R-218556.xhtml

And other cool stuff. I get around.

I am a 18 year meat cutter turned web-programmer (for the last 14 years).

In reply to slefain:

Awesome way to make a living. It's a dream of mine to do automotive writing, I just don't like the idea of writing long form commercials for speed part companies (Not saying that's what you do, it just seems to be a large segment of the industry).

In reply to Sonic:

if AxBxC= more then the average out of court settlement we don't issue a recall.

What car manufacturer did you say that you worked for again?

A major one.