In need of some good advice?

[Calamity Josh]

I've been doing Motorsport engineering at college for a while now, firstly it's not quite what i expected it to be, (for starters barely any practical and all health and safety) and secondly because i live in Essex and the college is quite a few hours away i have to do home-stay 4 days a week. It's not that the home-stays horrible, there lovely people, i'm just really not feeling the whole living away with no friends or family. :confused:

I understand that i should keep going for a while longer, work out if i'm making the right decision and if college defiantly isn't best for me, but i wanted to pick some brains on here about options for if i did quit.

1) i could keep on at college not enjoying it
2) i could quit college, do the odd job, maybe find some more permanent shift work or something and save up
3) i could find an apprentiship somewhere and pursue that.
4) this is my favorite, i could sell everything and start up a car related business of some description.

If i sold everything, got all my savings, my grand parents helped me out, i could probably get in the region of 8k together, where would this get me in regards to starting a business? i know there's the obvious like vynal wrapping/ stickers e.t.c... but what other options are there? what would i be looking at for wheel refurbing? or any other suggestions?

-Thanks in advance
Josh :thumb:

[Andy]

What level are you doing??
Believe it or not i now do this level 2 imi Motorsport and do 3 days a week,full day practical,half day twice- applied units ie-science,maths,electronics ,then the normal theory half a day twice.Then do my business 3 days a week with help,i like it.
Seen loads like your age drop out though lol
Im 27 and i just l0l cos they fail lol
Stick at it,its a better qualification than standard level 2 motor vehicle.

[mk1nova_rich]

Stick with it at least for a bit longer. Don't drop out into any old job...at least find yourself a half decent apprenticeship.

I don't know you well enough to say you shouldnt start your own business, but I would give it some serious research as to whats involved in terms of costs and legalities etc

[Calamity Josh]

What level are you doing??
Believe it or not i now do this level 2 imi Motorsport and do 3 days a week,full day practical,half day twice- applied units ie-science,maths,electronics ,then the normal theory half a day twice.Then do my business 3 days a week with help,i like it.
Seen loads like your age drop out though lol
Im 27 and i just l0l cos they fail lol
Stick at it,its a better qualification than standard level 2 motor vehicle.

i'm doing level 3
i have two lessons of each of these 3 days a week :
- mechanical principles
- Health and safety
- Communications for technicians
- Welding
- Cad
- Engine principles


so basically we get two hours a week practical which is welding

[Calamity Josh]

Stick with it at least for a bit longer. Don't drop out into any old job...at least find yourself a half decent apprenticeship.

I don't know you well enough to say you shouldn't start your own business, but I would give it some serious research as to whats involved in terms of costs and legalities etc

my dad started up an embroidery business 3 years ago, so i could always go to him for help in that respect, just haven't really spoke to him about the whole thing yet

[pottersrebel]

personally id say stick with it until the end, when i left school i got a yts with an accident repair company, i did one day at the training school every fortnight i loved the job but for £45 a week i couldnt afford to stick at it when you could get a job in a warehouse earning £180 a week ( i used to cycle over an hour to work to save on the bus fare)
I did roughly 9 months and got a warehouse job long story short i now drive a forklift on a building site and massively regret not finishing the course, i could now have my own garage doing something i love.

Unfortunately money makes the world go round and thats why i went the route i did, now im stuck in a job id rather not do and have bills and mortgages pay and a stock car to run so no chance of going back and getting the qualifications

[mowgli]

health & safety is a necessary evil in this modern world... what ever you do, it will be needed in some form, even if you start your own business..

i really don't want to be saying this, but there seems to be a hell of a lot of kids doing motorsport courses, yet low to mid level motorsport, where the starting jobs are, are struggling, the f1 teams are proposing more budget caps, and the high level national series are also keeping costs down. just what are the employment prospects for these motorsport courses? if needs be, would you be able to get a decent high end garage job out of it??

i ask this cos a nephew announced he was going to be a CSI, & was going to enrol on a course, then i heard that there are 3000 people a year graduating with csi degrees, yet in the uk, the total forensic csi workforce numbers more like 300... i'm wondering about the long term prospects of some of these courses.. if you are getting homesick, man up, you'll have to move away with work at some point.

