Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 256. Career Tips for New Technicians

Transcript

Episode 256. Career Tips for New Technicians · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 2: It takes 7 to 11 times to really lock something in, really remember something.
• 0:01
  It's like doing something like, to really understand how to say, isolate a circuit or set up a TX valve. You do it 7 or 11 times, and then you're like, you're really confident. The first time doing something though, it's, it's scary. You don't really understand. It's like walking into a, a rack room or a mechanical room for the very first time.
• 0:02
  And it's like, What, what is this or walking up to you the first time you're working on an ice machine and all of a sudden you're working on that ice machine and it's like, what, what does it do? What is all this stuff? But you start at one point we all know like that compressors that first, that first golden piece, right?
• 0:03
  That pumps and moves that refrigerant throughout the system to move the heat throughout there. I know this is
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  one of the big things that people have, and a few people wrote in that, you know, understanding one of the struggles is understanding all the different equipment that you have to work on.
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  Because I know I've been there. I remember thinking days that in the morning I could be working on a rack, then an air handling unit, or a package unit, or makeup air, and then it could be a heat pump, and then it could be a boiler, and then it could be a gas, a gas system. There's just so much to know, and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to know this stuff overnight.
• 0:06
  You want to do a great job. You want to feel confident in what you're doing, but there's, Those times when it's like it feels very overwhelming, I remember one of the first times walking into a supermarket room and open panels and seeing all these wires and it was an older system and it did not look like what a CO2 system, like a newer system or a newer rack.
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  It doesn't even matter if it's CO2. It looks like today, Open it up, and there's just wires everywhere, diving into all these different equipment can be intimidating Can be intimidating especially in refrigeration and I we need to know so much.
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  That's where that experience come in. You cannot be an expert at everything if you only work on something once a month.
• 0:09
  You need to consistently work on something to get better and better at it. So this is why a lot of the times That's learning on your own time going to different events taking different trainings, and I know this stuff is the hard stuff But if you want to be really proficient and good at something, that's what you need to do or taking more challenging calls that's what I keep telling telling business on this is a business investment Okay, you're gonna eat some of this cost But think about that person that now has been struggling for months to learn a little bit more get a little bit more experience And now they're out there now.
• 0:10
  They feel a little bit more confident Now they can finish their jobs a little bit more now They can take on harder jobs and you don't have to pick well I can't send this person because they don't know much about chillers I can't send this person because they don't know really anything about Air handling units or package unit.
• 0:11
  I can't send this person out to Iraq because they don't understand rack. So this is why it's underspin standing and talking to your, your boss and your service manager about it. And maybe, maybe this is it as well. Maybe. At this company that you're working at and they don't want to send you on these jobs Maybe you have a conversation with them and say listen, can I go to these?
• 0:12
  These few jobs and I will i'll eat that time I know this is something people are you probably think I would never do something like that But think about your experience Maybe you do that at this company you get that experience and then you take your knowledge and you go somewhere else who respects That, And I'm not saying they should be paying for all your training.
• 0:13
  They shouldn't be. A lot of people think oh they should be paid everything Every time I wake up to every time I go to sleep. I should be paid for something That's not the cases. We're In the real world businesses are out there to make profit They couldn't keep the doors on open the lights on if they didn't make profit And sending two journeymen out to go clean a condenser is not Profitable sending two two journeymen out to clean a plug drain is not profitable You But it is profitable when you send a journeyman and say another journeyman Oh, and you have to eat some time on one of the journeyman time for that other journeyman to grow to be able to take that call by themselves later, and that is profitable down the road.
• 0:14
  And so this is why they want to invest in certain people inside the organization That those people who want to put the work in Those people who are coming up with plans, those people who want to move into leadership roles and management roles, want to take communication courses and all this stuff, especially in the larger companies that they're trying to have a process because they need a flow of people throughout their company.
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  They need, they need technicians to continue to come in. They need to take some of those technicians and move them up into service management role. They need to take those service management roles, move into sales, project management, directors, operation manager role. So there's this big process that they're, they're looking at.
• 0:16
  And so there's sometimes so many people in that organization, depending on how big you are. If you have a 50 or a hundred people in the organization or 300 people, it's gonna be a little bit different to one that's had 500 people to a thousand people. But even if you're in like a four or five man job You can come up with a plan on on your your training because it's especially on the smaller shops.
• 0:17
  They don't Usually they start the company on their own own. They go out on their own They branch off and they start getting some work And they start growing a little bit and they take more calls and then you get hired and they take some more calls and somebody Else gets hired And and so there's a process in place that they've done And they've never maybe, maybe had the opportunity for training.
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  They just learned it as they went. And then they started their own business. But sometimes they don't have the business background. They have the technical background, don't have the business background. This is what I see with a lot of technicians. They have that technical background, but you don't have the business background.
