How did your journey begin after trade school

[Cody2306]

Hey guys new here. Cody from Galveston Texas. I am in my first semester in hvac/r and enjoy learning and gaining knowledge. I am curious to hear how some of yalls journey began after school. If you went residential we’re y’all able to ride with a tech for a while then shortly after get your own work vehicle and go troubleshooting by yourself or did you have to start out as an installer even after getting your certifications and epa. Basically I wanna here how y’all got your starts. My interest are residential and light commercial. Thanks


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[VTP99]

N/A here I went to a different type of school. Your on your way to a great career. Just remember you'll get out of it what your willing to put into it.

[Cody2306]

Thanks for the respond. Man am dreaming about the stuff. My brain is constantly ticking on trouble shooting issues or scenarios. Lol


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[jbhenergy]

I worked for an apartment management company who had no HVAC techs (which is why they sent me to school). So when I was done, they pretty much just threw me to the wolves lol. I was so lost it was not even funny. I had a few friends who were in the field, I called them 3-4 times a day for basic troubleshooting stuff (basic to me now but back then when your green...). Eventually I caught on.

I still remember the conversation when they wanted me to go to school. I was very reluctant thinking, what the heck do i need to do that for I dont wanna work on a/c's. 11 years later, Im so glad I did. It has provided well for my family and open many a doors.

[VTP99]

How did you find this forum ?

[Cody2306]

How did you find this forum ?

Researching


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[Cody2306]

Thanks for sharing jbhenergy


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[jbhenergy]

Researching


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If you have thick skin, you will find this forum to be very useful with people who are very intelligent. It can get rough some times, we have some keyboard warriors for sure, but if you can get past that, there is no problem in the HVAC world this group of guys cant collectively solve.

[Cody2306]

If you have thick skin, you will find this forum to be very useful with people who are very intelligent. It can get rough some times, we have some keyboard warriors for sure, but if you can get past that, there is no problem in the HVAC world this group of guys cant collectively solve.

Thanks. Yeah a lot of my questions I have when my brain is ticking I will google and this sight normally pops up. Tons of info on this forum already. Thanks for the reply


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[VTP99]

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[Hrdworkingacguy]

I was lucky enough to have an uncle that gave me a job as an installer helper before I went to school. So I had some exposure and school was a breeze. During school I got a job doing commercial service that paid seven dollars an hour more, so I took that. I never did the full time residential thing. 20 years later I make six figures and work on some of the coolest equipment the trade has to offer.

Moral of the story is school is a stepping stone and you never stop learning...

[2sac]

I was hired by a union shop and put on probation to enter the union as an apprentice, which I later found out was a crock of shit. I was put onsite at a corn processing plant that consisted of dozens of buildings over about 1 square mile. I worked with a journeyman and a B card. My job was to change filters, change belts, and grease bearings. This is what I did 40 hours a week. It took 80 hours (2 weeks) to do a complete filter change and then I would start all over again. I also did grunt work for the A and B cards. I hated every minute of it. The place was filthy. The place was noisy. The place had a steady concentration of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) in the air that would burn my eyes and lungs. I guess as long as the alarms weren't going off, it was safe LOL. I wondered what ever compelled me to enter the trade. Mind you, all the equipment I maintained was for process and none for comfort cooling. After about 10 months of doing this, the company lost the contract they had had for 20 years with the corn plant. The shop that ran the boiler house under bid them. Once my shop found out they lost the contract, they called the 3 of us in and said "We know XXX shop is going to offer you jobs. "Trust us" We'll take care of you" Within a week I was approached by the other shop offering me a job. (If for nothing else, I knew where all the equipment was located) I was naive to the trade and turned them down. Once we were out of the plant, I got my walking papers. At this time, I also found out, they had never put me on probation with the union. I could have been a boiler guy. I blew it. I was hired by a refrigeration company a week after I got shitcanned and spent the next 10 years there.....So don't ask me about boilers......

[Cody2306]

Lol thanks for sharing


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[Red Man]

I got hired by a union shop right out of tech school, actually I was working two days a week during my last quarter of school. I rode along less and less gradually. I had my own van and was doing some solo PMs before I was even out of tech school. I’ve been out of school eight years and occasionally I’m still the helper, for learning purposes on some of the bigger or more unusual pieces of equipment.

[Cody2306]

Awsome red man. I have been doing preventive maintenance on all my familys houses. Like cleaning condensers and taking notes on Amps and ohms on the compressor and ohming basic stuff. Really there just being nice enough to let me play with there systems. lol


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[Chris808]

After I finished my schooling I worked in Refrigeration for a company that did a lot of the Rack Systems at the Supermarkets. I felt lucky just to have that job and learned a lot in a short amount of time. My current job is an AC Tech for the government. I am more comfortable now because I work with a good bunch of guys who do things right the first time and have a wealth of experience.&

[Cody2306]

Nice Chris...!i have a interest as well in commercial refrigeration. Not sure which way to go.


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[MT1]

Well I started as an unpaid intern my second semester as part of a work experience program. Would ride along with a guy 3 days a week. Then they hired me on when the semester was over. That was doing residential, which I hated and still do to this day. I was there about 6 months before I got canned for lack of convincing people to buy shit they didnt need.

Then I got hired by my cousin who is a project manager at a union shop, to be a retrofit tech. I was supposed to be working on projects and learning the trade. I ended up in the warehouse for 6 months because when the retrofit tech thing fell apart the unitary service manager wouldn't bring me in with his guys because he hated my cousin. And the chiller team didnt want me because they already had an apprentice. So I was in limbo as an apprentice learning what I could when they weren't having me be a parts *****. I got canned due to budget cuts.

I was going to quit the union but I managed to land at another shop before my self imposed cut off date. I've been here little over 2 years. I was thrown to the wolves. Int hose two years I've worked on hydronics, chillers, process chillers, steam boilers, steam systems, MRI chillers, kitchen refrigeration, morgue refrigeration, regular boring package units, and probably other stuff I forget about. Cant say I'm happy at the company due to the fact the owner thinks we are all idiots and the culture of the company doesnt generally care for service techs. I do enjoy what I do most days.

If you end up doing refrigeration you better get used to getting yelled at for not arriving 5 minutes after the unit went down. Remember everything is your fault, even if one of the kitchen workers didnt close the walkin freezer door all the way after leaving it open for 2 hours so the delivery guy could stock it with product....

[Cody2306]

Dang that’s sounds like a crazy journey


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[MT1]

Dang that’s sounds like a crazy journey


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Yea it kinda has been. It also cost me a fiancee and a number of girlfriends. Depending on what kind of contracts your employer has you can have a regular 9-5 type schedule with the occasional OT and on call. Or like when I first started working 60+ hours a week at all sorts of odd times because you're the cheapest guy at your company. My schedule is a more stable now, but I'll never forget after my first day my foreman calling me to tell me to be at the jobsite at 3AM because we had to adjust something in the ORs at the hospital.

I dont know what being a new guy filter slammer is like as I really only started doing PMs recently and only when it's really slow for me. I'm usually the guy they send to fix the most messed up stuff because that's what I got used to working on.

I will also say it helps to have a boss that you can be open with. My foreman let's me vent to him alot because it helps keep down tension and he knows I tend to be very blunt with people regardless of their position. I know I can go to him with anything and tell him anything that's on my mind.