[HN Gopher] Ford CEO says he has 5k open mechanic jobs with 6-fi...
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Ford CEO says he has 5k open mechanic jobs with 6-figure salaries
Author : Anumbia
Score : 19 points
Date : 2025-11-13 21:09 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fortune.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (fortune.com)
| TimorousBestie wrote:
| > "We do not have trade schools," he said. "We are not investing
| in educating a next generation of people like my grandfather who
| had nothing, who built a middle class life and a future for his
| family."
|
| So put your money where your mouth is and open your own trade
| school? If someone as incompetent and corrupt as Falwell can open
| and operate Liberty University, then why can't CEO Farley?
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| > why can't CEO Farley?
|
| I'm guessing it involves some front-end expense - which (like
| all business expenses) are at odds with shareholder wishes.
| TimorousBestie wrote:
| > Net worth: 30 million.
|
| He can easily finance a small trade school as a pilot project
| on his own, without shareholder approval.
|
| So does he think it has ROI or no?
| signatoremo wrote:
| Why should he do that? He isn't the owner of Ford. What if
| he gets fired like his predecessor?
| TimorousBestie wrote:
| Either he thinks it's a worthwhile pursuit or he doesn't.
|
| If his point is that it's only worthwhile when the public
| subsidizes the cost, then he's just yet another rent-
| seeking millionaire looking to profit off the taxpayer's
| dollar at no risk to either himself or Ford.
| bell-cot wrote:
| > Still, part of the problem for the shortage of manufacturing
| jobs is the lack of education and training, according to Farley.
| He noted, for example, learning to take a diesel engine out of a
| Ford Super Duty truck takes at least five years. The current
| system is not meeting the standard, he added.
|
| Sounds like Ford's #1 problem is failure to train its engineers,
| in how to design reasonably maintainable vehicles.
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| >> Still, part of the problem for the shortage of manufacturing
| jobs is the lack of education and training, according to
| Farley.
|
| >> He noted, for example, learning to take a diesel engine out
| of a Ford Super Duty truck takes at least five years.
|
| >> The current system is not meeting the standard, he added.
|
| I fully agree with your opinion .... but this guy's quote is
| bizarre.
|
| What system is failing to meet the 5-years-to-learn-how-to-
| remove-one-particular-engine standard?
|
| High school trades? Community college? Private $xx,000 high-
| debt mechanic school?
|
| None of these are remotely capable of teaching Ford's hyper-
| narrow specialization. Trying to would be a disaster.
| bell-cot wrote:
| > What system is failing to meet...
|
| Not Applicable. If it somehow took an engineering degree to
| toast a Pop-Tart, the "failing to meet" would have nothing
| whatsoever to do with any education system for engineers.
|
| EDIT: On another read...I'd say the bizarre quote is just
| Farley desperately trying to throw the blame somewhere,
| somewhere far away from where it belongs - with him and Ford.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| The solution is simple, right? Ford should be offering paid
| training and a talent pipeline, to build this talent pool
| that they supposedly need. Why don't they? Are they willing
| to spend the investment required? These are the root causes
| of the system failure imho, everyone (current state, US
| specific) wants the best talent possible at the cheapest
| possible cost, on demand with as little long term economic
| obligation or liability possible.
| mring33621 wrote:
| Many modern cars are not designed to be easily worked on. I
| think the priority is ease/cost of initial assembly, only.
|
| My 2010 Mercedes had headlight bulbs that died frequently. But
| there was no way for a human to reach in and replace them,
| without either some special tool or disassembling a bunch of
| stuff at the front of the car. Just one example. You can find
| many similar complaints elsewhere.
| bell-cot wrote:
| Sounds like my 2002 VW's headlights. And several of its other
| systems...
|
| I replaced that VW with a Honda in 2010, and will _never_ buy
| another "German Engineering" car.
| robinwassen wrote:
| Last maintenance I did on my Volvo was to replace the battery
| which should be quick for a non-mechanic as myself.
|
| I spent more time building a make shift tool to detach/attach
| the battery than I did actual work. This due to them placing
| a bolt really bad so you can't access it with a normal
| wrench.
|
| Not offering a paid upgrade to a 4G modem for the app
| features when they kill the 3G network in Sweden is also a
| bummer (they do in the US though, guess they are afraid of
| law suits).
|
| I like the car in general, but they do some bad decisions
| that make me look at other brands when considering a new car.
| jleyank wrote:
| Is the way the Ford engine is installed standard in some way,
| or does it take 5 years for a Ford engine, 5 for a GMC, ...?
| Cuz if it's unique to Ford, it's a Ford problem, not a trade
| school problem.
| bogomipblips wrote:
| Looking for book time, etc, ford doesn't seem likely to be as
| high complexity as similar large diesel.. I think the issue
| is similar to workstation repair vs PC repair.. 5 years
| learning this is instead of making a similar hourly rate on
| higher volumes of cars, risking that others are trying to
| close that gap too and wondering how long that skill as it is
| stays stably useful.
| denuoweb wrote:
| Six figure hourly-wage "salaries", as long as you put in the 20
| hours overtime every week. He also didn't mention the swing shift
| going from 2 weeks on 3rd, 2 weeks on 2nd, 2 weeks on 1st, and
| repeat. We can probably find a bunch of other anti-worker issues
| if we look into it. He also suggests it takes 5 years of
| education to learn to take out an engine. You're better off
| getting a college education in that time. Or you'll be dealing
| with the same engine for the next 30 years. No future. No
| advancement, No life.
| commandlinefan wrote:
| > No future. No advancement, No life.
|
| Honestly starting to feel the same way about developing
| software.
| pissmeself wrote:
| > Six figure hourly-wage "salaries", as long as you put in the
| 20 hours overtime every week. He also didn't mention the swing
| shift going from 2 weeks on 3rd, 2 weeks on 2nd, 2 weeks on
| 1st, and repeat.
|
| My understanding is that this is how the similar "high pay" but
| perpetually understaffed field of nursing is.
|
| > You're better off getting a college education in that time.
| Or you'll be dealing with the same engine for the next 30
| years. No future. No advancement, No life.
|
| Some years ago, I heard about a big shortage of airplane
| mechanics, and lived near a small, but moderately busy
| commercial airport.
|
| I looked into the training programs for that sort of things and
| it would have been cheaper for me to just go get an aerospace
| engineering degree from a state school and design the damn
| planes.
| canucker2016 wrote:
| related article - "...Then a Mechanic Responds"
| https://www.motor1.com/news/774805/ford-ceo-complains-shorta...
|
| HN discussion of related article -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45500699
| delfinom wrote:
| Mechanics at dealerships or assembly line technicians?
|
| Because there's no way those jobs are 6 figures at the
| dealerships when automakers and dealers push fixed-fee services
| and severely underrate the hours required.
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| FWIW, I had an office at a Ford dealership, 2005-2010. Our
| mechanics earned in the 25k-55k range.
| more_corn wrote:
| Because he refuses to pay them fairly.
| xorvoid wrote:
| Clearly you didn't read the article...
| AngryData wrote:
| I did, and either the CEO doesn't know what a mechanic is, or
| hes spewing bullshit because mechanics are not part of the
| Auto Union or working in manufacturing plants that he was
| talking about wages going up for. Which I might add he wasn't
| done voluntarily, the union forced the pay raise.
| culopatin wrote:
| I tried looking for these on their careers page and I can't find
| what he's talking about. Regardless I don't think I'd move to
| Detroit for this. Even if I enjoyed the trade.
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(page generated 2025-11-13 23:01 UTC)