I went to school for a year, learning all about heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
- I was excited to think that in just a few short weeks, I was going to be a certified HVAC technician.
On the day of our final, I was so nervous that I forgot everything I had learned and I didn’t pass the test. The instructor frowned when he told me about my grade being the lowest in the class. He asked me what had happened and I told him I froze. He owned an HVAC company and he asked if I wanted to work for him? He said he had the best hands-on test he had seen in a long time. He was going to make me an apprentice HVAC technician until I proved I could do the job. Other than being nervous, I took the job and started working the following week. Every time I went on an HVAC call with one of the technicians, I worried I was doing something wrong. One technician was constantly walking away and telling me to go ahead and finish the job. He would come back half an hour later, look at the AC unit or furnace and pat me on the back. After three months, I was called into the office. My instructor/boss handed me my certification. He told me he knew I could do the job, but I just choked on the written final. He wanted to make sure I could work with anything he threw at me. He also told me he would be happy to take me on full-time, or I could go to any HVAC company I wanted and he would give me a good reference.