Andrew & Stephanie Share HVAC Career Insights – October 2025 HVACTA
Andrew (Instructor):
I am kind of mean, I guess you could say, sometimes, because that’s what they’re going to get out in the field. Nobody’s going to respect them until they prove themselves. And that’s the expectation we have here — prove to me that you want it. Making it through the six weeks is not easy. We don’t baby them. That’s not what we’re here to do. We expect them to learn and leave with the understanding that it’s a tough job, a tough industry. Everything we touch can kill you every day, and that’s just what we do. I scare them, and then I help them learn how to play with it safely.
But with that said, great group of guys. I have extremely high hopes that everybody gets their EPA and can hit the door running. It’s a great group. They start off not liking each other in the beginning, not knowing each other, and suddenly they’re all friends when they leave. It’s crazy how this class takes people who don’t know each other — except the two who live together — and turns them into friends in six weeks. That’s the camaraderie we try to build here, along with knowledge to be effective. Congratulations, everybody.
Danny (Host):
As he knows and as I’ve expressed to him and to Robert, we want to teach. We want to teach the hands-on. We want to teach more than that. There was a lot of frustration and difficulties that all the participants went through. Those were intentional. I want to see how you react when something doesn’t go as planned, because in Mrs. Smith’s house, things don’t always go as planned. How you react matters.
We also emphasize that this is not a fancy place. You’re here to work. You’re here to learn. You’re here to do hands-on. And you’re also here to do a video. Every participant does a video. One purpose is to share it so you can see a little about that individual and what they’re doing. It’s also used for marketing material. If someone goes to a job interview and the employer wants to see them a bit in action, they have access to that video on YouTube and our website.
Before I go to the video, I want to ask a special person to come up and say a few words — someone who has no idea I’m calling her up. Don’t give me that face, Stephanie.
Stephanie (Past Attendee):
I just have to come here to support y’all because you need to know your time here is not being wasted. People will act like you don’t know anything. You’ll go to employers and they’ll look at you and say, “You don’t have any time.” But if you open your mouth and speak for yourself — what he has you doing the whole time here — you’ll find you’re more valuable than the employees they already have. You can’t be scared. If they try to overtake you, shake it off.
I just came from incarceration less than ten days ago. I got a job at 7-Eleven — I have to make it work with the probation office — but guess what else? He just talked to my future employer. She owns her own HVAC company. Her company started ten months ago and they’re about to hit a million figures already. That shows you how good this industry is.
Don’t let anyone tell you HVAC isn’t worth it. That’s somebody who gave up — not you. It’s on and popping from here. Make it work. And let Danny put y’all up there in front. He’s going to call you up next.
Danny (Host):
Thank you, Stephanie. I’m very proud of you. You’ve come a long way. Like I told the young lady, she wants more than quick hires — someone who wants to learn and grow within the company. That’s what I see in you. You’re going to stumble. You’ll have jobs you won’t get, and you’ll wonder why you’re trying. Don’t have that talk. You can try, you can succeed, and you will. But if you give up and decide to stop, that’s when you’re lost.
It can and it will happen. One of the things we do is videos. Bear with me while I get this video up and then I’ll introduce the individual.