It's official

I have officially graduated Diesel Mechanic school. I have been done since 12/19/12 but between disagreement with their tool plan and other monies it's been settled. I have my diploma and graduated with 3.90. In high school my highest was 2.2/3 and same for community college which I never finished.

Way to go!
Now we can have some up to date info instead of my ole arse.
Wish I had a local college to take some courses to brush up on but the local tech school doesn't have anything advanced enough.

My advice buy a 12v cummins and a stick shift!

Congrats Evan!

Way to go Evan!

Good job, Evan! Doesn't it feel great to have that accomplishment? Now, get to work!!

Way to go! Now go back and be a pharmacist so you can make some good money!

bones wrote:

Way to go! Now go back and be a pharmacist so you can make some good money!

Those ones at walmart don't look all that happy being there.

Or are we referring to "personal use" pharmaceuticals?

Lol.. they may not be happy to be there, but when their check comes in, I assure you they are happy. My wife has two friends (they are married) who she graduated with that work for Walmart. $130k/yr each. Retail sucks though, and they are long 10 or 12 hour days. That's why they are miserable. But believe it or not, Walmart pays pharmacists very good.

Two of her other friends she graduated with who are also married, work for CVS, about $110-120/k each per year.

Wow, did not know that.
Thanks Jim, I learned my one new thing for the day and it was before 9AM so now I done!

One of our guys at work has a daughter in pharmacy school (5 year program) CVS will hire her out of school for $130,000 year. She has to work a few hours a week in a store during summer breaks.

bones wrote:

Way to go! Now go back and be a pharmacist so you can make some good money!

Naw, most are just glorified checkout clerks. I predict many clerk-like pharmacist positions will be replaced by technology in the future. One pharmacist could be located off site and process several drug stores. Or automated out all together. The push for healthcare cost savings will touch pharmacist jobs too.

It is good money for sure. My wife has a Dr. of Pharmacy and it was a six year program. She works for a hospital as a director now.

Diseasel wrote:

bones wrote:

Way to go! Now go back and be a pharmacist so you can make some good money!

Naw, most are just glorified checkout clerks. I predict many clerk-like pharmacist positions will be replaced by technology in the future. One pharmacist could be located off site and process several drug stores. Or automated out all together. The push for healthcare cost savings will touch pharmacist jobs too.

You couldn't be further from the truth. A pharmcist knows more than the doctors. No pharmacist is a glorified checkout clerk.

I don't know if it's different in Canada, but a friend of mines daughter works as a Pharmacists Asst at the local Wallyworld Pharmacy and, according to her anyway, the pharmacy is a complete separate entity within Walmart. It's actually owned by an outside pharmacy and even their pay comes from that outside pharmacy. The people working in the pharmacy cannot be relocated elsewhere in the store and vice versa.

I am not sure about the outside company part in the states, but most of that is correct. You have to be a certified Pharmacy Tech just to run the registers in the pharmacy. It has a different manager and everything.

With that said, the techs may be "glorified checkout clerks" but they are not pharmacists and they do not make anywhere near a pharmacist salary, about $40-$50/hr less most likely.

Congratulations Evan.

Congratulations, Evan! Job well done.

bones wrote:

You couldn't be further from the truth. A pharmcist knows more than the doctors. No pharmacist is a glorified checkout clerk.

Come on now. All fields have smart and not so smart folks in them. Here's your reality check. Your local US pharmacist practiced with a bachelor's degree not too long ago. I think it was prior to 1990.

And it seems to be the trend with all healthcare fields these days - increase education requirements. Heck, even physical therapy requires doctorate level education before one can practice. It's crazy stuff.

Diseasel wrote:

bones wrote:

You couldn't be further from the truth. A pharmcist knows more than the doctors. No pharmacist is a glorified checkout clerk.

Come on now. All fields have smart and not so smart folks in them. Here's your reality check. Before 1990 your local US pharmacist could practice with a bachelor's degree.

And it seems to be the trend with all healthcare fields these days - increase education requirements. Heck, even physical therapy requires doctorate level education before one can practice. It's crazy stuff.

Yes... education requirements to weed out all the dumb people who can't cut it I would say most pharmacists now days who did the six year program and are Dr's of Pharmacy, are pretty smart. They have to be. Before 1990 they were just "registered pharmacists" making much less money.

bones wrote:

Yes... education requirements to weed out all the dumb people who can't cut it I would say most pharmacists now days who did the six year program and are Dr's of Pharmacy, are pretty smart.

Yep, no doubt they're smart. Not Dr House smart though.

I suspect the real pharmacist brainpower is in the biotech research field and not answering phones and ringing the cash register.

Thanks guys. I've been looking for jobs in Dallas/Ft Worth area in Texas and here in New York since December. I have gotten exactly 3 phone calls back. One from Texas and two from up here. Only one call resulted in an interview. It is really scary out there.

I hope something pans out soon. Have you thought about doing some time in the bakken basin and then moving back to NY or TX?

Congrats Evan ! Have you looked in NYC such as the MTA, Con Edison, LIRR or over the border in NJ in similar facilities ? Good money, benefits and plenty of work if you can get in. Another avenue to look into is large equipment repair and generator maintenance.

I'm sitting at a train station right now thinking the same thing. Must be a train yard looking for a good diesel mechanic.

I've been trying to get in stuff, Jersey is too much money in tolls to be worth going to. Where's bakken basin?

It's covers Canada and the US. In the US it's Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. There's lots of shale oil related work there. It might be tough to find places to live, some folks are living out of RVs, campers and trailers.

Nope, I hate snow and not thrilled about the cold to an extent.

It may take a while to get things rolling but good mechanics are always in demand. The key will be to get some experience and that just takes, well, time.

Yup. I'll be contacting a few people/places to go visit for the week.