This reminds me of when I started. No cell phones, no consistent radio contact so you were always flying solo. I live in a rural area, when I started it was pre-911 so there were no blue and white 911 tags on rural homes, no road signs on gravel/dirt roads. You went by directions from point A which was always fun/interesting. Around a small town south of here one of the famed point A's was Kinny hill. So directions would be 2 miles east, 1 north of Kinny Hill. The problem was there were 3 points that different people referred to as Kinny Hill.
Now to the more important part of this post . . ..
Back in the day you didn't have all the support, help was not just a phone call away. Even calling into tech support it was often a case of waiting for a call back. No internet so no looking up the manual etc on line, there was no line to be on. You had to be self reliant, you had to figure out what you didn't know/hadn't been taught. You didn't have LED's telling you that the pressure switch is open when it shouldn't be or no flame when there should be, and all the other diagnostic guides. The good thing was once you figured it out it was yours, you owned it. The next time you ran into that situation on a call you remembered the fight you had on your hands figuring out the first one and used that knowledge which was readily available in your brain to just fix it this time. Over time that accumulated knowledge would bleed over into another problem, then another, and another . . . . This is how you learn, this is how critical thinking develops. This is why once you have it they can't take it away from you, but if you don't use it you sure can lose it.
I do a triple evac with nitro to remove non condensables.
911 tag. They went around and named all the roads then gave a number to each. If you call into 911 they could identify the house as they were all uniform. It made identifying rural homes much easier. I didn’t take a picture of the whole tag to protect the innocent but I think you can get the idea.
911 tag. They went around and named all the roads then gave a number to each. If you call into 911 they could identify the house as they were all uniform. It made identifying rural homes much easier. I didn’t take a picture of the whole tag to protect the innocent but I think you can get the idea.
Around the parts where I live, we call that an address.
I do a triple evac with nitro to remove non condensables.
Around the parts where I live, we call that an address.
Yeah, people in the country had an address but it was not always displayed or located in the same place for easy locating. I don't know what it is like where you live but here people put address numbers by the front door, by the mail box, on the curb in front of the house, on the corner of the house near the driveway, etc. To make it worse there is no standard material for the numbers so needless to say finding addresses on some houses in town can be fun but if you can't find an address in town you can go to the next house and see the address and figure if it is the next house or the last house. In the country the next house may be a mile so for an emergency vehicle responding to a call that adds minutes to a rescue. By creating the 911 tags they are all the same, in the same location, making it much easier.
When you are looking for people how many overqualified people do find applying for helpers etc?
I know people in IT HR positions, and when they post entry level jobs they get people with Masters degrees applying to run printers and inventory PC's and monitors.
Maybe the IT market is over saturated compared to HVAC so that's the difference in the quality of people applying?
When you are looking for people how many overqualified people do find applying for helpers etc?
Under-qualified people applying for higher positions is more the norm. I'm a rare exception myself having taken a helpers position just a few weeks ago with 5 years previous experience, but only because I was working in power generation for the last 15 years since my hvac days. I've been out too long, so it made sense for me to start from the beginning again.
Thing is that while my previous experience certainly helps, it hasn't really given me the big advantage I seem to have over the two young helpers my company also recently hired. I have just as much to learn as they do being out of it for so long, but I'm running circles around them already because I ask HOW things work, flow paths, where these guys are just trying to memorize "this color wire goes to that color wire". I pay attention to job progression and can begin anticipating what comes next, set up the lead guy, keep things rolling, while they constantly have to be hunted down and told what to do and what comes next even after they've been doing it for months.
They don't seem to understand what entry level is. They expect the keys to a company vehicle and $40/hr straight out of trade school. You tell them to rip some old, dirty duct work out of a hot attic and they're offended. Lol. They'd gladly spend 6-8 hours just swapping out a condensing unit on a full cut install job if you let them.
Here's my first suggestion . . . Learn how to be a Pro Member here. I think it takes 15 meaningful posts (your first one was meaningful), then apply for Pro status. Doesn't cost anything, and you will reap mega rewards. All the Pro Threads are already on this site, you just can't access them yet.
Now, where did I put my beer?
I do a triple evac with nitro to remove non condensables.
My #1 customer ,a REAL GOOD HONEST$$$$$$$$$ maker, since 1982. So anyway,Mr. George, got tired of me introducing him to Joe,Bob,Jose,Mike,Chanki,Roland,Jennifer,Zee and suggested that giving "them" a number would be easier on his brain. So around 1985-88 "they" had/have numbers. It seems that I have a "short fuse for those that do not listen". But I have met some real good/nice/normal/regular people over the decades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My #1 customer ,a REAL GOOD HONEST$$$$$$$$$ maker, since 1982. So anyway,Mr. George, got tired of me introducing him to Joe,Bob,Jose,Mike,Chanki,Roland,Jennifer,Zee and suggested that giving "them" a number would be easier on his brain. So around 1985-88 "they" had/have numbers. It seems that I have a "short fuse for those that do not listen". But I have met some real good/nice/normal/regular people over the decades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of my customers was up into the thousands 😲
Hey you forget to mention the Guru 🤣
Here's my first suggestion . . . Learn how to be a Pro Member here. I think it takes 15 meaningful posts (your first one was meaningful), then apply for Pro status. Doesn't cost anything, and you will reap mega rewards. All the Pro Threads are already on this site, you just can't access them yet.
Now, where did I put my beer?
Have you made 15 meaningful posts?
Officially, Down for the count
YOU HAVE TO GET OFF YOUR ASS TO GET ON YOUR FEET
I know enough to know, I don't know enough
Why is it that those who complain the most contribute the least? MONEY CAN'T BUY HAPPINESS. POVERTY CAN'T BUY ANYTHING