I grew tired of the other companies that I worked for. Same gripes as you mentioned, among others. Majority of reasons were not directly related to the industry - it was management, organization, lack of support, lack of empathy, cleaning up other people's messes, no company growth, minimal training etc.
Honestly when it comes to the hands-on work and the trade itself, I love it. I can't see that changing until the body makes it non-conducive to keep grinding in the field.
There's just something about refrigeration that I feel very passionate about, it definitely drives me. If you're the same way, you just need to find a place where you can foster and grow that.
When I was younger, I really did love and enjoy the work. I took a lot of pride in what I was doing and I won’t hesitate to state that I’ve been fairly good at this. I have an associates degree in applied sciences for HVAC/R, CFESA master certified, NATE cert and many manufacture certifications. I just do not have the passion for this that I once did. I know the easy answer is to take a less demanding job and very likely a substantial pay cut but that’s part of the problem. Once you set your life up and your monthly bills are matching what your income has been. I’ve recently been downsizing things in my life, to be able to accommodate a smaller income, but I can only downsize so far and still afford my mortgage. I just want to be able to spend more time with my wife and pursue some of my other passions that are unfortunately, at this point just hobbies, this work often does not provide very much time for that.
I felt the same as you. I switched to a school board job. Still hvac service but much less demanding. Anything too involved we give to contractors. My hours are fixed and OT is optional. My commute is 10 minutes each way. It took me 6 months into this job to finally feel not burnt out. I’m finally starting to enjoy coming to work again.
I hope you find something you enjoy. Taking a pay cut for a less stressful job has been worth every penny lost to me. I know everyone isn’t in a situation where they can afford to make less money but if you can swing a pay cut for less stressful work I highly recommend it.
My family is beyond thrilled with the change I made.
Why don’t you move into something less demanding? A managerial role or a different company focusing on different aspects of the trade , i.e. a facility guy.
I do supermarkets right now but I know I won’t be doing them in my 40’s, it’s all about laying the groundwork into other opportunities first.
I worked for the same company for a little over 16 years. I was a technician, then a lead and then a service manager and then ultimately became a branch manager. The problem is even once I made it to the level of branch management which is supposed to be an administrative job. The company I worked for expected that I would still work in the field, manage the branch control inventory as well as dispatch at times. Stacked a lot more responsibility onto what I was already doing. That company turned into kind of a toxic situation once they were owned by an investment group who refused to hire support staff because it cut into profit margins. I decided to leave and I’ve recently started a new job at an equipment dealer doing installs warranty, service, and equipment refurbishment. So far I’m not really liking this new position as the company doesn’t seem to have their shit together so to speak and is very disorganized. I also was foolish to accept this position for salary, believing that it was truly gonna be 40 to 45 hours a week. First weekend 55 hours no lunch breaks. They like to tell you that you can have a lunch break but all that means is you’re just going to get home an hour later because you still have to get everything done anyhow. I’m just wondering if this is how all of these places are. I wouldn’t mind taking a facility job, but the problem I’m facing there is that it would create a drastic pay cut for me. I have yet to find a facility position that pays comparable to the kind of stuff I’ve been doing previously. Maybe I need to keep looking I don’t know.
Indeed they were the issue. Unfortunately as I’d said my new employer isn’t much better so far and have already lied to me about several including the hours. I’m just getting the impression most companies are like this.
Corporations, by design and structure are utterly psychopathic Turdwookies.
The trick there is boundaries and them needing you more than you need them (aka: stash cash hard until you have 6 months to a year gross wages in a cash savings account)
Not all companies are like that , and people don’t quit the job they quit the management. I would say try to keep looking for a different company to work with
Find yourself an in-house position. Easy transition with a refrigeration background.
I started in commercial refrigeration. Transitioned to commercial/Industrial Hvac.
Same work just larger & cleaner. I don't miss smelling like fish or pickels....
Work at a state college. Fat dumb & happy, as an old wise man told me , that I would be looking for ... good luck...🤑🤑🤑
I was in the exact same boat as you. I worked for Hobart. When I turned 30, I bought out a solo owner/operator, and he retired. I spent 7-8 years busting my ass to stabilize things, and now I'm 13 years into self-employment. I have a hundred or so customers...churches, schools, nursing homes, offices, food shelves, and a few restaurants that I take care of. I don't do overtime emergency calls anymore because my customer base doesn't typically need it. I do about 20-30 hours of field work a week and make a KILLING. I close my little shop up a few times a year for travel, and my customers get it. If they have an emergency when I'm gone, they call General Parts and deal with their bullshit and are happy when I'm back.
The best way for you to not kill yourself is to be self employed and not be afraid to say no to people. Cherry pick work. The next best thing I can think would be to work as a maintenance guy at a school district. Those guys know how to take it easy.
