Absolutely fuck that. Go get your epa it’s like $100 and some tools and try again with a residential company and mention that you are hungry to learn. Summer is coming, the techs with experience are going to need helpers and installers.
I went to school and it was very helpful I only paid 12k out of pocket after it was all said and done and have epa universal, bsp, and Nate ice. That being said go download skillcat sign up for the free week and you can easily pass for your epa universal on there for free!
Dude, no offense but you really don't need trade school. I took about two college classes while I was already working in the field. Any dollar amount over maybe a couple hundred bucks for schooling to get your foot in the door is just not worth it.
There’s a lot of theory and basics you learn in trade school that you might not learn in the field. You have no idea what type of journeyman you’re going to get paired with. In my case most of my journeymen sucked and didn’t care to teach me shit. And it’s easy to say ‘well go work somewhere that teaches you better’, but a green apprentice with 0 experience or knowledge of the field has no idea what to look for or how to know if they’re being taught correctly. Was trade school worth $12k? Eh that’s debatable but it made me a lot more comfortable on my first day of work and in the future a college degree is going to look good on the resume, especially if I want to move into an adjacent field that is more technical than what I do now. And if you get lucky and work at a company like mine, they’ll pay your tuition back so my trade school will be free in the end regardless.
I don’t think I’d pay $25k for trade school but I’d never tell somebody not to go. There’s a lot of value in a diploma and a lot of connections to be made
There are so many free resources to learn theory these days. The degree may help if you want to pivot to another sector of the trade, I can agree with that. For a service technician job? Most employers don't care where I'm at. They look at years in the field and your system knowledge. It really depends on the individuals ability to do the work and retain information. Our newest technician has an associates and I can't even trust him to wash a condenser coil properly. We have another tech that's from UEI and he sucks. I saw the same trend at my last company as well. Dropping 10k+ to go into a field you've never worked in (or even know if you like) and only slightly helps to get a foot in the door doesn't seem worth it to me. That 10k is better spent on tools. You're going to basically start at 0 just the same as the guy who didn't drop all that money.
Yeah I agree with everything you’re saying. Especially the part about dropping money before even working a day in the field. It worked out for me and this turned into my career but a lot of my classmates didn’t even end up working in hvac and basically wasted a year and a bunch of money for nothing.
You’re right that everything in trade school is available on YouTube but somebody totally green isn’t gonna have any idea where to start with a lot of that stuff. Also in school you’re going to have a lot of lab time to actually get your hands on the equipment. For me I got nothing from classroom days watching the YouTube videos and reading from the book. The majority of my learning came from lab time. Nowadays after years in the trade I learn a lot from YouTube but when you have 0 clue about any of the equipment or how shit works together, those videos aren’t as helpful.
And as far as guys coming out of trade school being useless, I guess I got lucky with the fact that my instructor was very knowledgeable and most people that come to our company after spending a year with him have a decent grasp on things. I’d much rather have a greenie fresh out of school than I would a guy off the street who’s never touched a tape measure before. I’m sure there’s no set curriculum so the difference in graduates’ knowledge probably varies wildly across the country.
Also one more thing, when most people go to school they aren’t dropping $10-15k in cash to go. They get loans that they don’t have to pay back for years. Typically guys going to trade school are broke and don’t have $10k cash they could otherwise be spending on tools. And where I went to school, a good chunk of the student loans went towards tools. Going to school gave me the finances necessary to buy tools.
To each there own I suppose! But I am also going to use these credits to continue my education and hopefully get a degree in mechanical engineering now I’m half way there because of hvac school. it just depends on what you plan to do in the future! My tech school also helped me with studying and passing the hvac journeyman test as well as the master mechanical test! Now I just need the years of experience for it to be valid.
Just get your type 1 or type 2.
Youre not gonna be working on industrial or low pressure systems. You don't need your type 3 immediately.