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  And that's a strategy for you to develop your skills.
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  But if you come up with that plan on what you need to upskill yourself, so if it's the technical side, if it's the business side, you should be talking about this, say like in five years, I want to be maybe the service manager, or I want to be in sales, or I want to be in operation, I want to grow.
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  And so you've got to come up with that plan. And then that'll kind of give them an idea. On the course because they don't even know some companies won't even know what courses that you should take. So that's why you have to go out there. A lot of people are like, well, I'm on training, but they don't know exactly what training they want, or they want training that has nothing to do with their role at this point.
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  For example, say you're working on racks, but you want to go do a turbo core, a chiller training that really has nothing to do with their business model and how they make money. So now going to like a manufacturer training, like for racks, that would be a big difference. You know, go into a manufacturer like Hill or Hausman or Zero Zone or Kaiser Warner or whoever, you know Whatever that manufacturer you guys are working on that and and something that is like that will come that complement that so maybe you work on one manufacturer, but you go to another manufacturer training You're still learning that and so you have to come up with a strategy and this is how You can continue to grow your knowledge, which comes back to what I said about earlier, having understanding all these different brands, all these different equipment.
• 0:23
  Well now you take it into oral hand, own hands. Some of it you'll be paid for, potentially. Hopefully some of it, you're doing it on your own time. Those technicians that I see putting the work under own time, they're growing like five times faster than the technician saying, okay, well they don't train me.
• 0:24
  I don't get the opportunity to train. I need to get paid. I can't go to the site and on my own time to learn a little bit. If you put in the work, I know for sure your people are going to start seeing the value. And if the value at your company is not noticed somebody else is going to see that value But you really do have to speak up have to speak up.
• 0:25
  You got to build your own plan and If you need help, reach out, shoot me a message. You can send me a message and I can give you some ideas.
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  And I think the more you look at the bigger picture of what you want to do with your career You in your financials, in your health, in your wealth, in your social side of your career, you plan it, you're going to make some massive moves over the next two to three years.
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  This doesn't happen overnight, two to three years, four years, and you put that work in, you're going to have a different trajectory within your career. You're going to start today.
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  Okay. Let me check some of these questions out.
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  Oh, I'm an apprentice just starting out. I had to quit my job because the contract was ripping off customers and he was a part seller. Well, good for you for recognizing that as being new into the In the industry, my big struggle is finding someone to hire me as an apprentice who is a professional and has integrity.
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  Okay, the biggest thing is, I'll tell you right now, try this. Go on to Google and whatever, whatever you want to do, if it's an HVAC or if it's some refrigeration, find every contractor within a 50 mile radius. And you start calling everyone you go to their website. You look them up You research them on on linkedin and or on on facebook if they have an account go research all of them They start calling them up say listen. I'm an apprentice. I'm looking i'm looking to get a job I'll start out and i'll sweep the floors if I have to i'll drive the truck I'll do all the stuff because that's sometimes that's what you have to do.
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  That's what I did You know when I started out I would start the only way I could get in the supermarket refrigeration Was work in construction? It didn't matter what I wanted, but I knew I needed to get in. And that's what I did. So I started, I was sweeping floors. I was pushing cases around. I was putting insulation on pipe, glue on pipe.
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  It's not always, it's not a fun job. Not always you make it fun.
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  I want to learn all this advanced stuff and but make what you're doing at that time funnier for you. somehow fun. And so just do that. So figure out somewhere where you can, even if you're driving parts around, or if you're working in the workshop or working in the warehouse for a couple months, but put timelines on it.
• 0:34
  Because now you can start getting some experience and this is where that you'll go out and you say listen, okay I'll go to my own time. I'll do a week ride along. You don't have a job right now right now Anyway, so if you're just sitting at home for two or three weeks What is the problem going out with someone on a ride along for a week?
• 0:35
  Okay, because people don't think like that. Oh, well, I should be paid Well, maybe you go up to get that job and you show them that you're willing to put the work in. This is what contractors are looking for. Someone to even show up all the time, on time, and finish the job. That's what people are looking for.
• 0:36
  Not only even in our industry. I keep hearing, Trevor, I'm just looking for someone that's willing to come to the work for 40 hours you know, we're, we're looking for people to just to show up. And I think this is what I kind of heard about people, why people want to hire people from that went to college or university because, and they check out their marks and how long they like, how they, how they did, because they, they were like, well, they were able to spend four years to show up.
• 0:37
  To this and finish this program and that's what they're not hiring them for what they learned over the four years. They're hiring them because they, they were able to commit for four years to, to, to go to university and college. That's, that's crazy. And I've heard this multiple times now. So it's like, wow.
• 0:38
  But once again, You gotta build that plan.
• 0:39
  Be sure to share this with other people. Inspire someone else today. Put a smile on someone's face today.