Living my dream

For me there is nothing cooler in this world than the world of cars and car people. I’ve been obsessively one-minded about them since I was young girl but I still feel like such a newbie to the whole thing because there is always so much to learn. After 2 years earning my collision repair certification at Butler CC, I was ready to find a niche in the industry and dive in. Even through the many different aspects of the industry no one was hiring at entry level. After over a year of on and off searching and asking around when my old instructor messaged me about a Parts Manager position at Collision Center of Andover. A week later I got the job and am now 2 weeks down and learning and loving it. I get to see the process of the tech school shop actually translated to a business environment. It has greater volume of projects than in the school shop so there is greater organization and faster pace. Everyone is detail orientated; every little thing matters. My job entails looking at an estimate that’s been written and figuring parts needed; finding, ordering parts or even driving out to get them. Then when the parts come in and I receive them I work with the techs to ensure that they get the right parts so that the vehicle gets done. The majority of my job is desk work with programs and files to coordinate the project from estimate to the car finally leaving a shop.  An eye for recognition of cars and general knowledge of their inner workings of a car has helped and I have developed a healthy respect for the technicians who work on 20 different makes, 3+ cars at a time. During slow times I help wash the cars or visit the techs in the shop to learn from their experience. And even though my journey is just begining it has been an exciting start in an exciting field and I hope my passion eventually lends to enrich this industry.