The two biggest things that you will need is the hunger for knowledge, and an understanding that you will never know everything.

I spoke with retired guy the other day who was 83 years old, and started working in the industry in 1956 and he still was learning something new every single day before he retired at 79.

Before you get started, Study and understand the basic fundamentals of Thermodynamics, Hydronics, Refrigeration, electrical, etc.

Then you need experience.

Do all of the after hours stuff that no one else wants to do, the coil cleaning, tube cleaning, PM’s, etc.. , and use that time to also study the equipment, take readings, and bounce ideas off of more experienced guys.

If you are working for one of the manufactures, they will have lots of reading material. They will likely have classes as well that you could take.

Other than that, shadow the other guys, don’t ever be afraid to ask questions, there are no stupid questions.

Best of luck in your career.

Thank you Paul.

shut up. listen.
i don’t mean to never speak, but know WHEN to speak. if the customer is around, never speak, even if you know your main chiller guy is wrong. have that discussion out of customer ear shot. subtle things could have changed that you missed and so the main chiller guy decided not to say something or whatever. if you want to talk fishing or NASCAR or something like that, jump in and talk to the customer. if it is about the job, the equipment, some other piece of equipment that you aren’t working on, don’t speak. if the customer “just has a quick question”, tell them that the main chiller technician will be back in a minute. you don’t know this customer and you aren’t responsible for this customer.

read a lot, but be careful.
when you get home, make dinner, play with the kids, be with your spouse. but when the kids are in bed and the kitchen is clean, crack the books. if the books are from manufacturers of equipment, you can generally trust those. be very careful of YouTube. anybody can put stuff out there…and a bunch of it is flat out wrong. while the main chiller technician that you are working with may know more than you, they may only be 1 chapter ahead of you in the same book. they seem very smart (and maybe they are) but maybe they aren’t.

get dirty.
this job can be dirty and wet. cleaning tubes. cleaning coils. cleaning dead birds off of the chiller (yup, you read that correctly). volunteer for it. you can’t get your hands-on experience if you prima donna everything. ask to work with the crappiest customers. the ones that nobody wants to work with. that is where you will get a lot of experience. it is super-easy to look like a great chiller technician if the chiller never experiences problems. the chillers that were selected properly, installed properly and maintained properly in clean rooms rarely have problems. the techs don’t get dirty and the customer is always happy. any 4-year old can work and look good in that environment. those really shitty environments where the chiller is oversized or undersized, dirty tower water, pissed off customer that always complains but never fixes the root-cause problems, chiller is always broken after-hours and weekends….those places are where the real money and knowledge is at. no, it isn’t always fun, but you learn very quickly and you always have a great story to tell. if you fail there, nobody cares. sure, there will be complaints, but they were complaining before you showed up so no harm, no foul. and if you ever have a small win, it stands out like a shining beacon.

good luck!

Thanks again Jay, I appreciate the advice really going to read up on these machines when ever I get a chance and always ask questions. And of course make the time for family whenever possible I have confidence now that I can do it but it will definitely take time that’s where I need to be patient.

The major shift I had once I became Canadian Red Seal Journeyman was that I obtained a licence to learn. So once my “formal” education was “complete” it became my responsibility for my continuous education.
Never stop learning. Listen. Ask questions AFTER you try and find the answers yourself.