The 5 year barrier?

[Joehvac25]

Wow chuck that's my exact position lol lead installer and lead tech by default lol.


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[54regcab]

When I first started doing electro-mechanical work in the 1970s, I found that the onus was on ME to get better at what I was doing. Things that helped me:

Living on a farm for a few years in my youth
building electronic kits
being a hot rodder
working for a plumber
working for an electrician
taking a couple of semesters of formal electronics training
going back to school for more algebra
becoming a flight instructor (thinking on your feet, problem solving)

That's just a short list, but they ALL gave me an edge in diagnosing and repairing most things.

For me, the five year point of competency happened much sooner, because in reality, I had five years with most of the concepts many years ago.

The person best able to evaluate where you stand is someone you work with, who has seen what mistakes you made, and whose mistakes you may have seen, in turn.

You really have to love to find out what's wrong and make it right. If you have that inner drive, nothing can stop you in this business.

+1, having similar experience in other fields can help a LOT. Understanding electrical/electronics goes a LONG way in troubleshooting today's systems. Appliance repair and HVAC are closely related, having experience doing appliances is a nice boost to learning HVAC. A lot of the knowledge "transfers over". Same for electronics, A/V techs tend to have good experience hooking things up and understanding wiring diagrams. Understanding inputs/outputs on circuit boards is essential to being a good HVAC tech IMHO.

[supertek65]

Yip beer can cold!
Thats how i charge everything!

Dont even own gauges or a scale.

Just bring the bottle and a lil blue hose.

Dont even need a meter just one of those lil glowing things.

And clearly nobody can get killed in this field.

I don't know much about the business end of what experience companies expect but I disagree with most of the guys here.
I'll take a rookie who can think over experience any day of the week. A good thinker with a good teacher shouldn't need more than 5 months let alone 5 years to be a decent tech. What we do is not rocket science no matter how you slice it & we have a huge margin of error too. We might cause someone to be inconvenienced for a few days at worst but we're not going to kill anyone or give them a disability for life. I enjoy learning about our trade because there is so much to learn but beer can cold will still usually get the system cooling. Probably half the experienced techs out there are still charging equipment like that today without call backs. Experience is always a plus but it doesn't help when you run across something you've never experienced before. Know the basics of how the system works & how to think it through & you can fix anything.

[Joehvac25]

Yip beer can cold!
Thats how i charge everything!

Dont even own gauges or a scale.

Just bring the bottle and a lil blue hose.

Dont even need a meter just one of those lil glowing things.

And clearly nobody can get killed in this field.

Meter? Gauges? Scale? I thought when there broke you just install new equipment, yes people never die in this field, I think I get paid to much for this!

[supertek65]

I am selling all that stuff tomorrow!

[Joehvac25]

I am selling all that stuff tomorrow!

Clear that useless crap out of your van and slide in a goodman 120k furnace, that will cover your heating calls, and a condenser and evap, done!

[supertek65]

LOL!

being a bar owner I can tell you that beer is usually kept at 38*

assuming you had a 40* SST
that would be minus 2* compressor superheat!
good way to sell new compressors!

[garyed]

LOL!

being a bar owner I can tell you that beer is usually kept at 38*

assuming you had a 40* SST
that would be minus 2* compressor superheat!
good way to sell new compressors!

I keep my beer at 42* because I have too hard a time getting negative superheat.

[Northfloridatech]

I am on my eight year and I feel pretty confident on residential,but I do have to stop and scratch my head best advice is go to trade school,get nate certified,read anything and everything on hvac work.

[supertek65]

good idea!!!!!!!!!!!1 LOL!!!!!!

I keep my beer at 42* because I have too hard a time getting negative superheat.

[DD931]

I am a 4th year residential HVAC service tech, work at a small shop (3 employees, a working owner, and a secretary) in a small town (13,000). I was just wondering what other folks are doing for retirement. I have brought up the topic serveral times to my boss but he seems to dismiss it. I am generally happy with my current situation but I just want to make sure I am getting the most out of my career.

[54regcab]

I am a 4th year residential HVAC service tech, work at a small shop (3 employees, a working owner, and a secretary) in a small town (13,000). I was just wondering what other folks are doing for retirement. I have brought up the topic serveral times to my boss but he seems to dismiss it. I am generally happy with my current situation but I just want to make sure I am getting the most out of my career.

Start your own Roth IRA. Company pensions are a thing of the past, most have gone to 401k. 401k's are only good if the employer provides matching funds.

[jabeu]

It all depends on the individual. I have guys with 3 to 5 years experience that I would not trade for anything, then I have guys with 25 years experience and I wonder, in what?

[supertek65]

roth IRA

mutual funds

I am a 4th year residential HVAC service tech, work at a small shop (3 employees, a working owner, and a secretary) in a small town (13,000). I was just wondering what other folks are doing for retirement. I have brought up the topic serveral times to my boss but he seems to dismiss it. I am generally happy with my current situation but I just want to make sure I am getting the most out of my career.

[DD931]

May I ask the details About the ROTH IRA? Do they match a percentage? I'm the only non-family employee and the other two "workers" mainly install and I do most of the service. They likely have the company to fall back on so they do not have any other types of retirement.

roth IRA

mutual funds

[supertek65]

you just get your own roth ira.

if you want to approach your boss,
see if he will match up to 10% of your gross pay?

so if you make 50k
you save 5k
and boss puts in 5k.

[Tech Rob]

you just get your own roth ira.

if you want to approach your boss,
see if he will match up to 10% of your gross pay?

We get 6% of our contribution matched up to $3800

[supertek65]

i was being wishful!

We get 6% of our contribution matched up to $3800

[Tech Rob]

You know what they say. If you want 5, ask for 10. This is also the way politics works, but eventually someone has to budge on their end.

[supertek65]

ask for 10 and you will get 38!!!!!!!!!!