Need career advice tbh

Conwak

New Member
In second year of college studying engineering and the time has come for me to look at universities and apprenticeships, but to be honest my passion is in drifting. I’ve looked at automotive engineering apprenticeships (degree level) but most either aren’t great paying, don’t provide good qualifications or will take me in an entirely different direction. I want to learn how to fabricate well and work on cars, or maybe something related to design. I’m not looking for a job/apprenticeship per say, just advice. Any suggestions?
 
I found that once I had my design degree it was hard to find places to employ me as i think i cast my net too small. Looking at only little firms.

Try to look a little more could try wide and bigger businesses. What about apprenticeships with places like jaguar land rover as they have 3 plants in the UK now I think. Definitely 2.

As for fabrication I'd be approaching local body shops to see what they expect of a newbie in the field and what they'd like you to have trained as/in.

Hobby wise for sure start to learn some skills if you havent already. Get a mig welder and cheap guillotine. Cut metals to shapes and get welding them up!!

To learn to TIG I got a welder and a length of 2.5" exhaust tube and cut it all up into sections. Then welded it back together! Great practice!
 
Club level racing teams seem to be desperate for decent race weekend mechanics. I know it isn't quite what you're after but if you are handy with a spanner it could get your foot in the door to motorsport. Pay isn't great but it is better than a kick in the teeth
 
I was watching the some BTCC last year and each team (or a group of team had some students from universities in the pit crews, I think they where doing a degree in Motorsport engineering or something, could be something you want to look into...
 
Club level racing teams seem to be desperate for decent race weekend mechanics. I know it isn't quite what you're after but if you are handy with a spanner it could get your foot in the door to motorsport. Pay isn't great but it is better than a kick in the teeth
I did have a look for stuff like this, but I can’t seem to find anyone. Did you have a team in mind?
 
I was watching the some BTCC last year and each team (or a group of team had some students from universities in the pit crews, I think they where doing a degree in Motorsport engineering or something, could be something you want to look into...

definitely, but I missed the deadline to get into uni so I’ll either have to take a gap year or get apprenticeship sadly.
 
I found that once I had my design degree it was hard to find places to employ me as i think i cast my net too small. Looking at only little firms.

Try to look a little more could try wide and bigger businesses. What about apprenticeships with places like jaguar land rover as they have 3 plants in the UK now I think. Definitely 2.

As for fabrication I'd be approaching local body shops to see what they expect of a newbie in the field and what they'd like you to have trained as/in.

Hobby wise for sure start to learn some skills if you havent already. Get a mig welder and cheap guillotine. Cut metals to shapes and get welding them up!!

To learn to TIG I got a welder and a length of 2.5" exhaust tube and cut it all up into sections. Then welded it back together! Great practice!

yeah I looked at some apprenticeships with car manufacturers and other than Rolls Royce they look pretty decent, but I’m not sure if they’ll teach me actually useful fabrication skills. I can learn to weld through my brother, who did it at college but outside of just welding metal he can’t teach me much. I will take your advice on the body shops though and hopefully find a part time job/apprenticeship but I don’t want to be limited to just that.
 
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definitely, but I missed the deadline to get into uni so I’ll either have to take a gap year or get apprenticeship sadly.

ah that sucks, but its always something you can look into in the future, nothings stopping you going to uni after your apprenticeship
 
I did have a look for stuff like this, but I can’t seem to find anyone. Did you have a team in mind?

I'm not sure of any teams specifically but race season is starting so if you head over to events you can walk around the pits and ask. A few are MSVT Trackday Championship, 750 MC, Mini Challenge, BRSCC, EnduroKA

And I'm sure there are plenty of others. A big mix of full on teams with massive lorries to single handed people bringing a car on a trailer.
 
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