Hello,

I've recently decided I want to become a mechanic and I was hoping I could get some advice on what my next steps should be. For context I live in Ontario, where any automotive repair work is a protected trade and you need to be a sponsored apprentice to work in a shop. I only recently made the decision to pursue this trade and have no prior experience beyond changing my tires this winter. I've already been accepted to a Truck and Coach Technician program next September but I also have an interview in a month for an accelerated program that comes with a sponsorship and also covers all of my required schooling in just one year, vs the one I'm accepted to that is 2 years and only covers 2/3rds of the required schooling.

I'm wondering what kind of jobs might help me expand my mechanical affinity, look good during my program interview, and help surround me with people that have that kind of knowledge. A lot of advice on youtube just tells you to start by cleaning or just doing oil changes in a shop and learn and work your way up, but that requires being sponsored here which is a whole ordeal and I'm specifically hoping to work truck and coach which is a different registered trade and more involved to get started in than standard automotive service. I don't want to get sponsored by an employer just to go part time in 8 months to do a different trade.

I was thinking maybe working at an auto parts retailer or in automotive assembly might be helpful and help me expand my knowledge while I make money. I could also keep my current job which pays a bit better than those, and has a lot of downtime for studying, but it's medical work and completely unrelated, and I have a hard time staying motivated now that this job isn't helping me towards my future. I also have my truck driver's licence and could drive commercially but I don't know how much that would expand my knowledge besides the daily inspections.

Outside of work, I've began studying on my own and am saving up money for tools to hopefully part out my old SUV that I crashed to get some hands on experience before school. If I get good enough maybe I can get by on doing that (I live with my folks and have minimal bills) but I need an income until I'm more capable.

So yeah that's my situation, any advice would be much appreciated as I'm shooting in the dark and don't know anybody in the trade. Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit for this but if you could point me somewhere more suited to this I'd appreciate it.