[Calamity Josh]

health & safety is a necessary evil in this modern world... what ever you do, it will be needed in some form, even if you start your own business..

i really don't want to be saying this, but there seems to be a hell of a lot of kids doing motorsport courses, yet low to mid level motorsport, where the starting jobs are, are struggling, the f1 teams are proposing more budget caps, and the high level national series are also keeping costs down. just what are the employment prospects for these motorsport courses? if needs be, would you be able to get a decent high end garage job out of it??

i ask this cos a nephew announced he was going to be a CSI, & was going to enrol on a course, then i heard that there are 3000 people a year graduating with csi degrees, yet in the uk, the total forensic csi workforce numbers more like 300... i'm wondering about the long term prospects of some of these courses.. if you are getting homesick, man up, you'll have to move away with work at some point.

the college i'm at is very close to Silverstone, the likes of red bull, force india, lotus, prodrive, go there as first option for apprentices, i've already done some mechanicing for stockhatch/ saxmax team for a while

[mowgli]

where are you lodging? towcester? there isn't much in the way of exciting nightlife round that part of the world tbh.. are you rushing home every friday? do all the other students do the same?

[Spudly]

the college i'm at is very close to Silverstone, the likes of red bull, force india, lotus, prodrive, go there as first option for apprentices, i've already done some mechanicing for stockhatch/ saxmax team for a while




Id stick at it mate, the possible opportunities alone make it worth it, youre young enough to stick this out, get the qualification, and if you dont decide to follow it up and go into motorsport, you have plenty of time/options for career changes and such, but trust me, finish it through, i dropped out of my nvq level2 in motor vehicle engineering when i was 17 to work full time in a supermarket as there was money involved, always regret that and wish id followed it through :cry:

[paul james]

How far are you through the course? How long is it? Two years when you're young may seem like forever, but it will soon fly by. You don't want to end up regretting not staying in education when your older and don't have the chance to do it. A lot of high education involves learning crap thats barely relevant to the course your supposed to be doing, so don't think that its unique to your course. You've got 50 years to spend working for a living, so theres no need to rush in to it! :)

[Calamity Josh]

where are you lodging? towcester? there isn't much in the way of exciting nightlife round that part of the world tbh.. are you rushing home every friday? do all the other students do the same?
i'm in Bicester? yes i have to go home every friday, takes about 6 hours by bus...... and majority of the students are local to the area

[Calamity Josh]

How far are you through the course? How long is it? Two years when you're young may seem like forever, but it will soon fly by. You don't want to end up regretting not staying in education when your older and don't have the chance to do it. A lot of high education involves learning crap thats barely relevant to the course your supposed to be doing, so don't think that its unique to your course. You've got 50 years to spend working for a living, so theres no need to rush in to it! :)

couple of months, and it's a two year course

[Andy]

Level 3? Thats good for your age,you could go to uni next year!
As for job opportunities,you can obviously still go to the normal garages that a normal motor vehicle qualification enables tou to,but also opens doors in the motorsport world.
What qualification is it??
Oh and as for the no friends and family,make friends,your 16/17 arent you? Theyre all your age! Get into the lasses and that lol
Im 27 and older than most people at college,i have no friends or family in scarborough,iv lived here 5 years aswell.

[vessey]

if i was you i would stick at i did what your thinking about doing two years later i went back to collage and did the course at least if you dont do it when you have finished the course you will always have something to fall back on

[Calamity Josh]

Level 3? That's good for your age,you could go to uni next year!
As for job opportunities,you can obviously still go to the normal garages that a normal motor vehicle qualification enables you to,but also opens doors in the Motorsport world.
What qualification is it??
Oh and as for the no friends and family,make friends,your 16/17 aren't you? They're all your age! Get into the lasses and that lol
I'm 27 and older than most people at college,i have no friends or family in Scarborough, I've lived here 5 years aswell.

yes it is quite good, and i really don't fancy uni if i'm honest, what do you mean by what sort of qualification is it? and i'm 16 at the moment, alot of the students have already done sixth form, and girls are off limits, i have a girlfriend lol

[Stuart]

I did Automotive Electronics at the University of Disney (Swansea Institute, although now its Swansea Metropolitan), there was also a motorsport engineering course.... I attended about 80% of their modules and about 50% of the Electronics ones (plus some I made up for myself and then taught to the year 1's lmao). Anyhoooo The modules were really rather 'dull' if you were expecting to be razzing about in race cars because thats not what the course was about, neither was the practical work as it was an engineering course to learn howto design stuff.
The practical modules were a hoot but if you wanted to do that 24/7 (so to speak) you had to do most of it off your own back in your own time.

What you are doing sounds very very similar to the degree level stuff, which is great, but you have to have the mindset to deal with it.
Think of it as a means to an end, while experience is good thesedays you still need a piece of paper with some bullsheets on it to get that foot in the door.

