nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

So being from MI **** sucks like 5 months out of the year.. all the cars are rusted to **** and snow just plain out blows.. Ive been looking into moving out west, but i dont know about the job situation out there.

I am an experienced welder, ive been doing it as a job since i was 16, so about 8 years now. Im 24, have no kids or any other baggage. I can weld pretty much anything MIG, TIG, SMAW, Oxy-fuel, and Brazing.. stainless steel, mild steel, aluminum. Flat stock as well as plenty of pipe.

I work for Stryker Medical now. I weld special low volume parts for beds, stretchers, and other medical stuff. They are a Fortune 500 company. Everything i weld gets scrutinized by the FDA.. So my quality is pretty much on point.

Just wondering if there is any oppurtunities out there??

bewst12psi

iTrader: (7)

I had a buddy who moved to Corona Ca for a Fabrication/Welding job about 4 years ago.... after 7months he moved back here to PA because the pay is about the same as here...which blows dick... and the price of living was almost double if he wanted to keep his quality of living as here in PA. He said that he'd rather deal with drunk rednecks than meth heads any day. He also didnt like the huge class difference being that Corona is in Riverside and right next to Orange, he said there's not much of a middle class...its either million dollar wastes of life, or the lowest scum of the earth.. and not much in between.

Thats just his experience though... I have dudes who I've worked with at Mercedes that have quit, moved to LA, and have jobs working for Lucas films making star wars video games and smoking weed all day... and they love it.


I'm 27 in 2 weeks, and my 5 year plan includes leaving the Philly/Reading area and moving to Nevada... Boulder City to be exact and working at Fletcher Jones right off the strip in Vegas til all my Engineering ish levels out. Just gotta sell my house..and not take a bath on it...HA.

But dude, theres Fab work everywhere and if your work passes FDA standards, getting a job anywhere is cake if you have a good trade skill, a decent personality, and at least half a brain.

How far west are you looking to go?

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

do you have any examples of your work on cars? how's your fabrication skills?

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

I haven't had the opportunity to do a LOT of welding and fab with cars. Howevor, I have notched and bagged 2 mini trucks, both of which lay frame. I have also done most of the welding on my freinds pre-runner. We built an engine cage for it that doesn't even have to be removed to pull the 22re out. (have to take the intake off though) before he redid it all I welded up boxed control arms he made in CAD. We cut them out in a plasma and glued them up lol.

I'm a pretty good at adapting. I haven't done much cage work, because I've never had the opportunity. It looks simple enough.. If I can Fabricate a $400,000.00 Oven for anealing metals,(used to build huge ovens for Perceptive Indudstries) I
think I could handle cars..

I have a friend that really wants meant join his union for pipe fitting. I don't wanna deal with all that though.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

best of luck to you, i can't wait to get the hell out of this shithole. it's a waste of space in the middle of the desert, go figure. there is upper class and the scum of the earth workers. i hear sob stories every single day of people working for nothing.

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

I have some photo's of some work i can do. I dont take a lot of pictures. lol this is a quick facebook scrounge.

For location? i guess it doesnt matter so much, i'd prefer a younger community, with things to do. With some track action nearby lol..

JTP, you origionated from Kalamazoo as well correct? what took you out there?

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

Karack, my boss just got back from Vegas, he pretty much had the same story. lol

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

yeah, born and raised.. moved out to phx to go to school then ended up getting a job at AEM in California doing tech support.. worked there 2 years then went to the race team and helped build tanner foust's 350z that he won 2 seasons with... done alot of stuff up and down the west coast, but definitely like LA the best.. it's crazy out here at times but overall it's amazing for opportunities..

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I need to be out there. Lol there is basically nothing in Michigan for cars. Most of the shops are just a bunch if rag-tag kids who build DSM's lol. I'd love to get on a race team. Or just work for an ACTUAL fab shop.

