I need a gig like this

Spied at the my local coffee stop one morning last week:

GM does a lot of pre-production testing around here, hilly Pa. and WVa. terrain as well as some climate related as I been told. I've mostly seen Buick and Cadillac in camo and/ or cladding until this '16 Camaro rolled in for fuel. The plates are usually outta Michigan, the drivers and/ or engineers stay over at a couple motels next to the fuel station. Some drivers are total secret squirrels about E36 M3, especially if cladded, won't say a berkeleying word. Some even have a cover for the steering wheel when they exit the vehicle. Vehicles are usually stuffed w/ data acquisition.

I've asked dozens of times already: How do I get this kinda job? Just driving would work for me w/ no degree. Good retirement kind of job for me. I've only seen one ad in years in our area for drivers.

This guy was a powertrain engineer working on transmission algorithms for production start up of the new '16s. Automatic downshifting under braking in my car speak. BTW, this was the SS w/ the LT1, 6.2L, 455 hp/ 455 lb ft torques. Dude, you have the coolest berkeleying job in the world.

OK, so how does one car nut find a job like this?

Sharpie marker thread

This is from a few years ago. Maybe it will help?

In reply to Appleseed:

Ain't interested in car tatts, I wanna drive.

BSME, MSME + MBA. Most of the engineers I work with that design locomotives carry masters degrees.

Durability, mileage accumulation and validation are often done by 2nd party outfits. Drivers need not have any specialized skills. They also don't earn a whole lot. My former employer hired retired police and fire personal as drivers.

To get an entry level position that pays well you need to be familiar with data acquisition equipment.

Search for automotive testing firms in your area.

I have no engineering degrees or background, no data acquisition experience either. I do know some of the drivers of even the cladded vehicles were just Average Joe's. Most of the drivers appeared to be young engineers or engineering students tho.

The one job I applied for was most probably the 2nd party type and local hire, paid $10/ hour back then... but OK for a PT retirement gig. Just lookin' down the road, thas all. Wishful thinking I know, be a cool job anyway.

If you want to design and develop the hardware and software then it's typically BS + MS in engineering. If you want to tune powertrain control systems (or "calibrate" in the local parlance) a BS degree will suffice.

No MBA required.

• Ex-Ford powertrain calibrator for Panther platform

I know a guy who did this for a while at one of the bigger firms in the Detroit area. Definitely one of us, proper car guy, likes to drive. Said it payed ok (around $15 IIRC) but it was the worst job he ever had, micromanaged all to hell, and they'd ask him to do outright dangerous stuff. Like drive cars with factory R comps around town in winter, or run stuff around the track 8 hours a day. It does sound like a cool job but I guess it really isn't.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

Sounds terrible. Where do I sign up?

I have repeatedly turned down offers to test drive semi's. The hours are long, when the trucks aren't broke.

Often a driver will show up for his stint and the truck will not pass pre-trip inspection because the last driver did not do a proper inspection.

Or a driver will show up for his stint and the truck is down because no one notified the driver. "We don't need you today"

I have no interest in driving the same routes over and over and over. Boring X 10

GM.com

Ford.com

and whatever Fiat Chrysler . com really is.

Find the careers link.

The "average Joe" you see may be the techs that are supporting the engineers- when we travel with cars- there are probably 5-6 engineers to one tech. Assuming they are on a trip- around here, engineers head out on their own to do development. Everyone has the 1800-"tow me back to HQ" number in their car. I had to use it once for a DB7 that was having a major electrical problem, almost starting a fire.

Very little development driving is done of non-engineers. Even the handling stuff is engineer driven. On trips, all techs are taking data when they are driving- gotta get as much info as you can when out of town.

There are drivers like Kenny suggests- ones that just put mileage on the cars. But I suspect that it's largely torture for real drivers- they go out in mini-fleets and drive either just AT or below the speed limit. Cars have GPS on them, so they are tracked all the damned time. I've seen 5 Shelby Mustangs in a row all doing 70mph, pretty much blocking the flow of rush hour. Same for Fiestas, Transit vans (the big ones), escapes, MKx's etc. I think they head out to Chicago and back for this pattern.

These guys are very different than development drives.

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

That's exactly what I thought until we spent an hour discussing it. I repeat, micromanaged to hell. By "around town" I mean the same pothole filled route in super aggressive SE Michigan traffic all day long.

Look into Transworld. I know they provide drivers for VW brands here in Florida. They have a warehouse full of cars and do hot weather testing here. A friend got a job with them a couple of years ago, I'll see if I can get hold of him