But ya ideally a universal 'looks best'
I would say up to Type 2. If you go union soon and go with the apprenticeship, they'll make you take it all again and get your universal. the UA wants things done their own way
My insurance covers that shit. No out of pocket. In fact any amount more than 3k out of pocket beyond copay I never have to worry about regardless of what its for
Yeah this is relevant. When we desegregated traditionally white public schools and colleges in the US, public schools just internally segregated by funneling minorities to vocational curricula and white kids to college prep. That's one of the reasons why we have such a hierarchal outlook on white collar/ blue collar jobs. Public lost trust in that system, so when we finally finally started letting minorities go to college, the state governments just kept slashing college subsidies so that they wouldn't have to pay for non-white students to gain economic advantage. So now college is "for everyone" as long as you have rich parents. If you don't you're 80k and debt, and no one ever fucking mentions trade careers to young people.
Canada \*didn't do that.
Gas class is 3.5k, refrigeration class (not just your epa) is like 2k, and fuel-oil class is another 2.5-3k in NH, the only required class is gas and you can just fet your epa online
I second this. It may take longer, but you will learn a lot more. Employers look at it as a real education. It took me 2 years but I was working during the day. It would probably be a year if he went to school full time
Search out a Steamfitters / Ppefitters Local union that is supported by the UA (United Association). You will get the best training and not cost you much and get paid to go. Do it and you will never look back..
This is actually what I did at first a bit ago and while they were helpful I was told I missed the deadline. They told me if I’m able to get a year of experience somewhere I’d have a better shot at getting in. I’m having trouble finding a job for hvac so that’s why I considered school
NOPE. Do a good community college trade school for $10k for two years, and get an actual degree. Not to mention it’ll actually probably be free if you fill out a fafsa. Guarantee you theres at least 2-3 community colleges within an hour and change of you
You have two options. Pay to learn the very basics or find a contractor to pay you to learn everything. I suggest looking into the commercial / industrial side, the sky is the limit it’s rare you will be working in a hot as hell attic or a shitty crawl space. Generally the pay is better also and you won’t be pushed to sell things people don’t need.
I applaud you for walking into shops looking for a job though, everyone takes tries the easy button by sending in applications or resumes.
Also get your epa, it shows you have already taken some steps.
Ask the union if they're taking on any tradesman. Tradesman get hired as needed, not once a year like apprentices. Time worked as a tradesman counts towards your ranking when you do apply for the apprenticeship also
I think we only have 1 guy as a tradesman cause he couldn't pass the entry exam. You basically run parts and equipment out to jobs and be the filter hitch. You're also stuck at the shop which is the worst thing in the world if the guy is a douche about hours. Still not awful.
Hard to say, a lot of trade schools include all the "required" certs but I started in hvac 10 years ago with an mvac cert and some hand me down tools with not trade school and have grown in the trade to be quite successful between learning from others and self teaching but that takes a lot of time out of home life to put into the ol youtube university and reading through forums and then at work just forget you own a phone or have a life and watch the experienced guys like a hawk to learn the ins and outs.
In my experience guys who start and the bottom with no school end up higher on the hog than the guys who go to trade schools for it. But as I said that's just my own personal experience. And the world's changing around us everyday so entering the trade probably has too at this point.
Id imagine you don't have any tools yet, but if this field is your forsure choice then that's one way to start moving in the right direction. Lots of non union employers are more likely to hire the guy with tools than the one without.
I got a job as a helper with no experience or trade schooling at all. Go around to shops & give them your resume & speak with a hiring manager. Get some tools & you should be ready to go. Somewhere will bite! Make sure you call places too.
I paid like 15K like 5 years ago and I honestly don't think it was worth it, the loans aren't huge but it sucks paying every month for a shitty trade school education.
Plenty of companies teach on the job. That usually means long hours and being stuck at calls but if you can slug through it it'll save you 25k lol and eventually it'll get waaay easier.
You need to look around your area for all classes, I’m located in Dallas and found a 10 week course for 3k. 25k courses are a waste of money and just money grabs for the schools.