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

that's exactly why i left... nothing substantial... that's funny u say dsm shops... cuz that's what i had when i was there... HA

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

i hear sob stories almost daily from locals who live here. it really is that sad, the whole city revolves around the entertainment of the people who come to the city so when there isn't many people coming in then the whole city is hurting economically.

basically 30% of the population has fled vegas over the past 3 years, because that is how many fewer jobs there are. strangely enough all the same casinos still stand and the currently employed workers are expected to make up for that extra workload while making the same amount of money if they want to keep a job.

there are some worthwhile jobs but they are few and far between and have plenty of applicants for them. the rest are less than minimum wage jobs based off of tips and 0 benefits because employers hire everyone on as temporary or part time workers to get around benefits, the employment basis of the whole city is very similar to wal-mart's employment practices.

i have actually applied for a few as backup options, none of the jobs even had a pay scale at all listed, nor did i ever even hear back from them with my many years of engineering and mechanical history. everyone lies through their teeth to even get an interview even though they have literally 0 job experience in the field they are applying for.

i should open the field to ricer cars, the shop next to mine just expanded while taking up all my parking spots with civics and integras. only a few locals can afford to have rotary work done, mainly FD and 8 owners, otherwise i have been focusing on nationwide sales of little piddly **** to take up the slack. travelling to and from calironia still being the majority of income.

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

I DON'T GET IT!! Lol it's all people build here. There fast as hell for 2 days, then they are broken and for sale on a local forum. Lol I don't understand why people mess with them. Howevor one kid has awd gsx that makes over 500whp pushing 30psi.. When that turbo lights it feels like you're lifting off the seat. It's rad.

Come to think of it though. It too, is broken now. Haha..

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I mean I could stay at my current job and be pretty happy, I get paid very well, especially for not having much student debt. I signed on for like $40K a year plus pretty much all the overtime I could ever want. I have freinds that have $80k in student debt, that can't even get jobs. I'm pretty lucky.

I'm just young and wanna do cool ****.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

then i would suggest california, texas, florida or NY. those are the states that are a little less impacted by the economical struggle if you are good at your work and get in at a good job. avoid nevada like the plague unless you want to get stranded here and sell all your worldly posessions just to get back out.

in fact, a decent way to make money here is to buy up people's belongings and sell them out of state. i don't think i could ever really bring myself to taking advantage of other people's plight though. hell, i bought a $3000 waverunner with trailer for $800 just a few months ago and he was sitting on it for a few weeks so i didn't feel so horrible. will be a nice little addition for if/when we move to florida.

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, Vegas doesn't sound to promising. What about AZ? Anything good there?

Digi7ech

iTrader: (1)

Phoenix is decent.

I know plenty of fab shops around here. Larger enough city and enough different things here I bet you'd find a welding job.
Downside is we have UTI so mechanics market tends to be flooded around here with retarded kids.

Good thing is we're only a 4 hour drive from Vegas for party time.
6 hours from LA for party time on ocean.

Emission laws aren't hard considering we have a collector car exemption.
Cops aren't dicks like Cali cops for modified cars.

Housing market is pretty good if you want to buy.
I bought a short sale for $75k and am only paying $560 a month for mortgage.

Winter is awesome
Summer hot a ****. Get your cooling system done right.

Drifting scene is pretty strong here. We get lucky and only pay $40-60 for monthly drift events.

bewst12psi

iTrader: (7)

Yeah it's that bad in NV now? Damn... I try to get out there twice a year. The weather and desert is what I am after. I'm a 6year master certified Mercedes Benz tech. Every time I go out there, I stop on at Fletcher, and the service manager always asks when I'm quitting, and moving out there. They always seem to be pumping cars as good as my dealer. I haven't been out there for about 8 months thought. I need to re do my research since last year... I guess it's falling out fast. I really don't like PA... I gotta get out.


Florida's cost of living in the Clearwater area is 2/3 of what it is here in PA, and I know some guys who moved there making almost 1.5 time the rate they were here. I just can't get past the humidity of FL...

bewst12psi

iTrader: (7)

Az is awesome... My gf and I rented a condo a few times in North Phoenix. Its always Jan-feb... Never was there when it was hot out. I really did like it there, but never went into Chandler's Benz dealer to see how they were with work. I'd probably end up dead in the desert after rolling a pre-runner ford ranger end over end in the desert. Lol.

I did see alot of shops that looked busy... And you can get away with murder with street cars compared to here in PA. I'd love to have my 7 out there for a week instead of my rental mazda3 each time lol.

Single track dirtbiking in the state Forrest north of Care Free is some of the best ive ever had

nismo_bill

iTrader: (2)

Right on.. AZ sounds cool. Lol

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

i'm sure you could make it decent at the premier auto dealers for a while, but the pure fact that zero auto tech positions list any pay scale should tell you something. they eventually are looking to hire the cheapest workers they can afford to bring in, one of the locals with an FD worked at the mazda dealer up north and was laid off, parted out his car because no one even offered $14k for his single turbo, award winning FD. he moved to texas and the car is still sitting here in pieces somewhere.

