RR 351: Paul Danner – Educator, Diagnostician and You-tuber ‘ScannerDanner’

Paul Danner, aka ScannerDanner on YouTube clears up the misconception that his name is not “Dan,” which he gets all the time. People think his name is Dan and he added “ner”  to rhyme with “Scanner”? He says it is not true and that that it would be really stupid!!!!

His career in the automotive field started as a junior in high school in 1990. He took two years of auto mechanics in high school, then another two year program (post-secondary) at Rosedale Technical College in Pittsburgh (where he now teaches). After Rosedale, Paul entered the field and worked full time for about 8 years before coming back to teach at the school. This September 2018, Paul will be starting his 18th year as an automotive instructor.

Within the transition from the field to teaching, Paul took a pretty decent pay cut, and to make ends meet, he started performing diagnostic work for some local garages. This is where the material for his classes came from. Recording data and case studies over the years, first in text and picture form,  ultimately lead to Paul to write his own book. Later came video case studies he used to make his class better.

Paul always hated teaching from someone else’s material and the textbook was his solution to having his own stuff!  He can speak with authority on his book’s content.

The video camera changed everything! Paul just wanted to make his class better. He had no global aspirations and didn’t set out to be a “YouTuber”, it just happened! People started finding me and asking me questions and wanting to be part of my class remotely and this is where ScannerDanner Premium was born. A chance for those not able to attend a technical college like Rosedale to be able to learn some foundation skills to get them going.  

Paul brings a camera with him to his garages. He films case studies and he teaches. It has always been his passion. He loves to teach; especially to those who want to learn.

Key Talking Points:

• Attended Rosedale Technical College as a student. He has now been an instructor there for 18 years.
• He was a tech full-time for 8 years, not always diag work, yet he loved diag and focused on it.
• He fell into mobile diagnostics and case studies by stopping in and helping his friends on the way home from work. He called it diaper money to help pay the bills.
• When you teach you to learn. His steepest learning curve came when he started teaching. He is always looking for answers.
• He is thankful that God has graced him with the ability to troubleshoot.
  • He is wired for variables.
  • He loves the ‘What Ifs.
• You will not be any good at anything if you don’t like what you do.
• Your learning curve comes from the ‘good parts’ drawer. From the miss-calls you made.
• Know what you did wrong. What happened. Figure out what you did wrong.
• Can’t learn enough fundamentals.
• To get good at diagnostics you need to be in a shop that can give you a steady diet of diagnostic work.
• ScannerDanner classes are designed to help one build a foundation. Training beyond his classes is still critical in staying on top of this field.
• Video editing takes a ton of time to continue to create quality content.
• He wants to shadow his friend Tom Wolf at a dealership, no camera just looking for new case studies and looking at leading technology.
• The future may include a government agency certifying a tech to work on autonomous vehicles.

https://www.scannerdanner.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrf6f8hn5oy4alB2WXJCIqA

www.scannerdanner.com/buy-the-book

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This episode is brought to you by Federal-MogulMotorparts and Garage Gurus. With brands like Moog, Felpro, Wagner Brake, Champion, Sealed Power, FP Diesel and more, they’re the parts techs trust.  For serious technical training and support – online, onsite and on-demand – Garage Gurus is everything you need to know. Find out more at fmmotorparts.com  and fmgaragegurus.com