Professional Member*
Yep Louisiana chicksOriginally Posted by supertek65
stupid golden girls
Professional Member
The thing that kills me about these trade schools is that there only nine months and they cram as many kids as they can into a classroom and when they graduate they flood the market with unexperienced workers.
I went for nine months and felt like i was just getting warmed up and they threw me out the door: Wish i did a two year program. It gets better there supposed to help with job placement and they call me up for direc tv installer or send me the craigslist ads
Professional Member*
I've been at the same company since I was 19 almost 17.5 years.
Went to vo-tech for 3 months before dropping out for instrumentation on a scholarship(long story on dropping out). Went to work for a friend of the family that was the vice president of an instrument repair shop. Treated like crap, making 6 bucks a hour, spent 6 months of a year sick from the chemicals that we worked with and the chemicals that came in in the instruments. Quit, went to another shop making 5.50 and then was told the guy they hired to help me that was getting his GED was getting moved up even though I was qualified to do the work and a go getter.
Being an honor student and alot of different opportunities to go to college for free(another long story) I had always told my dad I will never do a/c work everytime he offered to teach me. Started at the same company hes now been at for 32+ years and me 17, worked my ass off to get where I am today, originally a mechanic now the lead controls guy. I work for a great company(commercial) so I can't relate to some of these other stories and dont care if they get rid of you instances.
Now seeing how everyone one is passing out advice this is my tidbits
Respect
You show respect to the senior techs, it came naturally to me because that was how I was raised and the guys I work with I've known quite a few of them since I was 4. YOU WILL NEVER FIND SOMEONE WILLING TO TEACH YOU IF YOU DONT SHOW RESPECT. I tell everyone that I try to teach that you may not respect me as a person but at least respect what I know and respect can be looked at from different angles.
Pet Peeve-If you do not own a plastic cover, 5 section college ruled notebook go out and pick up one before the end of the week. Even with 17 years I still learn something new and if its detailed that I might forget it goes in my notebook.
If someone is going to freely give you knowledge that took them years to learn have the decency to write it down in something that you will not lose and will last, not your little pocket notepad but a notebook. If you cant show you care enough to do that the free knowledge will not keep coming.
If I'm working late you are to, theres alot of dam good guys(won't list yall, scared to miss one and tick yall off) on this site and all of them will vouch for this, if you want to be anything in this trade your job doesn't end at 4:30, even if I dont need you but I'm doing something you dont know invest the time to stay for FREE, yes FREE, to learn something new, I can't tell you how many times guys that have went somewhere in the trade on this site have done this.
Do what your told-If I can't get you to do what I tell you needs to be done doing regular work, why waste the time teaching you if your not going to do it.
Now I might sound like an ass or a prick but I will tell you this, I am willing to take my knowledge(not saying I'm a genius) and give it to anyone that shows that they CARE and WANT TO LEARN, above is sure fire ways to get someone that wants to share their knowledge to share it with YOU.
BTW another important thing you wont hear often
Mechanical Room Garbage Cans Are Your Friend
Thats right, doing maintenance? Finished cleaning the coils, drains, and wiping the unit down. If there is a maintenance contract and the unit is more than a 5 ton split there is a chance something has been replaced on that unit. The older techs usually already have copies of the lit. or the experience that when they open that part the paperwork goes to, you guessed it, the garbage can. There is a wealth of information to be found in mechanical room garbage cans in the form of manuals and literature( I know I have a 2 file filing cabinet in my truck full of manuals I have pulled out of the trash)
Good luck in the trade.
Professional Member
Show me the way i want to be your young Luke Skywalker?
Professional Member
Rheem29, YOU NAILED IT!
Keep telling myself that it is not an 'age' thing.
After I moved the literature bookcase back into the office at work, ( was behind one of our chillers ) I watched to see who was using it.
It's been a month now and not one book has been moved or touched.
Sad.
Regular Guest
Nice avatar coalman..........where was the 819th out of?
I also took exception to the G.I. Bill comment, but I don't think it was said maliciously. My HVAC school experience was great. It was through a university and I learned a lot. It was 1 year long. That was 28 years ago and I never regretted it.
Professional Member
Yes it is very very sad that no one beleives that
"
"READING IS FUNDAMENTAL"
RAM Teaching Tomorrows Technicians Today.