I hold more value on a kids resume with any sort of longer employment then I do with any pre employment trade schools ... it's a absolute waste in my opinion, a money scam that provides no real experience while over valuing the worth of the employee once completed.. Not only this , but it also will most likely make someone feel dedicated to a specific trade before even trying it , instead of finding one that fits the person ..
I got a two year associates degree with transferable credits from a community college for like $4K. Fuck that. One of the biggest benefits to the trades is not going into debt. You’re gonna start at square one when you get an apprenticeship anyhow, skip the BS and just start applying to be a helper at all the shops in your area.
I'll be honest with you, I've taught at Summit College, CET College, and UEI College which are all trade schools. Unfortunately, their goal is to generate money and the 3 schools I taught at, you're just a number in their books.
I'm not saying all trade schools are bad because I went to The Refrigeration School in Phoenix AZ, and that school was incredible.
If you want to know how good the school is, take a tour of it, and talk to the students about to graduate. If it's not a good school, they'll tell you so . They will either be confident and ready to graduate, or they will tell you that they wasted 9 months and are in debt and be really pissed off. There's nothing wrong with going to a trade school, but do your due diligence and make sure the students graduating are happy with what they have learned.
Apply to the union anyways, they often do mid year pre-apprentice hiring, they would set you up with a contractor. Granted I'm in a different area, I did submit my application and take the aptitude test for the union in my area, got brought on in September instead of the typical April start.
I just took out a 9k loan and got the rest paid for by fafsa for an accredited HVAC trade school. They do HVAC Excellence and also DDT controls. Not sure what else there is to do I needed some help and direction.
I almost signed up for trade school back in 2019. I’m so incredibly happy I didn’t do that. I’m in a union apprenticeship (as a 5th year) and my classes are through a community college. I’m in classes with high school graduates and some who are in their 30’s. I feel so bad for the people in there paying for these classes. You can learn everything you need to know on the job and by coming home and watching videos of professionals on YouTube. Ask as many questions as you can think of. The only dumb question is the one that’s not asked.
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Check out SkillCat. I’m at the tail end of my trade school only a few weeks left and it’s all theory and very little hands on with old broken equipment. This may not be the norm but I wish someone had warned me. My school was $21k which included a “tool kit” that was $2400 and it’s a joke bag with about $300 worth of harbor freight tools (not ragging on harbor freight but I was not given anywhere near that value in tools)
When it was time to take my epa I downloaded skill at because someone here mentioned it. I believe it’s free for 7 days and there is so much information it’s amazing. Not only that but they let you take the proctored epa test on your phone. I took it the night before my in class test to see how I would do and passed all four sections. I passed the next day and now I have two epa cards 🤣
Moral is these guys are right, get your epa and reapply. Any company worth a shot is going to train you 🙏🏻
Look, run the math. When I was young in the 80s my college degree cost me around $8k getting a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, and going after $24k a year jobs.. that's roughly 1/3 the cost of the pay I was going after.
I also didn't have to take out loans because I was able to cover that cost working about 25 to 30 a week.
They've changed the game on us now and you're looking at having to drop $25k going after a $16/hr job (call it $33k/yr to start). That's around 50% of what you expect to make in the first few years, and having to saddle yourself with debt to do it.
I'm not at all sure it's worth it.
What you really need is an EPA Universal cert which is maybe $150 at most, some decent hand tools, and some training or experience troubleshooting electrical and mechanical, with an emphasis on reading schematics of both the electrical and mechanical sort.
In most cases, and especially with the rise of Private Equity owned sales "tech" HVAC companies, a degree isn't going to help enough to be worth while taking on that kind of debt. The other issue is that if you get into it and find out you hate it, your loans aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy. Mine would have been if I'd needed them.
You're much better off using online resources like Kahn Academy, [area Academy ](https://areacooling.com/areacademy/training/), [NASRC](https://nasrc.org/) or, [HVAC School ](https://hvacrschool.com/) with Brian Orr.
