Need suggestion - career change

[Etep]

Hi Everybody,

I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and working in State of Texas for the past 5-6 yrs. I am not a licensed engineer yet. I am planning to change career into HVAC since it is a fast growing career.

For a person who has a degree in mechanical engineer, State of Texas has a following rule in order to get a license in HVAC:-

Sec. 1302.255. Eligibility Requirements:

(Applies only to a license application submitted to TDLR on or after November 1, 2012.)

(a) An applicant for a license under this subchapter must:
(1) be at least 18 years old; and
(2) have at least 48 months of practical experience in air conditioning and refrigeration-related work
under the supervision of a licensed air conditioning and refrigeration contractor in the preceding
72 months.

(a-1) An applicant who has equivalent experience in another state or who held an equivalent license in another
state may receive credit for the experience as determined by the executive director.
(b) Notwithstanding the requirements of Subsection (a)(2), an applicant may satisfy a portion of the practical
experience requirement as provided by Subsection (c).

(c)An applicant who obtains a degree or diploma or completes a certification program from an institution of
higher education that holds a certificate of authority issued by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board, or an equivalent governing body in another state as approved by the executive director, may satisfy
a portion of the practical experience requirement as follows:
(1) completing a four-year degree or diploma in air conditioning engineering or technology,
refrigeration engineering or technology, or mechanical engineering is equivalent to 24 months of
practical experience;

The applicable requirement in my case would be(c)(1) which i will get equivalent to 24 months of practical experience.

I am thinking of getting additional 24 months experience in order to be licensed in Texas. My question to all of you pro here in this forum is -

What do you guys suggest. Will the additional 24 months experience would be sufficient to handle the HVAC job?If yes, is there anybody who will be looking to provide me practical training. I live here in Austin, Texas

or

You guys suggest me to join courses in community college to get degree in HVAC. Please help me and provide me some practical suggestion.Thank you

[Kobe Diesel]

Experience in the field could be worth much more than classroom time. It could be a very good idea to secure a job with a HVAC shop to get into the trenches and learn the trade hands on. You have the theory and engr'g principles with your BSME background, but the hands-on part is an entirely different arena.

An example of this is:
BSME >> you can size out and design forced air ventil system
Field Experience >> you can install the ducts, evacuate & charge the R134 into the system using all the tools of the trade (stuff you don't learn in Thermo 301 or Heat Transfer)

Whichever path you take, you can always expand later on the knowledge base with a night courses, books, etc.

Good luck!

[angelajshirley]

It is always wise to explore what type of career change you want to change to. Why? All careers have pros and cons and I know personally at age 54, I wasted too many years job hopping. Now it has come back to bite me as I have a very long resume. Job hopping causes employers to ask - will this person stick around after my company has trained them?

[kenny08]

You are not kidding, I was laid off. So I decided to take a bit of a break from the workforce for a while and do my own thing. Big mistake I tried my own business which failed and when I decided to come back and companies asked me what I had been doing for the past two years I told them that I tried doing my own thing in a totally different field they looked at me like I had ten heads luckily I have a friend who has his own biz in the field so I started working for him. If your resume is too long or too short nobody wants you I mean it's totally understandable nobody is going to waste their time if your not going to stick around but sometimes people aren't sure what direction they want to take in life. I've been in hvac my whole life but I still wasn't sure it was what I wanted to do with my life. But I'm still here happy to have my career in hvac