At FenderBender, we’re used to bringing you news and perspectives that help you make money, save money, and work smarter in your collision repair operations. We thought it would be interesting to get a glimpse into those helping students become tomorrow’s technicians.
We spoke with Brian Pierce, the head of the collision repair program at Rosedale Technical College in Pittsburgh. He shares his insight into being an instructor and his experience in becoming an instructor.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into teaching?
In the ‘90s and early 2000s, Pierce worked at several body shops. “I had always been into cars. I was a little nontraditional,” he emphasized. “Then I went to school and got my teaching degree. Then I went into teaching collision repair, and I’ve been teaching since roughly 2003.”
Pierce taught at Wyoming Technical Institute before going to Rosedale Technical College.
“It was interesting from my perspective,” he said, “watching them adapt or do that switch, if you will, from painting a car to teaching how to paint the car.”
With ADAS and EVs still being so new, and many collision instructors not being directly involved in the industry, has that been a challenge, in your opinion?
“Yep,” he said bluntly. “As far as EVs and ADAS, it’s obviously out there. I do find it a little difficult to try and stay up with the industry because, of course, everything also costs money. So, to try and stay up on the technology, it’s not easy.”
Where you teach can also be a factor in whether the difficulty is alleviated or not.
“I’m rather fortunate the school that I teach at also has an automotive program. So, for a lot of what needs to be taken care of as far as EV and ADAS, we can kind of piggyback off each other and help each other out to get to that goal. Whereas I know, unfortunately, there are other educational institutions that don’t have that ability, and it’s even harder for them to get training or the equipment to even teach their students to have a taste of it. So, yeah, I think that definitely is the challenge in the education side of collision repair. So much technology is changing, and the expense of trying to keep up with it is a challenge.”
How important is it for someone to have industry experience before becoming an instructor?
“I would highly recommend getting as much experience as possible, not rushing into teaching,” he advised.
He also has the same advice for students who want to open their business right after they graduate.
“I try to tell them that you might want to learn the ropes and learn how the flow of an auto body shop works,” he said. “I try and tell them to just hold off on that and you’re getting the carriage in front of the horse. I would highly recommend getting some years of experience first.”
What surprised you the most when you started teaching?
He shared that teaching is more than just standing in front of a bunch of learners and sharing information. You need to make sure they retain what you shared as well.
“I was a little bit guilty of this, but I’ve seen a lot of guys who have come in from industry just tell students how to sand a car or whatever. And then did they see if they absorbed [knowledge], or did they just look at you and nod their head?” Pierce asked. “It’s important that you do follow up on everything.”
What do you enjoy most about being an instructor?
“It’s rewarding when you have a student who could barely weld two pieces of metal together at first and had never picked up a paint gun before. It doesn’t happen right away, but years later, you might run into them or come across their work on social media, and they’re doing things better than you could. They’re creating award-winning projects, buying huge houses, getting married, having kids, and finding great success in life. That’s fantastic.
“They put in the effort and the work, and to sit back and think, just for a second, that maybe, just maybe, you had a little something to do with it. Obviously, it was their ambition and hard work, but perhaps you played a small part. That thought makes me happy and motivates me to get up and do it again the next day.”
