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Just realized half the young guys I hire can't read a feeler gauge, and I think I know why
I had a kid start at my shop in Council Bluffs three months ago, good attitude, knows his scan tool better than I do. But last Tuesday I handed him a feeler gauge to check valve clearance on an old 22R and he just stared at it like I handed him a slide rule. Turns out he had never used one, not once, through two years of tech school. When I was coming up in the 90s we did everything by feel first, you learned .010 by running the blade across the gap until the drag felt right, and that sense stuck with you forever. Now the schools push live data and meters, which is fine, but they skip the basics that still matter on anything older than 2005 or anything somebody beat on. I am not blaming the kids, nobody taught them, but I keep seeing guys guess at gaps and then wonder why a motor runs rough after a rebuild. Anybody else notice this with new hires, or is it just my shop?
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hannah_wells6h ago
Oh man, I just read a thing about how trade schools dropped hands-on basics for computer stuff and now shops can't find guys who know a wrench from a wrench. Makes you wonder how they expect anyone to learn feel when the only thing they're taught to trust is a screen.
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