About Mike

Tell us about your background, experience, education, certifications etc.
I have been working as an Auto Tech since 2007. I started at a small shop with no AC in Kennesaw, GA doing Tires/Oil Changes in the summer and kept the ball rolling from there. I enrolled in an Auto Tech school in Charlotte, NC where I spent two years trying to learn as much as I could. I actually met one of The Shop’s current employees, James, there and we work together today. From there I was offered a seat in the BMW STEP program in Orlando, FL. I found out on my first day that James had gotten into the same program. We spent about eight months immersing ourselves in the brand/technology and I was subsequently picked up by a Dealership in Raleigh, NC. I worked there for two years and jumped ship to start my own European auto repair shop. There is a saying, “the road to success is paved with failures”. I do wish I knew then what I know now. After four years, I left Raleigh for another Dealer in Midlothian, VA where James was the Shop Foreman. I worked at that dealer for five years and was scooped up by The Shop soon after James.

How did you first get into cars? And what do you like most about them?
The first vehicle I bought was a 1996 Firebird that was constantly breaking down. It was up on jack stands in my parents garage every weekend for about two months while I tried to contain the disaster that it was turning into.

From a repair standpoint, the problem solving aspect of vehicles is by far my absolute favorite thing. They are complicated and require quite a bit of operation knowledge to understand how certain systems work. Once that information is acquired, repairs just become a fun reverse engineering puzzle for me. From a general standpoint, I enjoy track driving. Vehicles can be pushed quite far into “scary” territory and still perform optimally. I have been quite surprised what a stock BMW can do with a good driver behind the wheel.

What are your other hobbies?
I am into craft beer, PC gaming and hiking in the mountains.

What is the most rewarding experience you have had from working in the automotive industry?
My most rewarding experience has been mentoring/training new tech.’s who are fresh out of school at the dealership level. I enjoy teaching, helping develop and sharing my experiences with others so that they can grow within their careers and hopefully not run into any of the problems and/or hardships that I endured during the first few years of my career.

What kind of music do you like?
I like a lot of the heavier “trap” style EDM from artists such as RL Grime, Ekali, Baauer, 1788-L and some Skrillex. Grew up going to raves and camping out at EDM Festivals.

Married? Kids? Pets?
Not married; no kids. Have a retired racing Greyhound named Enzo, a ‘dumpster find’ cat named Walter-melon and another ‘foster this cat until you end up keeping it’ cat named Miese-mo.

What do you like most about working at The Shop?
I like that the people who work here actually have a passion for the automotive industry/sport, rather than the previous two places I had been with. A few of us regularly go to track events, build personal performance cars and all of us are deep into F1. It is nice to work with people who share a lot of my similar interests.