Finish year 12 or not?

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stay at school or get an apprenticeship?

  • Stay at school and finish year 12

    Votes: 27 61.4%
  • leave early and get an apprenticeship

    Votes: 17 38.6%

  • Total voters
    44
stay in school
as much as you think you know what you wanna do job wise you have not got a clue. 4yr apprenticeship is a LONG time and if you leave school to do it you lock yourself into that trade, so if you realize you don't like it, tuff bickies your stuck
Mechanics pay is poor considering you are a tradesman, better then working at coles or some unskilled job normally but still ordinary as a tradesman.
 
do wot i did.. im suppost to be in grade 11.. but i dropped out 2 months befor end of year so i have 2 choice's 1. do what i love and go bike mechanic and ride bikes for a living. 2. or i can do Concept artist traineeship witch im most likely best with but i want to do what i love and thats live and breath motorcross.

I cuould become a chef as i am a bright and very good cook but when i walk in to ask questions about apprenticeship they dont like some1 with no meat on there bones cooking for them...

Word of advise do what pittin is doing get a education so you have somthing to lean on. dont be idiotic and say your to good for school.

Or do what i did and do a few months of back up exams and finish grade 10 like me and get a second grade job.

There are good jobs out there for those who havnt finished school just people dont look hard anough.

I hope this helped you.
 
aight Sid

im gunna sound like ya ol man prolly but mate stay in school

mechanic waste of time ,as i think you have relised ,out dated job mate ,these days they just pull it off and replace it ,that aint a mechanic


depends what your into but i think you want to work with your hands ?

mate do a ghrapix course learn how to read plans ,become a TRADIE

dun matter what trade be it bricky or sparky or creater ,what eva

i left school at the rip ol age of 15 half way through yr nine ,to become a gyprocker ,dun get me wrong was the best thing i ever did ,tho school is the best time of ya life so make the most of it theres pleanty of time to WORK mate trust me

i was lucky as my ol man was a gyprocker so i just went to the family business ,as a tradie we earn big bucks and if your keen on getting ahead youll never be out of work

most subbies i know now are earning in excess of 150,000 a yr

not bad for a bloke who cant add 2+2 ,but like i said mate THERES PLENTY OF TIME FOR WORK ,no go play footy with ya mates a lunch time a forget allabout growing up for a while
 
Im in my last leg of year 12 now , I too last year was contemplating leaving ( not dropping out I hate that word ) School to get a metal based apprenticeship such as a fitter and turner , sheet metal fabricator , cnc machinist etc. I realised that i've come this far I may as well do the rest. The work isn't all that hard you just have to stay on top of things , prioritise , pick subjects tht suit and intrest you and just play it smart. Try not to worry about all the HSC shit and hype , you hav been doing the past 13 years of your schooling life practicing and building up to the HSC so your well prepared for it. Try and stay positive and optimistic about where you want to go in life and this will normally lead you along the right path. Look down and thats where you'll end up.
If you have your mind set on a trade do it! but if you think twice about it you'll regret not going those 2 extra years of education. There is absoulutley nothing wrong with a trade , I hate it when people look down on trades people as if they were less - a good tradie will make a killing in the industry and will love his job day in day out.
If your in between thoughts of trade or further education I would suggest a technical college - these a tech based school geared towards trade type careers but still doing year 11 and 12 as you begin your appreticeship.
If you have a careers adviser at your school it would be in good practice and may turn out to be highly benificial if you go and have a chat with her about your career option/desires.
Hope that helps man , I was preety unsure like you but I went on now hopefully apsiring to go clock some degree's at Uni.
 
mechanic waste of time ,as i think you have relised ,out dated job mate ,these days they just pull it off and replace it ,that aint a mechanic

not so there Snitchy, yes more and more parts are remove and replace instead of repair. The difference between a good and bad mechanic is there diagnostics skills tho. Diagnostics has become heaps more technical now with all the more complex and intertwined systems in cars these days. You would actually be really surprised to see what a good mechanic will know about all different things.
 
im currently in year 11 and doing a VET course in automotive, i am currently seeking a apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic and acctualy having some luck. the way i figure it if you do year 12 it you have wasted a year that you coould of been doing th same thing and getting paid! (well most automotove things anyway).

my 2c
 
a machinist is working with lathes and stuff right? fabricating stuff

Correct, working with machines to make parts, a fitter puts the parts together. Big money if your just a normal fitter machinist. But if your working in the mines, expect even more money!. My mate was earning in a normal factory
1st year, $360 a week
2nd year, $450 a week
3rd year, Just under $700
And when he works over time he earns around $20 an hour.. Not bad for an apprentice???

