My Dilemma - Advice needed
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:30 am
Hello all!
Il first start off by saying Im glad I found this site, seems like an amazing place with a wealth of knowledge about the autobody industry.
A little bit about myself and the dilemma..
My name is Paul, reside in Toronto, Canada and Ive always gravitated towards cars and bikes. Im sure like most of you, I inherited the bug from my dad who took me to car shows as a young kid. Ive also always been into painting and using my hands. I started a small business a few years ago out of college restoring/customizing vintage sneakers. Yes I know most of you who read this are going to think thats the weirdest thing but theres a huge community of people who collect vintage or even newer sneakers. A lot of the work I did was painting/air brushing etc. I got pretty well known in the Canadian sneaker world for a great attention to detail and customer service. My most notable work was 2 pairs of custom sneakers for players on the Toronto Raptors Basketball team. Long story short I always in the back of my mind told myself one day I wanted to learn auto body and eventually the ins and outs of how to paint a car the right way.
And that leads me to my dilemma, I currently have a good full time job that I would like to stay at for now. Autobody is something Id like to pursue as a serious hobby at the moment and possibly something more in the future. Unfortunately living in an urban city and in an apartment building I cant just buy a project car, dive in and learn by trial and error which I would love to have done. Im sure if I tried that in the underground garage Id be evicted in no time lol. I signed up for some auto body repair and painter classes at my local college which I plan to start soon. Ive also called a few autobody shops nearby and asked of they needed extra help on the weekends or in the evenings and explained I really want to learn and not a whole lot concerned with wages. But it seems like if you aren't doing an apprenticeship through a college they aren't interested or they just think you're a liability.
So the question is, where do I start? Im a little bit stuck because im not sure where I go from here. Should/can I be doing anything besides taking these part time autobody classes at my local college? Do I start knocking on doors in person?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Paul
Il first start off by saying Im glad I found this site, seems like an amazing place with a wealth of knowledge about the autobody industry.
A little bit about myself and the dilemma..
My name is Paul, reside in Toronto, Canada and Ive always gravitated towards cars and bikes. Im sure like most of you, I inherited the bug from my dad who took me to car shows as a young kid. Ive also always been into painting and using my hands. I started a small business a few years ago out of college restoring/customizing vintage sneakers. Yes I know most of you who read this are going to think thats the weirdest thing but theres a huge community of people who collect vintage or even newer sneakers. A lot of the work I did was painting/air brushing etc. I got pretty well known in the Canadian sneaker world for a great attention to detail and customer service. My most notable work was 2 pairs of custom sneakers for players on the Toronto Raptors Basketball team. Long story short I always in the back of my mind told myself one day I wanted to learn auto body and eventually the ins and outs of how to paint a car the right way.
And that leads me to my dilemma, I currently have a good full time job that I would like to stay at for now. Autobody is something Id like to pursue as a serious hobby at the moment and possibly something more in the future. Unfortunately living in an urban city and in an apartment building I cant just buy a project car, dive in and learn by trial and error which I would love to have done. Im sure if I tried that in the underground garage Id be evicted in no time lol. I signed up for some auto body repair and painter classes at my local college which I plan to start soon. Ive also called a few autobody shops nearby and asked of they needed extra help on the weekends or in the evenings and explained I really want to learn and not a whole lot concerned with wages. But it seems like if you aren't doing an apprenticeship through a college they aren't interested or they just think you're a liability.
So the question is, where do I start? Im a little bit stuck because im not sure where I go from here. Should/can I be doing anything besides taking these part time autobody classes at my local college? Do I start knocking on doors in person?
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Paul