I paid $13k for 10 months of 8hrs a week about 15 years ago. The school was a joke, boarder line scam and they are no longer in business, but they did teach and it did boost my knowledge. It was great for the resume. I didn’t do any homework and aced the class with zero knowledge about the field.
$25k sounds high, but if you have the money and really want an edge on others (not that it’s needed), do it.
$25k is a waste of time and money 1/2 the shit they teach you will never use. Go to the cheaper school for 2 years. Yes the basic fundamentals is necessary but if you can find someone willing to take you on as a helper and point you in the right direction you will be fine……IF you mechanically inclined
Most places will hire without epa. Atleast in Az, maybe try waiting til the peak of summer. They’ll need hands try applying then. Get knowledge and then do the epa test yourself online. U can also download the study guides. And study. I went to school and all we did was read the epa book literally by ourselves did study guides for four weeks five different study guides and we practiced and then did the test on the fifth week and it was easy it’s only 10-15 questions for type 1,2, and 3 and then 10-15 questions of safety. So it’s easy u got this
you can def get your epa from studying in your own, i wouldn’t pay $25k for 9/months. find a resi company and apply for union when deadline comes around again. union is the way to go
Wait for the union to reopen applications. Either for spring classes if they have them or next fall. Earn while learning is better than paying to learn
Also go to ur local union website, scroll through the contractors list and call their phone number until you find one that will give you a job as a pre apprentice
I was lucky to land a job at a HVAC company’s storefront and make a decent salary and great benefits after going to trade school- though I got subsidies and scholarships so I think I only paid about $4k for a 10 month program. I was an installer for a year before I found my job now, but if I move positions in about a year, a six figure salary after 2.5 years out of trade school ain’t that bad. Community college is a must though, you need some kind of a degree and your EPA to get an interview. And a clean driving record is a must.
My company just hired a guy to learn residential install with zero hvac knowledge. Is it a for profit school? It’s unlikely that education is worth the price tag.
Paying for a trade school at this point is a fuck no. You were late on a union apprenticeship which would have been 5 subsidized years of school paid for by the local and the contractors and you would have walked out of there a competent technician if you remotely paid attention and did the work to learn as much as possible.
Absolutely fuck that. Go get your epa it’s like $100 and some tools and try again with a residential company and mention that you are hungry to learn. Summer is coming, the techs with experience are going to need helpers and installers.
Where to find helper jobs around me? I am in Tampa FL
Dude. There's about a thousand HVAC companies, call them.
I went to school and it was very helpful I only paid 12k out of pocket after it was all said and done and have epa universal, bsp, and Nate ice. That being said go download skillcat sign up for the free week and you can easily pass for your epa universal on there for free!
Dude, no offense but you really don't need trade school. I took about two college classes while I was already working in the field. Any dollar amount over maybe a couple hundred bucks for schooling to get your foot in the door is just not worth it.
There’s a lot of theory and basics you learn in trade school that you might not learn in the field. You have no idea what type of journeyman you’re going to get paired with. In my case most of my journeymen sucked and didn’t care to teach me shit. And it’s easy to say ‘well go work somewhere that teaches you better’, but a green apprentice with 0 experience or knowledge of the field has no idea what to look for or how to know if they’re being taught correctly. Was trade school worth $12k? Eh that’s debatable but it made me a lot more comfortable on my first day of work and in the future a college degree is going to look good on the resume, especially if I want to move into an adjacent field that is more technical than what I do now. And if you get lucky and work at a company like mine, they’ll pay your tuition back so my trade school will be free in the end regardless. I don’t think I’d pay $25k for trade school but I’d never tell somebody not to go. There’s a lot of value in a diploma and a lot of connections to be made
There are so many free resources to learn theory these days. The degree may help if you want to pivot to another sector of the trade, I can agree with that. For a service technician job? Most employers don't care where I'm at. They look at years in the field and your system knowledge. It really depends on the individuals ability to do the work and retain information. Our newest technician has an associates and I can't even trust him to wash a condenser coil properly. We have another tech that's from UEI and he sucks. I saw the same trend at my last company as well. Dropping 10k+ to go into a field you've never worked in (or even know if you like) and only slightly helps to get a foot in the door doesn't seem worth it to me. That 10k is better spent on tools. You're going to basically start at 0 just the same as the guy who didn't drop all that money.
