I received my training at the General Motors Fisher body school in 1967 then served a 1 year apprenticeship and stayed in auto body till 1975. At that time there wasn't certifications such as HI-CAR and ASE. I am returning to my trade. Can I obtain these certifications w/o having to attend a 2 year school?

Thanks in advance

Deny
Staples, Minnesota

Guess I wouldn't have answered that post the way I phrased it ether! Here is what I am asking. When I was a young man, I was a craftsman with 7 years experience. Now I am 60 and unemployed. I have been in factory management, having worked my way up. My job was eliminated (down sized) when the market crashed. I have been looking and have interviewed but no luck. I had a good run but now I need to make a change.
I would like to go back into body work. Will I need to obtain the ICAR and ASE certifications to get employment. I have the tools and have kept my hand in it, as a hobby? I have some catching up to do with paint systems. When I closed my shop, we were using Delstar and Centari with the polyurethane hardener for completes and hard to match Chrysler products of the time and acrylic lacquer for spot painting and blending. Imron had just been out a few years. I'm sorry I am so wordy here, but you know where I left off.

I would appreciate any and all feed back!

Thanks

Deny

hi Deny,
I have not been in this business in over 20 years myself. But I know a lot of guys in the business. Depending on where you live obviously your opportunities are going to vary. Having recent certifications is always a plus but if a shop is slow (like a lot of them are right now) they are going to hire the guy who has been painting every day for the last 10 years over someone who just jumped back into the game. If they are hiring at all, and right now that's a big "if".

Before you go down the path of re-certifying, you may want to check in on a few of the larger bodyshops in your area and ask them. If I were trying to get back into this professionally I'd probably not look for the pressure cooker of a collision shop and look for a restoration shop instead.

-Chris (sorry this answer probably didn't help you too much...it's a tough question...)

Yes that is the direction I had in mind. I know the owners of a few small shops in the area. We're having freezing rain and snow now. If the good shops have been slow around here, they won't be for long.

I appreciate your comments!

Deny

I'm just now graduating from one of those 2 year schools. I'm no pro, but my work is clean. I have 27 I-car points. And when looking for a job they say "uh huh, and how many years experience?" It's frustraiting. I'm looking for work in other states. I had a good career in IT and went through a similar situation as you. I find this a lot more rewarding less stressful, though. I'm really aiming for the estimator path for career. I like working with people.

I can't tell you what to do, but I can give you an idea about the school training I recieved. I learned the fundamentals of frame, body, and refinishing. Straight from my resume - I-Car: WCS03 WCA03 RES02 EXT02 DAM01 WKR01 REF03 REF01 MEA01 SSS01 CYC01 STA01 PLA02 (27 points)
I-Car Platinum Member
http://www.i-car.com/html_pages/training/courses.shtml
I am "comfortable" at following factory recommendations for sectioning, bonding, welding, and corrosion protection, for welding or bonding patch panels, replacing door skins, removing trim, puting a vehicle on a frame machine and measuring, using CCC and Mitchel estimating software, priming, color/wet sanding, painting single stage, bc/cc, or tri stage finishes and doing many custom effects with finishes - recently waterborne 1 on 1 training. That's just off the top of my head. Well rounded fundamentals. I needed school. I didn't know a lick about cars before I started. Seriously, I didn't know fender from filler. A school is going to teach you the cutting edge and "factory recommendations" and more than likely, they are going to prep you for a high volume collision center. Every shop is different and may tell you on day one to forget everything you leaned there. Depends on the shop. This is just my experience and a recent one.

As for your painting experience, lots of people are re-learning. I recieved some training on Dupont waterborne paint. It was a blast. It laid down very nice and only took one coat for complete coverage followed by one coat of clear. The weirdest thing wast blending outward to in. Nothing like my experience with solvent base.

Good luck. I hope that gives you some insight.

No question I would like to go back to school - but, I don't plan to work forever. At 60 I don't want to add student loans.

Thanks for responding

Deny

Deny, your best bet is to contact these certification associations and ask them they will be in the best position to answer you, Check around the shops you know, im sure if you can work they will take you either way.

best of luck to you

-Julian