2 other local FD owners lost their jobs after the restaurant they worked at in the aria closed down.

another local is jobless and has to fix his sons car on his unemployment checks.

i could list many examples and it doesn't seem to be getting better at any decent rate.

seriously, don't come here. if managers are begging people to come in, you know why now. they will even hire someone under you to replace you if and when possible. most management in this town has absolutely no issue shoving it in your *** even after you dumped thousands into relocating, they have burned their bridges and eventually you will have UTI graduates fixing the beamers, merc's, and bentleys in this town for pennies, eventually wondering why they became techs in the first place. like they should have figured anyways, those dealers don't hire knuckleheads in the first place so 2 and 2 don't add up, but you know UTI graduates anyways.. they think they know it all even before they first took an oil bath on a real car.

i've not even been here 2 years and i am the oldest tennant in this building by almost a year now..

RXILVER7

iTrader: (2)

No way dude. NY is bad right now. Companies figured out in the beginning of the recession that they could fire half their staff and run a skeleton crew twice as hard. Even though money has picked up for many places, they still don't hire more people, just pay everyone bare minimum and wave the idea of unemployment in people's faces as a threat. This goes for everything from Fortune 500 companies to the local Gas Station. I know plenty of people with masters degrees who can't get a job.

Being successful in NY is all about knowing people too. Coming in from out of town with no connections and trying to make it would be very difficult indeed.

RXILVER7

iTrader: (2)

Also Kinda random question for Karack. Even though you're pretty well known even here out east as a top notch engine builder, why would you want to go to Florida when most of your business comes from Cali? Wouldn't that make you want to go to Cali?

By the way just clicked the link and looked at your services and prices. They are ****** great. If I lived in Vegas I'd take my FD to you all day every day.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

i came from california and built the business there and most of my family still lives there, it is still doing ok economically speaking but eventually you feel like you're constricted in california. every year you lose more of your rights, feeling like a slave to the state paying everything you earn just for the benefit of living there. pretty soon everyone will be walking around wearing helmets to protect themselves in case they trip and hurt themself or renting out rooms in their single family house just to cover the mortgage.

i love the state and temperate climate but california is eating itself alive. then again most places are right now where many people can't get jobs and the housing market still hasn't even hit rock bottom yet.

i do know what you mean about working twice as hard for the same pay, unfortunately i also feel many americans were too relaxed with their situation and living off of credit that something had to give way, and it did. now the devoted are working still where the people unwilling to take temp jobs pumping gas are collecting unemployment and moaning about the lack of jobs that they want to take. yes i know though, i hate the thought of working at some menial job that you don't specialize in, but if that's what it takes in the meantime of finding something better i still would do it, and have been looking at alternatives if things don't work out here. both me and my gf work 7 days a week.

i didn't leave california to get away though, my girlfriend went through a divorce and rather wanted to stay here instead of take her kid away from his biological father so we split our time with him until he's grown then we're outta here! and thanks, i do try to do the best work for the best price.

RXILVER7

iTrader: (2)

^^ What I mean about working twice as hard is Basically this..

An Example Corporate Marketing team
Person #1- Copy Writer
Person #2- Product specialist
Person #3- Web specialist
Person #4- Database specialist

All of these are full time jobs. Then......BAM, Recession

Person #2 = Fired, Person #4 = Fired

The company then "realigns" the department

Person #1 is now the Copywriter and Product specialist
Person #3 is now the Web and Database specialist

Salaries stay the same.

This isn't just in large companies either. I have a friend with a masters degree who works at restaurant as a delivery boy to make money. That restaurant decides to fire a bunch of their dishwashers, garbage service, and few other things. Now the delivery boys are responsible for Delivering, washing dishes, and taking out the garbage. No salary increase.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

yea i know what you mean, it's definitely putting a strain on many people if they want a job at all. unfortunately you almost have to be a business owner to make it anywhere at the current time. you also have to provide top notch work and still make a profit. some companies are taking advantage of overworking employees, i get to hear my gf constantly moan about the fact that no one is running her department and everyone wants to do what they want and eventually they all butt heads on things. they used to have a crew of 7, went down to 3 and only recently hired a 4th. the girl who was managing left to have a baby and didn't come back to work and they never replaced her with anyone to manage the now 4 overworked employees.

but i do recall that this recession was even worse than the one nearly a century ago, the worst in the history of our country. i just think if you have a job, consider yourself lucky to the alternative.