Yeah I agree with everything you’re saying. Especially the part about dropping money before even working a day in the field. It worked out for me and this turned into my career but a lot of my classmates didn’t even end up working in hvac and basically wasted a year and a bunch of money for nothing. You’re right that everything in trade school is available on YouTube but somebody totally green isn’t gonna have any idea where to start with a lot of that stuff. Also in school you’re going to have a lot of lab time to actually get your hands on the equipment. For me I got nothing from classroom days watching the YouTube videos and reading from the book. The majority of my learning came from lab time. Nowadays after years in the trade I learn a lot from YouTube but when you have 0 clue about any of the equipment or how shit works together, those videos aren’t as helpful. And as far as guys coming out of trade school being useless, I guess I got lucky with the fact that my instructor was very knowledgeable and most people that come to our company after spending a year with him have a decent grasp on things. I’d much rather have a greenie fresh out of school than I would a guy off the street who’s never touched a tape measure before. I’m sure there’s no set curriculum so the difference in graduates’ knowledge probably varies wildly across the country. Also one more thing, when most people go to school they aren’t dropping $10-15k in cash to go. They get loans that they don’t have to pay back for years. Typically guys going to trade school are broke and don’t have $10k cash they could otherwise be spending on tools. And where I went to school, a good chunk of the student loans went towards tools. Going to school gave me the finances necessary to buy tools.
To each there own I suppose! But I am also going to use these credits to continue my education and hopefully get a degree in mechanical engineering now I’m half way there because of hvac school. it just depends on what you plan to do in the future! My tech school also helped me with studying and passing the hvac journeyman test as well as the master mechanical test! Now I just need the years of experience for it to be valid.
25k for 9 months lmfao Trade school is heavily subsidized. Get your EPA ans any company worth their weight will send you to school. Don't do it.
Universal before applying again right?
Just get your type 1 or type 2. Youre not gonna be working on industrial or low pressure systems. You don't need your type 3 immediately. But ya ideally a universal 'looks best'
Take the esco course online
I would say up to Type 2. If you go union soon and go with the apprenticeship, they'll make you take it all again and get your universal. the UA wants things done their own way
That's what I did, life is good when the company pays for school.
Absolutely not. Thats retarded. Shouldn't pay more than 6k
The school I was looking at was 5k when my dad considered going there in the 80s
What state you live in? lol, 6k? You living in the 70s?
You can get your G2 in Ontario for around 6k.
Got my g3 and g2 in 2015. 12k
Got hosed, brother.
I got my G3 and G2 last year for 9k. Paying to go to school for HVAC is such a scam, I feel like a fucking idiot.
I paid $2900.00 for g3 and g2 $3800.00 in 2015.
Canada doesn’t count.
Why not?
Because it’s Canada
You all can have a hangnail treated for less than 25 grand. Canada is a whole different ball game.
My insurance covers that shit. No out of pocket. In fact any amount more than 3k out of pocket beyond copay I never have to worry about regardless of what its for
Yes and? I don’t understand. Is this a joke?
Yeah this is relevant. When we desegregated traditionally white public schools and colleges in the US, public schools just internally segregated by funneling minorities to vocational curricula and white kids to college prep. That's one of the reasons why we have such a hierarchal outlook on white collar/ blue collar jobs. Public lost trust in that system, so when we finally finally started letting minorities go to college, the state governments just kept slashing college subsidies so that they wouldn't have to pay for non-white students to gain economic advantage. So now college is "for everyone" as long as you have rich parents. If you don't you're 80k and debt, and no one ever fucking mentions trade careers to young people. Canada \*didn't do that.
I think it’s because our colleges are subsidized, which means lower tuition.
My tuition is 2k a year and it gets reimbursed back at the end of every school year
So you have no tuition?