Regular Guest
R.I.F. isnt that as fundemental as look, listen, feel? of corse i love new tech books on equipment. not all of us youngins are not intrested
Regular Guest
That's true.........but I will say that when my son was a teenager, I just went out and sold our set of encyclopedia's.........cuz he already knew everything..........
Professional Member
i went to community colledge and spent about 3 grand here in canada then got job with a local contractor making no money. did a bit of work for free just for experiance then he paid for my next level 2 years later got on with superior propane and they paid for my level 1 finished that and got on with commerical company and they signed me up for Hvac and paid for my first level. now i have enough hours for my 3rd level just waiting for the courses to be put on. and i'm in a union outfit now they will pay for everything. i say going to school and taking the first step was key to my career i'm going on 9 years in the trade.
Professional Member*
Come to Louisiana, I'm looking for good padawans
Regular Guest
ha ha ha...ya its funny how smart my dad got when i turned about 24. they way i work is to try and put myself into the crap hole for ANY tech that has something to teach me. its worked out pretty well for me, if you bust your ass for a guy hell show you the stuff that takes many years andmess up to get. i have to say though that school for me was freat! it cost me 23000 but my head instructor didnt lie to use"when your done with school your fit to carry a techs tools" that was the quote i remember the most. so i learned schematics and trouble shooting electrical like my life depended on it! and now im workin on munters, rack houses andcontrols. in less then a year and a half(of strait service, on my own) i had my bosses tell me that i was the go to guy cause of my nothing can stop me attitude, with a phone ofcoarse. some days i feel like im stealing my paycheck cause i love my job. but it was a good instructer that didnt sugar coat anything and thatlet the idiots go home instead of lab work that got me there. hell they went home more time for me to ask questions and blow up transformers.lol
Regular Guest
paid/paying about 5k for my training..through the public school sector.
local tech school
Professional Member
Here's where I went. http://www.pct.edu/catalog/majors/BHD.shtml If your serious about the HVAC field, check it out.
They offer a Bachelors degree now. When I went there, they offered the Associates degree.
Its a good school.
New Guest
I went to pencho tech in nj and regret every minute of it. I mean I did get a good job out of it but most 40% of the time we didn't have a teacher or the random guy they hired knew as much as my class did. Would of saved me a lot of money going to a public vocational school.
Professional Member
Trade school is a waste of money for most people these days. When i got out of school i got 13 bucks an hour, I quit because i was doing ***** work, picking up garbage, cleaning the service van. I decided to take a different route, now i am a boiler and refrigeration operator/mechanic. Really laid back job, nice air conditioned office 60-70 k a year and ive only been out of school 2 years
Controls Committee
Really? You honestly don't think the trade school background didn't help you get your job?
Regular Member
PAY the $$$ and get the cert ........
This is not the old days when one fails based upon their grades, they ALL pass once they PAY
As an old timer though, it really did not mean squat to me as to has and to has not.....
It's been about pure and simple common sense and it always will be to me
Not a common trait anymore........
Professional Member
My thoughts exactly. I am in a apprenticeship program, and work hard. I am playing the certification game, and i like it because i do learn a lot. Let's be honest though. If you have some common sense it makes life so much easier.
PAY the $$$ and get the cert ........
This is not the old days when one fails based upon their grades, they ALL pass once they PAY
As an old timer though, it really did not mean squat to me as to has and to has not.....
It's been about pure and simple common sense and it always will be to me
Not a common trait anymore........
Professional Member
I went to community college for 2 years and invest about 10k to earn a degree on HVAC. While I was going to school I got a part time job with a small company. I was applying everything I was learning and the owner was teaching me as well. Later, I worked for Union company doing commercial refrigeration and Air Cond. After, 5 years I applied for the School District in my Area. That was 11 years ago. Our state is going through difficult times, and the School Districts are not getting enough money to balance theirs books. School Board is talking about pay cut and worst case scenario lay-off. I have decided to specialize on controls and chillers. I have learned about everything from package unit to chillers, cooling tower, high pressure boiler, heat pumps and controls. Times are different now; there is too much supply and not enough demand. We need to educate ourselves to be more competitive in the market. These are very difficult times for everybody. Work hard and learn something every day, eventually it will pay off.
Posting Permissions
Reply
