How Did You Get Your Start In HVAC?

[marter]

the market is saturated with low ballers and dreamers looking for cheap help, demanding all sort of qualifications but only willing to pay couple of bucks more than burger king.

truth.

before my current gig, went to one interview.. he said "we pay $12.50 a hour" i walked out. been doing this for far too long, to not know that your going to pay me 12.50 a hour and bill out $100.

i make almost 2x that

[Bigpapi08]

Got hired straight out of school as a service tech there is places that will hire you just keep applying dont give uo

[ironpit]

I was a petty thief, High School dropout who broke into a van that had a bunch of sheet metal tools. Since they weren't worth anything at the pawn shops, I started using them.

I WANT MY TOOLS BACK YOU !@##$$$ THIEF!

[DNMechanical]

Went to trade school. No one seem to interest on hiring me due to no experience and slow season (January). Found a job as an independent contractor for appliance's contractor, worked for him 5 weeks then got hired by an ac/appliances company. Started out as appliance Tech, now working on appliances, residential ac and commercial ac

[dlove]

The best way to get started is to "Know somebody".

Or you can get started like I did. In building maintenance.Doing menial tasks such as changing filters, oiling motors- we used to do that back in the day.Cleaning coils, flushing condensate lines, replacing motors the real tech 86'd,draining the water out of the compressor tank, adjusting the belts in air handlers,and doing the job that no self respecting tech would be caught dead doing...............servicing the evaporative coolers. There is a property out there somewhere that needs somebody to fix their stuff. The fastest track to becoming a tech is lots of work.

that's a said statement about Maintenance techs. Working as a Stationary engineer most of my carrier i received some of the best training working in Buildings. No other place will you get the fast track to learn DDC controls. If you apply yourself you could learn just about every trade out there, Electrical, plumbing, chillers, boilers, HVAC design The list goes on. good companies will pay for you to take courses, help get you your CFC ticket. In the worst of times the work is steady, pays good, when its hot out your cool inside, when its cold out its warm inside. I'm surprised of how many service techs out there that don't know how to do some of those menial task, I cant tell you have many times i had to go behind a Tech and fix the screw ups. But like in any trade you have the good, the bad and the ugly. you should be ashamed of yourself for saying that.

[supertek65]

dlove are you related to klove???????????????

[dlove]

dlove are you related to klove???????????????

haha NO

[supertek65]

just checkin!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha NO

[Gignacmechanic]

Was a exec chef for 10 years and was always interested when we called the refrigeration service tech to fix fridges or freezers or rooftop units then one day i said to myself ( im gonna look what it would take to go back to school in refrigeration ) well after an 8 months stint at school i went job hunting while still at school and got picked up by trane and been with them ever since and so far i am really enjoying myself . Great boss and awesome journeypersons to work with. I hope the economy picks up for you guys in the state cause here in canada making 90 to 105k a year as a service tech is fairly common to be honest

[hvac wiz 79]

Was a exec chef for 10 years and was always interested when we called the refrigeration service tech to fix fridges or freezers or rooftop units then one day i said to myself ( im gonna look what it would take to go back to school in refrigeration ) well after an 8 months stint at school i went job hunting while still at school and got picked up by trane and been with them ever since and so far i am really enjoying myself . Great boss and awesome journeypersons to work with. I hope the economy picks up for you guys in the state cause here in canada making 90 to 105k a year as a service tech is fairly common to be honest

thats a pretty damn good living as a service tech ... but what type of tech ? resi, light commercial, industrial, supermarkets, controls ?? ... also what is the cost of living up that way ?

[dlove]

[QUOTE=Gignacmechanic;12836301]Was a exec chef for 10 years and was always interested when we called the refrigeration service tech to fix fridges or freezers or rooftop units then one day i said to myself ( im gonna look what it would take to go back to school in refrigeration ) well after an 8 months stint at school i went job hunting while still at school and got picked up by trane and been with them ever since and so far i am really enjoying myself . Great boss and awesome journeypersons to work with. I hope the economy picks up for you guys in the state cause here in canada making 90 to 105k a year as a service tech is fairly common to be honest[/QUOTE

100k. 18 hr days and weekends. their ain't no one handing out that on an 8 hr day! not impossible but make it while your young.