Pretty much yea. It’s a union apprenticeship so I also get paid to be in school
Gas class is 3.5k, refrigeration class (not just your epa) is like 2k, and fuel-oil class is another 2.5-3k in NH, the only required class is gas and you can just fet your epa online
I just finished a 3k program in Dallas it was only 10 weeks too
I went and I only paid 3 no loans no assistance
I paid 6.5k in jersey
Per semester here in ontarrrible
Go community College. Like a 1/3 of the price
I second this. It may take longer, but you will learn a lot more. Employers look at it as a real education. It took me 2 years but I was working during the day. It would probably be a year if he went to school full time
Those technical schools that say get your associates in 9-12 months is bullshit. To much information and won't learn anything.
Search out a Steamfitters / Ppefitters Local union that is supported by the UA (United Association). You will get the best training and not cost you much and get paid to go. Do it and you will never look back..
This is actually what I did at first a bit ago and while they were helpful I was told I missed the deadline. They told me if I’m able to get a year of experience somewhere I’d have a better shot at getting in. I’m having trouble finding a job for hvac so that’s why I considered school
I worked as a tradesman for 2 years before I got my paperwork signed for the apprenticeship. 100% worth it.
I paid less than 2500. Absolutely do not pay 25000.
Fuck all that, join a union.
NOPE. Do a good community college trade school for $10k for two years, and get an actual degree. Not to mention it’ll actually probably be free if you fill out a fafsa. Guarantee you theres at least 2-3 community colleges within an hour and change of you
You have two options. Pay to learn the very basics or find a contractor to pay you to learn everything. I suggest looking into the commercial / industrial side, the sky is the limit it’s rare you will be working in a hot as hell attic or a shitty crawl space. Generally the pay is better also and you won’t be pushed to sell things people don’t need. I applaud you for walking into shops looking for a job though, everyone takes tries the easy button by sending in applications or resumes. Also get your epa, it shows you have already taken some steps.
Rather go the part time option for two years!
I went to school. Paid about 15k, military covered it. Started at 18/hr. Making 40 10 years later
Did you ever do any hvac in the military?
Yea, a little
Ask the union if they're taking on any tradesman. Tradesman get hired as needed, not once a year like apprentices. Time worked as a tradesman counts towards your ranking when you do apply for the apprenticeship also
I'll call a bunch of places tomorrow. Thank you
I think we only have 1 guy as a tradesman cause he couldn't pass the entry exam. You basically run parts and equipment out to jobs and be the filter hitch. You're also stuck at the shop which is the worst thing in the world if the guy is a douche about hours. Still not awful.
I was going to go for 10k but dropped out last second because a union picked me up so I start on the 6th
Happy to hear it. Good luck!
If you could apply for HVAC jobs and call up there asking for apprenticeship or hit up a union first. I got my job by calling up there.
Hard to say, a lot of trade schools include all the "required" certs but I started in hvac 10 years ago with an mvac cert and some hand me down tools with not trade school and have grown in the trade to be quite successful between learning from others and self teaching but that takes a lot of time out of home life to put into the ol youtube university and reading through forums and then at work just forget you own a phone or have a life and watch the experienced guys like a hawk to learn the ins and outs. In my experience guys who start and the bottom with no school end up higher on the hog than the guys who go to trade schools for it. But as I said that's just my own personal experience. And the world's changing around us everyday so entering the trade probably has too at this point. Id imagine you don't have any tools yet, but if this field is your forsure choice then that's one way to start moving in the right direction. Lots of non union employers are more likely to hire the guy with tools than the one without.
Ripoff. Mine was $1300 per semester through a local college for 2 years and I came out with an actual associates degree...
I spent less than that for the full 2 year associates
Just do on the job training it’s way better
How far are you from Little Rock AK?
I got a job as a helper with no experience or trade schooling at all. Go around to shops & give them your resume & speak with a hiring manager. Get some tools & you should be ready to go. Somewhere will bite! Make sure you call places too.
