Need your guy's opinion on this..

[STR8BLaZiNTB 10+ year member]

Alright so basically I'm 19 and I want to in the future run my own shop. In the meantime, I want to become an installer..

My question is.. spend about $10000 give or take about a $1000 for school out of state which will end up costing around maybe $12000

or

Going to shops and see if they will hire me as an apprentice type of thing without pay but learning from the bottom up everything?

I have done a little research and some shops say in their opinion school is good so you know what you're doing and others say experience is what counts.

What do you guys think I should do?

Thanks

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[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

the industry isn't what it use to be.

 

[PaulThompson229 10+ year member]

Best buy will hire you as an installer if you have a moderate level of knowladge (not just audio but remote start, alarms etc.)

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

Fvck best buy!

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Simply paying money is not going to give you the skills you need.

You have a great resource in boards like these...find someone local that knows what they're doing, buy them some beer and materials, and learn by doing. You can teach yourself the basic electrical theory you'll need, but developing your fabrication skills can be a lot easier if you have someone locally that can give advice when needed.

I wouldn't bet the farm on this business, though....go to college, get a degree in something you like, so at least you have something to fall back on in a couple years.

 

[PaulThompson229 10+ year member]

Fvck best buy!

A jobs a job man, besides if we had more educated people working at the best buys then maybe all the newbs equipment wouldn't get poorly installed.

 

[alvitae 10+ year member]

I know nothing of being an installer, But I do know jobs.

If you have the time and the money and are real serious as it being a career I would go to school.

If you do you will have both and education and then when you get out hands on exp.

If you don't you will always just have hands on exp.

Plus if it is like most trades there are things you will learn in school that you won't learn on the job site. And vice versa.

I'm in construction and it is all about what you know. Them more you know the more you get paid.

 

[CobraStang98 10+ year member]

Hang around a local shop and just BS w/ an installer that actually knows what he's doing. Like it was said before, buy him a beer and just BS for awhile with him. Go to regular college in the meantime while doing this on your free time, it's good to have something to fall back on. The car audio industry isn't nearly what it used to be.

 

Practice truly does make perfect, before i started building boxes or doing any kind of fiberglass work i practiced and i'm sure almost everyone else has too. Try to learn things to the fullest one step at a time, don't try to learn how to wire alarms today + fiberglass tomorrow. That's not how it works, you gotta try and perfect one thing at a time before moving on to the next. At least that's how it works with me.

 

[theMessenjah44 10+ year member]

Simply paying money is not going to give you the skills you need.
You have a great resource in boards like these...find someone local that knows what they're doing, buy them some beer and materials, and learn by doing. You can teach yourself the basic electrical theory you'll need, but developing your fabrication skills can be a lot easier if you have someone locally that can give advice when needed.

I wouldn't bet the farm on this business, though....go to college, get a degree in something you like, so at least you have something to fall back on in a couple years.

He speaks the truth. I'm learning CA stuff in my spare time and going to college for Small Business Management, taking automotive and electrical classes as electives.

I've looked into the audio installer schools, but 10-15k is kinda steep when you can take your time and learn the same stuff yourself.

 

[85_blazer 10+ year member]

Simply paying money is not going to give you the skills you need.
You have a great resource in boards like these...find someone local that knows what they're doing, buy them some beer and materials, and learn by doing. You can teach yourself the basic electrical theory you'll need, but developing your fabrication skills can be a lot easier if you have someone locally that can give advice when needed.

I wouldn't bet the farm on this business, though....go to college, get a degree in something you like, so at least you have something to fall back on in a couple years.

good advice bein 19 also thats what i plan on doin when i have all my equepment for my project car just got to find some around here in indiana

 

[Bass911 10+ year member]

All I can do is wish you good luck with that. Your biggest comp is not other shops, but internet car audio stores. They have put car audio shops out of business just like Walmart did small businesses/grocery stores.

 

[theMessenjah44 10+ year member]

All I can do is wish you good luck with that. Your biggest comp is not other shops, but internet car audio stores. They have put car audio shops out of business just like Walmart did small businesses/grocery stores.

tru dat //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[MSW Danny 10+ year member]

Go to college and get an education. At the same time you can hang out with your local shops and learn the ropes of car audio.

 

[AVSTANG02]

Hanging out at shops isn't going to teach you ****.

And nobody wants some kid "hanging around"

You aren't going to learn much about Car Audio at "college" you are going to need to go to a "Car audio installer" private college.. They will teach you the very basics to get started.

from there you can go work at a shop or best buy or start up your own thing in your garage..

If you went to a local college you could go for carpentry..

The electrical stuff about car audio is the simplest part.. no point in taking electrician courses which are much harder when you won't need any of it for car audio..

 

[defianttek 10+ year member]

\
I'm in construction and it is all about what you know. Them more you know the more you get paid.

Also the more you know are the more valuable you are. the more valuable you are, the more likely you will keep your job when the going gets tough. (Times like now)