My mate who in an apprentice mechanic
1st year, $250
2nd year, $360

I'm now at tafe doing a fitter machining course lol.
 
not so there Snitchy, yes more and more parts are remove and replace instead of repair. The difference between a good and bad mechanic is there diagnostics skills tho. Diagnostics has become heaps more technical now with all the more complex and intertwined systems in cars these days. You would actually be really surprised to see what a good mechanic will know about all different things.


totally agree spoony what i meant to say was its like a IT job now with all the things that go bing and ping

u know what i mean

still crappy underpaid job tho unless you own the joint or are working on expencive cars even tho at the end of the day its still a crappy underpaid job
 
^^^

yes indeed it is

after i did work at the machanic joint ill tel everyone not to be a machanic even the workers there said to me when i was there dont be a machanic and they said you like cars so you want to be a machanic but they said after you spend all week working on cars you have no time and you dont care about your own cars
 
im in yr 11 at the moment, it's definitely worth staying on the extra 2 years. If ya stay on u get into a trade ya get paid a lot more. I was thinking of being a Mechanic, but after work experience, i have come to realize it's hard work, for shit all pay. Now im thinking of moving into the engineering industry. If ya have the brains to go to Uni, go for that and get a way higher paid version of the trade u were gonna do.

If anyone knows a good engineering job related to cars/engines, please let me know.
 
^^^

yes indeed it is

after i did work at the machanic joint ill tel everyone not to be a machanic even the workers there said to me when i was there dont be a machanic and they said you like cars so you want to be a machanic but they said after you spend all week working on cars you have no time and you dont care about your own cars

yea man thats exactly wat happened to me, al the guys are like dont be a mechanic:(

But if i could get into high performance tuning/diagnostics (jap tuning) i would be in heaven.
 
Finish year 12, get into tourism or IT. Tradesman is good after apprenticeship, look at fitting and turning, machinist, plumber.

Check out the Army and Navy for apprenticeships, get great training, good pay and end up seeing the world and getting paid for it.
Benefits like cheap housing loans, taxfree pay when in different parts of the world.
My 20cents.
 
stay in school... try your hardest... get into uni... studdie! then once thats all over you can get a job sitting down in an office, not lifting a finger and earning good money...

believe me... i just finished year 12 and wish i applied myself... i dont like the looks of being a mechanic for the rest of my life (currently working for toro australia, working on there machines)

and if your going to become a mechanic, get into diesel as there is good money there (heavy vehicle mech) petrol offers shit money no joke
 
I cuould become a chef as i am a bright and very good cook but when i walk in to ask questions about apprenticeship they dont like some1 with no meat on there bones cooking for them...

if you were bright you would have stayed in school
 
forget a mechanic
do a licensed trade
eg. plumber electrician or something

im in yr 11 , waiting for an apprentiship to come up then im outy.
 
stay in school
it will give you more opitunities in the future
what if your aprentiship of choice doesn't work out?
without your vce you are nowhere

this is my story
i left school in year 11 not by choice i was asked to leave my specialist maths teacher lodged a few to many complaints about me being disruptive in class ( i really did like proving him wrong )
in other words school could not teach me anymore at all and they couldn't i was teaching them things so i started playing up

i now miss those 3 little letters VCE even though i'm smart enough to have it

so i left school and being an electronics genius i was lucky enough to walk into a electronics apprenaship which i finished in 18 months qualified and then got the redundent notice

so all that work for nothing and i dont think i could go back
i then because i didn't have my vce i couldn't get a job of any merit at all
so i work in factory's as a casual for ages made heaps of money and found i was going nowhere

so i started looking for a career based job which i found in bsc as a bearing salesman
now through bsc i have done a diploma in mechanical engineering which was really hard work because it is very specialized and has a huge maths component
so in short it has taken me 8 years to become qualified enough to have a respectable job
where if i'd finished school done the engineering degree it would of taken half the time

man stay in school and enjoy that time as it will be the best times of your life
work is long and hard school is short and fun for the most
 
Work is work. For 15 years I worked in a bank and wanted to build a hot rod. Left the bank and did 5 years of panelbeating, spent the first year of the apprentschip checking ebay and clearing sales looking for a project car. Gave up the idea of a hot rod because 40 hours a week is more than enough to work on cars (i hardley even washed my car during the years I worked as a panelbeater). In November I chucked the panelbeatig and got another office job. Since leaving the beaters I am washing and polishing my car again and looking for another project.

All 16 year olds love cars / bikes and think that working on them will just be the best life but only a few still love it at 30. Busted kuckles, rock hard hands, stiff backs, filthy washing machine, and $600 a week is not so cool.

Better to do mechanical engineering at uni and be in R & D designing engines cars bikes etc and earn good money. And you will probably still enjoy getting your hands dirty on the weekends.

Diesel mechanics get good money because working on machines that weigh a hundred tonnes fixing hydraulic leaks in a dusty mine pit 100 klms from the closetst town is not fun.
 
hey mate im in yr 10 and im doing a traineeship in concreting this yr and i have been set up with a motorbike apprenticip 4 nxt yr so it is good 2 do wat im doing and get all your blue card and safety certificate and stuff when your in skool then it will create more interest in you or another thing 2 find out about is an in school aprenticip
 
have recently found myself in a similar position but i think i will go to college.
 

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