flip18436572

My wife will be starting her second career after getting her RN in June of this year. Our youngest daughter will be in college in 2009. After that we are talking about her getting into travel nursing.

So here comes my question.

Is it worth it to get certification at one of the bike schools? Then I could probably/possibly get a job anywhere she gets a job.

Would any bike shop owner really want the certification?

Panthers007

This would depend on a. The Shop. b. Where you got the certificate.

I got job offers from all over after I graduated from the United Bicycle Institute back in 1984. They are now bigger and better than they were then:

https://www.bikeschool.com/

Between this one in Ashland, Oregon (beautiful! a working-vacation par excellence!), and the Barnett school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, your chances of getting a job are much higher. IF a shop is looking for trained people. Some just want monkeys-with-pliers. Most applications state: No Experience Required. Will Train.

Run!

JustChuck

It can't hurt. If I were to hire a new guy, for a service position, I would either want a cert. or some verifiable previous shop experience. But I would prefer experience over a week of school.

operator

Certification may get you an interview or a try out positon. What the real metric is, is experience. And how good you are. A person can get certified at a lot of different places and still be completely worthless assembling the most basic bike out of a box. (*ahem* winterbourne).

Depending on how desperate the shop is and their mechanical standards maybe certification is enough.

flip18436572

I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. So working for a shop right now is an hour drive, so getting experience isn't going to happen. I guess I will see if I can work there on a Saturday or Sunday (they are closed) once in a while and see if I can get some experience that way.

operator

That's it? My commute is easily 1.5hour+ daily, each way. Most of the mechanics I work with started out working on their own bikes and reading stuff like Sutherlands/barnetts/internet. Then cut their teeth under more experienced guys under the shop. If you get familiar with properly adjusting most of the basic bike stuff and know how to use bike related/specific tools than that will really help. It's much easier to train someone when you don't have to explain how a QR hub is properly adjusted or what a say cone wrench does.

flip18436572

I don't have the time to drive to a shop that would close by the time I got there. Plus, I need to have a life with my family. I coach and play in two different bands. Free time is not something I give up very easily.

bcordy

So, You've never worked in a shop before? I think you should take the other advice and work in a shop for a while before going to a school. 1. It's worth more than training (in my experience). 2. It sounds like you're doing a career change too, you might not like mechanic life. 3. I think most (or a lot of) bike shops "train" you themselves, or would prefer that you have "shop experience."

Just some thoughts...

flip18436572

I have done mechanical things all my life. I do my own automotive and motorcycle work and I am doing most of my bicycle repair. Since my road bike is under warranty, I let them deal with the repairs as they are free and I don't have much spare money.

Kommisar89

Interesting discussion. I'd be leary of excepting just experience unless you could demonstrate real experience at an advanced level. Anybody could work at a shop and spend most of their time making minor adjustments and doing sales while the real mechanic is doing all the serious advanced stuff in the back. I've run into plenty of those guys that don't know any more than I do. And be aware that at least with Barnett's it's not an either/or thing - you can't take the certification exam until you prove your shop experience. The idea is...you take the training, you get a job at a shop based on your training, you come back after you have the experience and take the certification exam.

I've thought of going to Barnett's just for fun (hey, I got a day job ) but when I looked at the curriculum, I can already do just about anything they teach in the BAM 1 week course and much of what they teach in the 2 week BOM course. If they spilt the BOM into week 1 and week 2 and let you take only the second week plus the extra coures like wheel building and suspension servicing I'd jump on it. Of course that still wouldn't get me certified as they don't count all the wrenching I do in my garage as experience. Oh well. It'd still be fun. Might do one day anyway.

flip18436572

We are looking at the Oregon location, as there is a travel nurse program that would put her very close. Close enough I could ride to class each day

LarDasse74

I have never attended a mechanic certification course, and I don't think I have ever worked with anyone who has. Most people learn while working - hopefully under another (much) more experienced mechanic.

I shudder to think of the people who rode away from the first shop I worked at assuming I knew what I was doing.

If you live in a town where the nearest bike shop is 1 hour away, then I have another suggestion for you: start your own repair shop. If you are moving away in the next 6 months then it might not be such a great idea, but if the circumstances are right you can spend hours trying to figure out how to fix other peoples bikes and get paid for it (just make sure you don't damage anything and that everything is tight before it leaves the shop). Working as a junior tech-in-training in a shop is not a good way to earn money if you are over the age of 17, IMHO.

flip18436572

Unless I could get a great discount on a better bike, it wouldn't be worth it to me to miss my daughter's events. Even then I probably wouldn't miss her events.