He Found His Calling in the Shop 

John Wingo fell in love with fabrication as a kid, watching his dad weld at a diesel shop. Now the recent high school graduate turns wrenches of his own at Ryan’s Diesel Garage off Highway 11. 

Everything comes through the door: tractors, lawn mowers, cars, diesel engines. Oil changes and brakes on the straightforward days, and transmissions and motors when things get interesting. 

“I’ve been doing transmissions here recently,” he said, “and just basic service, oil changes, brakes. Every now and again, we’ll have a transmission come through, or a motor. We got a lawn mower right now. I’ve been learning smaller diesel engines.” 

His Dad Showed Him First 

John didn’t walk into Ryan’s Diesel cold. He’d been building toward this for years, starting with his dad, who works at a diesel shop running semi trucks. 

“I picked up a little bit of the knowledge there and just applied it over,” John said. “It all applies.” 

He also worked at Tony Hatfield’s shop in Gainesville, which added gasoline engines to his toolkit. By the time he graduated, he could move between diesel and gas, big equipment and small, without skipping a beat. 

What hooked him early wasn’t just the mechanics. It was watching his dad fabricate. 

“There was a lot of fabrication involved in his job — always welding, lift gates, welding generator support boxes, anything you could think of,” John said. “I fell in love with the fabrication aspect of it.” 

The Right Place to Keep Learning 

Ryan’s Diesel is a small shop: John, one other guy around his age, and two older guys including Ryan, the owner, and a co-worker named David. The size is part of what makes it work. 

“The people, they don’t mind stopping what they’re doing and coming over to help me,” John said. “If I don’t feel comfortable doing something, or if I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t have any risk of breaking something. They’ll come show me how to do it, and then let me try it.” 

Zach Holtzclaw, his automotive instructor at Empower College and Career Center, also gave him a foundation he still draws on. 

“He taught me a lot of the tips and tricks that I use,” John said. “He taught me a lot of the quick ways to just think about it and figure out how things work.” 

Ryan has also talked with John about his path forward, working his way up through pay rates as he takes on more complex jobs. 

Business, for what it’s worth, is not a problem. “We are not short on work at all,” John said. 

Earning Now, Certifying Later 

HireSmart Cares, a nonprofit serving Madison and Jackson County youth, supported John through its Foot Forward program with a work boot voucher as he stepped into his career. The organization backs young people who go directly from high school into the workforce, with the belief that a meaningful career doesn’t have to begin with college debt. 

John’s plan fits that mold, mostly. He’s earning now and thinking about certifications later, once he has some money saved. 

“That’d be later on, maybe 19 or 20, around that, when I have some money in my back pocket and can actually afford to do that,” he said.  

He’s thinking ASE certifications, metal fabrication, heavy equipment, hydraulics and pneumatics. When the time comes, he’s looking at Lanier Tech or Athens Tech to get there. 

What He’d Tell a Kid Coming Up 

His advice is practical. 

“Stick to it,” he said. “Find somebody in your family, a family friend, one of the people around you that you can talk to, and see if they’ll let you come help out, even if it’s just on weekends. Get up there, get the knowledge, start knowing it. The more you know, the better off you’ll be when you get old enough to actually join the field.” 

The Picture He Has in Mind 

John has a picture of his future in mind.  

“I want a nice house to keep my family safe — spacious, but not too big,” he said. “Bigger house, more cleaning. Have my bills on auto pay, and have me a little shop out back, that way I can tinker on stuff.” 

He wants his own shop someday too. For now, the shift ends, he goes home, and tomorrow he goes back. 

He grew up watching his dad work. Now he’s doing it himself.