[Gignacmechanic]

Well the average wage up here is between 36 to 42 an hour plus a little overtime here and there and you get to 90 to 100 k pretty quick . Now dont get me wrong i dont wanna imply that every single mechanic make that but i know that most resi guys that do oncalls and supermarket guys make that commonly in my line of work industrial ot is a bit more scarce ( government buildings dont have much going on after 5 pm or on the weekends hahahha )

[JBM1000]

At the age of 17 I just showed up with a hammer and tool belt at a local HVAC shop and told them I now work there! The owner told me I had a lot Ba**'s and laughed at me and so did everyone else. As I turned to walk out he said "hold up kid" I was just giving you crap, sit down in my office and will talk. He explained that I would eat crow for a year first and hate it, then I will see what your made of. That lasted about 90 days and I was made a duct installer from plenums to boots, later I was allowed to cut them in floor top register side. My mentor was a crusty 70 yr old biscuit who could not even read! He took manuals and acted the part but when inspectors looked at his work they were astonished, I think he had been a pipe fitter and such before HVAC. He never carried a tape measure and I back tracked him and got caught, I almost never worked with him again, he accused me of thinking he was lying! The guy was always dead on-go figure? In short 5 yrs of eating crow and I became a service tech, Now 35 yrs later I am at highly respected senior service tech adviser and still do calls every day (if you don't you fade away)! *I realize it is all different these days*. Good Luck and hope you get the next Crusty Biscuit like I had!

[71CHOPS]

Now 35 yrs later I am at highly respected senior service tech adviser and still do calls every day (if you don't you fade away)! *I realize it is all different these days*. Good Luck and hope you get the next Crusty Biscuit like I had!

uuuhhmmm.......ok, I won't say it!

[Barrels]

I too am beginning my search for a new career and was going to use the plan of studying and high rank of class as my "foot in the door",til someone can offer me something better. I know the product "myself" confidently I can sell it,hope the demand is high.

[TheChillerMan]

1. I saw an ad in the newspaper for apprentices down at the local union.

2. Drove down to the union and filled out an application.

3. A week later I got a call from the local union.

4. Got hired at an HVAC shop as a helper/driver.

5. Got accepted into the apprenticeship program.

6. Graduated from the 5 year apprenticeship program as a Journeyman.

Now I have the pick of jobs anywhere in the country.

[hurtinhvac]

I too am beginning my search for a new career and was going to use the plan of studying and high rank of class as my "foot in the door",til someone can offer me something better. I know the product "myself" confidently I can sell it,hope the demand is high.

Which school?

[dec]

Pretty much same as chillerman ...... saw ad in paper for apprenticships when I was 18. Took the testing thru unemployment office ....... test results were sent to union ....... did interview with union ( lying thru my teeth that its what I have always wanted to do but having no clue what it even had anything to do with other then being it was for sheetmetal worker ...... must have something to do with sheetmetal ) ........ ended up getting letter in mail a week later saying I was #1 on the list and to report to work monday.

Went to about 6 differant trades interviews about the same time from meat cutters , plumbers, electricians, sheetmetal workers, and a few others. Told them all the same thing that its what I have always wanted to learn. Never heard a thing from the other trades then sheetmetal workers. LUCKILY

Funny how you make your own breaks and where differant paths along your life take you differant directions for good or bad. So many times you think what happens is making your life worse only to find that it was the best thing to happen and in all reality it was the best thing that could ever happen to you.

Its all a new adventure ....... don't look at it as a negative

[Jigjoe]

For those guys who know what they want in this field, how do you go about obtaining it? For example, when I started out, I knew nothing HVACR related and ended up doing residential work which was great experience. But now that I'm trying to get back into the field, I want my 'specialty' to be more commercial/industrial. I am going to school in two weeks and for the last several months, I've been doing a lot of searching for companies that focus on those two areas who will also accept students/interns/helpers. I've had no luck as all the ads have been for residential work. Maybe I'm not searching in the right area but I'm sort of stuck as I know no one in the area who might be able to give me some leads. I'm not familiar with the different companies out there who work specialize in those areas. I guess I could get more information from my teacher when I start school but I don't want to have high hopes as the turn out usually isn't in my favor

[DLZ Dan]

With me, I took a different path than my family. We are all truck drivers. My parents had a shipping business, both could drive tractor -trailers.(Havent had that business since i was 5) My brother drove a straight truck and now drives a garbage truck. I was driving a tractor-trailer when we went to war. The Jersey ports starting slowing down because we werent doing the overseas commerce we used to. Chassis started stacking up in Port Elizabeth, containers started stacking up in Port Newark and trailer drivers werent needed anymore. My brother and I worked for the same company and they let me go and kept him because noone wanted to do the Brooklyn route.

I went to school for HVAC while on unemployment because i figured there was no offseason. 10 years later here i am.