entering the profession II

Timco

As to the second question...as an installer, you may just be asked to cut & thread or sweat pipe all day long. That can get old. But designing systems, and being a service tech is always something different, and very satisfying when you hear that boiler fire back up on a coooooold day or night.

Tim

Mike AK

the second question

Hey all:

I'm going to repeat my introduction from the previous thread, and then ask a second question.

I'm a 35 year-old English teacher out in Iowa, and for various reasons, I'm thinking about changing careers (mostly because the town where my wife got her job doesn't have any of the kinds of jobs I would like). Anyway, I've thought about HVAC as a possibility, and was hoping you might have some advice.

So here's why the possibility appeals to me: I've got a very good mechanical head, I like careful detail work, I like short term tasks that I can see completed (which never happens in teaching!), and I like the idea of working in a field that would let me work on energy efficiency in some way. I'm a good handyman, but am totally inexperienced in the building trades in any professional manner.

And here's my ideal plan: I'd like to work for someone else for a 3-5 years, particularly if I could find a local business that dealt with a lot of old houses. Eventually I'd like to work on my own, focusing on steam and water systems in older houses (there are lot of old systems in the area), and eventually I'd like to learn enough to work with and install solar systems (and since this might take me 10 years, they might be a bit more economically viable by the time I learned!)

My second question, then: have you found this work pretty satisfying? Money is relatively minor question (since my wife works), but job satisfaction is important to me. Do you find yourself bored doing the same tasks over and over, or is there enough variety to keep you challenged? Is dealing with business questions and with residential owners so much of a hassle that it takes away from the enjoyment of the more mechanical work? In short, do you like, most of the time, going to work, and why?

Again, thanks for your help with my minor career crisis!

Mike

larry_15

Living the dream

Mike:

Like I tell all my freinds I am living my dream. Were eles can you use tools and work with your hands then see the end product. At the same time have to use your brain to make it work? Design it? and trouble shoot it to find out the real problems, before you even try to fix it.

On top of that you need to be an electrian, carpernter, tinner, plumber and a steamfitter all one? That is not counting if you work on industual then, you need to be a welder, mason, forger, heavy equipment opperator, electonic tehnician, energy management engineer and air/water balancer, iron worker. Just to get the job done then a computer tech, and a controls guru. And in the the end you will want to be great, but realizing, there is so much to learn that good is above the norm.

larry

P.s. That is why they call us pipefitters!

Darrell_2

I regard myself as the most fortunate of men...I love what I do for a living, I like the men I rub shoulders with, and I make money doing it. My brothers both loathe their jobs...I can't relate...heck, I walk away from jobs because I don't like the attitude. 'course, I've put in alot of cold, lonely hours in forgotten crawlspaces to get to this point. Sometimes I get my tail in the wringer...but that just gives me stories to tell!

Keith_8

Satisfaction

Mike,

Let me ask you,

Do you enjoy interacting with people?

Do you take it upon yourself to develop?

Would you allow yourself the opportunity to learn the various aspects of our trade or would you become a specialist? (Read bored by doing the same tasks over and over)

Does the ability to please reasonable clients give you enough satisfaction that you are able to ignore the few ingrates you will encounter?

Would you enjoy putting a thought in your head or a picture in your mind into reality in a basement?

Like anything else in life. If you put your heart and soul into what you are doing you can't help but be successful.

Good Luck,

Keith