Oh MAN I hope I get this!

[jmowreader]

Strange admission: Home Depot was never intended to be my full-time occupation, but it just kinda turned into it.

It's a really good part-time job...but it sucks ass as a full-time occupation. Therefore, I set myself a goal this year to get a new full-time job and turn The Home Depot back into a part-time one. Today I had an interview for a really fun job.

It's a job building car engines for this company: http://www.engineinstallation.com. The company is a chain so they have the whole management system, and they promote from within so there is a career path. 8:30am to 5:30pm, one hour for lunch, stop turning wrenches at 5pm to clean up.

I'll be making $300 per engine, which is the highest rate for engine building in this area. And I build good engines, so this is something I can do. If I build two engines per week and stash $100 per engine for my quarterly tax payment (it's a 1099 shop), I'll make more money than I do at Home Depot--and since the shop isn't open on the weekends, I can still go to Home Depot on Saturdays and Sundays and make money there. At three engines this will be a really good job, and at five (which is doable) we're talking Fat City--three hundred dollars a day is more than respectable.

The guy's really interested in hiring me because he seems to have a problem keeping people--engine building turns you black in oil because you have to go under the car to unhook the engine from the transmission, and the kids today don't want a job that gets them dirty. (On Monday he hired a guy. He came in, got dirty and was never seen again.) I do that shit at home all the time.

I'll hear back from him on Monday.

[Book Lover]

1. Best of luck!

I have to say that I'm a little surprised that he can't hold any young people; I see so many kids under their hoods in my 'hood... Good luck :-)

[jmowreader]

3. Most people don't realize just how dirty overhauling really is

Anything above the engine is fairly clean--I once changed a fuel pump on a VW Bug while wearing a suit and tie.

Under the car? That's where the oil leaks and road grime are.

He also likes the fact that I can rebuild a Bug engine--it is completely different from rebuilding anything else (you have to know how to seal the case, for one thing--the two halves of a VW case are glued and bolted together, and if you use the wrong glue you'll throw the bearings out), and only old coots like me know how to do it. None of his techs can do it. He can't even do it. Right now he turns two Bugs a month away.

[Book Lover]

6. You can do things no one else can do?

You've totally got this job ;-) I never knew that about Bug engines - very interesting.

[jmowreader]

11. A lot of people can rebuild Bug engines

None of them are currently employed at this shop, which gives me an advantage over the competition.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Good luck with getting this job.

Sounds like interesting work.

[Capn Sunshine]

4. it IS possible to stay clean

surgeon gloves, and a long sleeve dickies jumpsuit

Put it on the rack, and use degreaser solvent first. MY favorite was MEK- aircraft mechanics used to like this one. Use a mask though.(sorry, no smoking, dude)and eye protection.

That's what I used to do when I worked on my own vehicles.

These babies throw a LOT of oil, believe me.

[jmowreader]

12. They don't have a rack, and that's intentional

If you use a rack, you can get four cars into the space five would fit without them. Besides, unless you're doing aircooled VW/Porsche cars, the only thing you need to go under the car for is to undo some bolts, and you can do THAT with jackstands.

[OhioBlue]

5. Good Luck!!

I'm surprised it can be a 1099 shop if they control your hours and such - but that is a different subject.... :)

[jmowreader]

15. It's not hourly work, it's piecework so it almost has to be 1099

Besides, it seems like the kind of place where if you finish your engine at 3pm, they are not going to object if you sweep the floor, take out your trash and go home.

[Mizmoon]

7. That's awesome!

Isn't it great when things work out?

I have a second interview at a job I really want too. If I get it I will more than double my salary.

Sometimes things just fall into place, don't they?

Ugh, but let's not count our chickens!

[xmas74]

8. Good luck

And I don't understand why people don't like getting dirty. There's a thing called soap and water and overalls to protect your clothes!

If I had experience in rebuilding engines I'd jump on the job. $300 is nothing to sneeze at!

[trof]

9. I wish you the very best, but...

this is certainly a comment on the course our country's "leaders" have taken.
You'll be working 7 days a week.
I don't know if you have to, to make ends meet, or if you just want to "make hay while the sun shines" and get as far ahead (finacially) as you can in the shortest period of time.

I don't know what a 1099 shop is, but if it means you're an independent contractor, please look at putting as much $$$ as you can into whatever retirement plans are available to you.

I'm guessing it means you get no benifits?

Anyway, it's sounds to me like you know what the hell you're doing.
All the best.
:thumbsup:

[jmowreader]

14. HD is mainly for the benefits

I figure that if Home Depot, whose benefit-administration costs equal the GNP of some third-world countries, is willing to provide health, dental, vision and cat insurance--yes, I have cat insurance through THD--I should stick around just for the bennies. Plus, it's a handy fallback position in case something terrible happens, like people quit blowing engines. (What am I saying? This is Fayetteville, the NDMF capital of the Southeast. Of COURSE people are going to continue blowing engines!)

One of the things the manager told me as we were walking through the shop was that you're expected to think you're the best technician in Fayetteville..."because people bring jobs like this here." And he pointed at a Ferrari engine they were rebuilding.

[flvegan]

10. I'd hire you.

I'm a higher level manager (still sounds odd to me, and it's been two weeks now) and I'd take you for your ability, especially considering your VW Bug ability. I'd figure that if you can do the regular stuff, PLUS do things nobody (or very few) can and I'm turning work away because of it, then you probably have inherent qualities in this trade that I'd REALLY want.

Good luck to you!

[Maddy McCall]

13. Is that to rebuild engines?

I wish you lived near me! I'd pay you twice that to fix mine. It's just a rocker arm on the push rod, so my mechanic brother told me, but I can't get him to set aside time to fix it. Grrrr.