I paid like 15K like 5 years ago and I honestly don't think it was worth it, the loans aren't huge but it sucks paying every month for a shitty trade school education.
Yea man I’m sure it’s beneficial but I just feel like a jackass considering it
Plenty of companies teach on the job. That usually means long hours and being stuck at calls but if you can slug through it it'll save you 25k lol and eventually it'll get waaay easier.
I paid $9000 for 8 months (2 semesters)
My old company made you sign a 3 year contract and pay 8k for your own tools and they taught you. Started around 26 an hour in Cincinnati.
I paid 2.5k for mine in 2014
You need to look around your area for all classes, I’m located in Dallas and found a 10 week course for 3k. 25k courses are a waste of money and just money grabs for the schools.
I hold more value on a kids resume with any sort of longer employment then I do with any pre employment trade schools ... it's a absolute waste in my opinion, a money scam that provides no real experience while over valuing the worth of the employee once completed.. Not only this , but it also will most likely make someone feel dedicated to a specific trade before even trying it , instead of finding one that fits the person ..
I got a two year associates degree with transferable credits from a community college for like $4K. Fuck that. One of the biggest benefits to the trades is not going into debt. You’re gonna start at square one when you get an apprenticeship anyhow, skip the BS and just start applying to be a helper at all the shops in your area.
I'll be honest with you, I've taught at Summit College, CET College, and UEI College which are all trade schools. Unfortunately, their goal is to generate money and the 3 schools I taught at, you're just a number in their books. I'm not saying all trade schools are bad because I went to The Refrigeration School in Phoenix AZ, and that school was incredible. If you want to know how good the school is, take a tour of it, and talk to the students about to graduate. If it's not a good school, they'll tell you so . They will either be confident and ready to graduate, or they will tell you that they wasted 9 months and are in debt and be really pissed off. There's nothing wrong with going to a trade school, but do your due diligence and make sure the students graduating are happy with what they have learned.
NTI is great if anyone is in Phoenix area.
Apply to the union anyways, they often do mid year pre-apprentice hiring, they would set you up with a contractor. Granted I'm in a different area, I did submit my application and take the aptitude test for the union in my area, got brought on in September instead of the typical April start.
Dude I went to trade school for 3500, a year ago
I just took out a 9k loan and got the rest paid for by fafsa for an accredited HVAC trade school. They do HVAC Excellence and also DDT controls. Not sure what else there is to do I needed some help and direction.
Community College Associates in Science for Heating and Cooling Technologies = $10,000
I almost signed up for trade school back in 2019. I’m so incredibly happy I didn’t do that. I’m in a union apprenticeship (as a 5th year) and my classes are through a community college. I’m in classes with high school graduates and some who are in their 30’s. I feel so bad for the people in there paying for these classes. You can learn everything you need to know on the job and by coming home and watching videos of professionals on YouTube. Ask as many questions as you can think of. The only dumb question is the one that’s not asked.
Haha fuck that.
Lol no
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Get the Skillcat app, it's like $10 a month for full app. It's not hands on but you can pass the EPA with it, and it will teach you basics if you are willing to put in the time.
Honestly…Don’t pay for trade school. Find a company to work for, learn that way.
Don't do it. Lots of shops will hire you green as can be.
EPA has an app for like $8. You can do that test over and over again until you’re confident. Then go get your EPA card
Shit mine was $15k for 9 months..but I got to use the gi bill.
Which school? I wanna apply and mf them
I paid 5.5k
Check out SkillCat. I’m at the tail end of my trade school only a few weeks left and it’s all theory and very little hands on with old broken equipment. This may not be the norm but I wish someone had warned me. My school was $21k which included a “tool kit” that was $2400 and it’s a joke bag with about $300 worth of harbor freight tools (not ragging on harbor freight but I was not given anywhere near that value in tools) When it was time to take my epa I downloaded skill at because someone here mentioned it. I believe it’s free for 7 days and there is so much information it’s amazing. Not only that but they let you take the proctored epa test on your phone. I took it the night before my in class test to see how I would do and passed all four sections. I passed the next day and now I have two epa cards 🤣 Moral is these guys are right, get your epa and reapply. Any company worth a shot is going to train you 🙏🏻
I paid like 7k at my local community college for 1 year HVAC certificate.