IMHO I'm with Mowgli on the jobs prospects in the motorsport world being a falling trend. I mean the folks I was at uni with are mostly in mainstream automotive, which incidentally pays infinitely better and you have weekends etc compared to 90% of motorsport.

Its getting rarer, but if I'm over at Silverstone on a friday I'll give you a shout if you need a lift back to save the 6hr carnage.

[Andy]

as in imi? nvq etc??
You have a girlfriend at 16?? bollox to that lol should have one for each day lol
Wish i was single sometimes,i could get lost in health and beauty,lol

[Andy]

The piece of paper is the most important bit as stuart says,thats why i have gone back.
I started on normal motor vehicle,and was walking it for 2 weeks,far too simple,so i got asked if i wanted to transfer onto motorsport which has the physics electronics and maths,alot harder,i enjoy it.Very mind boggling at times but i like it.Incidentally i have never felt so tired,mentally lol

[Stuart]

Thats a good thing.

[Andy]

What is stuart?

[mowgli]

i'm in Bicester? yes i have to go home every friday, takes about 6 hours by bus...... and majority of the students are local to the area

my sister in law lives in bicester & i used to live about 5 miles from there.. its a fairly boring place, like all other towns in middle england.

when you are 16, a girlfriend is a great thing to have, but take it from someone who knows, relationships at your age involving long distances & time apart rarely last, you are both still young, if she sees you are trying to get yourself a decent career, & doesn't hassle you about it, then it could last a very long time..

is there some cheapo flight bus option that is quicker to get you to stansted??

[millworm]

Stay in college, let people in the trade know your after an apprenticeship and eventually you'll get a job. It worked for me :)

[Stuart]

What is stuart?

Being mentally knackered.

[Andy]

Being mentally knackered.
It is,im really enjoying it,the practical and theory is easy enough for me as i know alot of what we have done so far,that said i have learnt a fair bit,but find it easy to take in.
The science physics stuff,i really have to concentrate,we have been doing belt speeds,heat capacities and gas laws etc.Bearing in mind i barely went to school in the last 2 years so didnt even know some of the symbols etc,Pi to me was what you had with chips and graveh lol

[mowgli]

having to concentrate?? are you making fruit juice or something??

have fun with pi.....

write 3.14 on a bit of white paper with a marker pen, then hold it up to a light.. report your findings...


boring lectures are the absolute worst thing.. i almost lost the will to live on my course at coventry.. thermodynamics probably are fascinating to some people, but looking at strange blobs on a graph for hours at a time put me off.. i wanted the hands on stuff a damn site more than the theory... so i realised my level of maths had reached its ceiling, and i struggled to get any further, so dropped out at the end of year 1... i was probably a complete fool, but i could sleep at night

[Connor]

Mate, grit your teeth and keep at it if you can, trust me there was times i hated doing my uni course and i was inches away from quitting. There are big highs and lows when committing to a course and college like that. You worked hard to get into the course, would be a shame to throw the towel in. My advice is to keep at it and finish the 1st year, because then at least you have something out of it, and i'm sure by the end of the academic year you will have a much better understanding of what you want. If you need any more advice mate just drop us a txt :thumb:

[rubachuk]

First of all, well done for being prepared to make the sacrifices you obviously have at 16 to do the course you want. Would've been much easier for you to do something half-ar$ed at your local college and dos about with your mates.

I assume you have a course tutor at college, I would suggest it may we worth knocking on his door and sitting down having a talk with him before you make any decisions. Tell him your concerns. He may put your mind at rest, or maybe confirm your fears. Either way, you'll have a bit more information to make an informed decision, and he may look out for you a bit more. If you don't get on with your tutor, maybe one ofyour lecturers would be better to talk to.

For what its worth I reckon you should stick it out. You've made the biggest step getting on the course and getting set up with someone to stop with near the college, you've got no distraction while you're away so you have a chance to do really well with your assignments so you can go home at weekend and spend your time with your girl and your mates. You obviously have a dream you're pursuing.

Personally, I think education is dull. I didn't enjoy it, but I stuck with it, got what I needed and got the job I wanted. Your course is 2 years, but it might set you up for the next 40.

[Alex J]

get loads of student loans, go get wrecked, drop out and work in kfc lol

[Angus Closier]

I did the same course as you but in bridgwater! I loved it at the start, spent a fair amount of time on the rolling road and messed about with the radical and other single seaters! However it drained on me that I was still in education! I did stick it out but in a year of around 40 a good 8 dropped out to work in asda down the road! Although not many people are in the motorsport industry they have found it easier to get a job in other areas of the motor trade! It will be worth it when it's done! You WILL regret it if you drop out!