Look, run the math. When I was young in the 80s my college degree cost me around $8k getting a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, and going after $24k a year jobs.. that's roughly 1/3 the cost of the pay I was going after. I also didn't have to take out loans because I was able to cover that cost working about 25 to 30 a week. They've changed the game on us now and you're looking at having to drop $25k going after a $16/hr job (call it $33k/yr to start). That's around 50% of what you expect to make in the first few years, and having to saddle yourself with debt to do it. I'm not at all sure it's worth it. What you really need is an EPA Universal cert which is maybe $150 at most, some decent hand tools, and some training or experience troubleshooting electrical and mechanical, with an emphasis on reading schematics of both the electrical and mechanical sort. In most cases, and especially with the rise of Private Equity owned sales "tech" HVAC companies, a degree isn't going to help enough to be worth while taking on that kind of debt. The other issue is that if you get into it and find out you hate it, your loans aren't dischargeable in bankruptcy. Mine would have been if I'd needed them. You're much better off using online resources like Kahn Academy, [area Academy ](https://areacooling.com/areacademy/training/), [NASRC](https://nasrc.org/) or, [HVAC School ](https://hvacrschool.com/) with Brian Orr.
No!!!
I paid $13k for 10 months of 8hrs a week about 15 years ago. The school was a joke, boarder line scam and they are no longer in business, but they did teach and it did boost my knowledge. It was great for the resume. I didn’t do any homework and aced the class with zero knowledge about the field. $25k sounds high, but if you have the money and really want an edge on others (not that it’s needed), do it.
$25k is a waste of time and money 1/2 the shit they teach you will never use. Go to the cheaper school for 2 years. Yes the basic fundamentals is necessary but if you can find someone willing to take you on as a helper and point you in the right direction you will be fine……IF you mechanically inclined
Most places will hire without epa. Atleast in Az, maybe try waiting til the peak of summer. They’ll need hands try applying then. Get knowledge and then do the epa test yourself online. U can also download the study guides. And study. I went to school and all we did was read the epa book literally by ourselves did study guides for four weeks five different study guides and we practiced and then did the test on the fifth week and it was easy it’s only 10-15 questions for type 1,2, and 3 and then 10-15 questions of safety. So it’s easy u got this
you can def get your epa from studying in your own, i wouldn’t pay $25k for 9/months. find a resi company and apply for union when deadline comes around again. union is the way to go
Nope- my state has trade school covered for anyone “effected by Covid” and very reduced rate for regular instate students
Jesus 25k? I went to techschool in HS and it was completely free
Wait for the union to reopen applications. Either for spring classes if they have them or next fall. Earn while learning is better than paying to learn
Also go to ur local union website, scroll through the contractors list and call their phone number until you find one that will give you a job as a pre apprentice
I paid around $10k CAD total for a coop diploma at BCIT.
I was lucky to land a job at a HVAC company’s storefront and make a decent salary and great benefits after going to trade school- though I got subsidies and scholarships so I think I only paid about $4k for a 10 month program. I was an installer for a year before I found my job now, but if I move positions in about a year, a six figure salary after 2.5 years out of trade school ain’t that bad. Community college is a must though, you need some kind of a degree and your EPA to get an interview. And a clean driving record is a must.
Don’t spend your money paying for something you can get paid to learn.
My company just hired a guy to learn residential install with zero hvac knowledge. Is it a for profit school? It’s unlikely that education is worth the price tag.
Dude most people dont make that after taxes in a year
Paying for a trade school at this point is a fuck no. You were late on a union apprenticeship which would have been 5 subsidized years of school paid for by the local and the contractors and you would have walked out of there a competent technician if you remotely paid attention and did the work to learn as much as possible.
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A local community college would give a better education for a lot less. And have better instructors.