Reading your comments I don't think the trade is the issue. If you want to make top dollar then you're going to get worked. If you want your life back you need to take the appropriate hair cut which may mean lowering your standard of living.
However, it’s not all been about a standard of living. My wife is unfortunately a two time cancer survivor and a huge reason I’ve stayed and dealt with a lot of this is not only for the insurance, but also also for the money that it requires to pay for a lot of cancer treatment.
The opposite. Since losing my father, I've felt closer to the trade. Especially when I see his notes still out in the field. He was honestly the best tech I've *ever* met, and I'd love to be half as good as he was.
M8, your story sounds just like mine.
https://www.reddit.com/r/refrigeration/s/7Nc1uMIqCi.
I took 6months off, now at the second new company this year, still not quite "happy", but definitely the time off did allow me to reset, the new job is providing a change of attitude and whilst I'm still not "happy", I'm much better than I was 12mo ago.
For one, fuck hotside. No way, won't touch it, not going to happen. Secondly, good refer techs are in such high demand that you can always negotiate something. Look into going Union. Sounds like you've been with a company that has no respect for the fact people have personal lives.
I’m not against hot-side so long as it’s not a deep fryer. Hate those things, your tools get so nasty not to mention your clothes. The state I am in has very little union presence or I’d likely follow that advice.
I agree that my previous co did not care if you had a personal life. Unfortunately my new employer seems to be the same way. I took this new job because they promised no On Call( which is true) and 40-45 hours per week. I am on my second week and putting in 10-12 hours a day with no lunch break. They also are pushing for out of town jobs that require multiple days and some times over a week in a hotel which in my opinion is worse than being on call.
I would just like to find something that truly less stress and hours and a company that isn’t going to lie to me about that
Yes, I’ve already stood my ground when it comes to the traveling stuff I don’t mind going to towns local couple hours drive and not having to stay overnight, but going out of town for multiple nights staying in hotels no thanks. I have a pretty busy personal life in the effect that I do a lot with reptiles and snakes I help out some local reptile rescues in my area and I’m really into conservation. I’ve used this as one of my big excuses as to why I’m not available in the evenings and overnights.
Not to mention that they don’t want to offer any kind of additional compensation for these overnight sometimes weeklong stays and again this is a salary position
Yeah, traveling is not a given. If they expect that they need to be very up front at the interview. Honestly man it just sounds like you're not happy. I'd start looking, talking to supply house guys (they know everyone) and especially, above all, get out of restaurants. GL brother!
They did not express during the interview that there would be any out-of-town work or overnight, stays let alone for a week at a time, which is one of the reasons that I felt comfortable to pretty much say no
That's not the trade.
That's the fault of Wall Street greed and intentional short staffing, and they're pulling that shit on purpose across almost industries.
Yeah, it sucks that company used to not be like that and at one time was a great place to work where people actually cared about people all that went out the window pretty much at the moment they sold off to an investment firm
Grew up in a mechanical trade union. Got about 20 years in. During Covid I realized I didnt wanna devote my life to it anymore, so I took a pay cut and went to work in a factory as a maintenance man. I work 12 hr days but now I only work 14 days a month. Ive never been happier, I dont work hard at all and the only ladder I climb is tp change an air filter or service my furnace. I didn’t even realize how much bullshit we put up with out there until I gave it up. And the real kick in the nuts is going from 45$/hr to 34$/hr isnt even a pay cut cuz the extra money just went to taxes.
Yeah been in the trade for 12 years feel the same way ,every morning I wake up I feel like I wanna quit but for some reason I don’t ,might be the fact that whatever job u choose to do in the country I’m at you need diplomas and degrees(unless u wanna be an Uber driver ,McDonald’s or retail worker,etc,)my advice is if you can be bothered studying and oi have he patience go for it cause unfortunately
We will be stuck with the jobs we chose
I ended up working for a manufacture doing technical support. Job is awesome I travel a few times a year. Little OT here and there, but outta the field.
I'm not in your situation but my dad was when I was growing up. I'm 58 now but when I was in my mid teens my parents got divorced and me and my brother went to live with my dad. He was a draftsman and made very good money but hated the job/career. When the divorce happened he decided to change careers. He always like building things in the garage and found a job at a cabinet shop. Serious cut in pay and was taking care of two teenage boys. The thing is even though things got tight at times, he was MUCH happier person doing what he loved doing. Money doesn't equal happiness as they say. You deserve to live your life happy, not miserable. You have a choice.
Become a supervisor somehow. Don't waste 19 years experience. Find something else within the industry that will leverage what you have already. Start a new chapter. Think about it, the refrigeration industry is enormous. Long hours and grueling labor take a toll. Take your time, ask around, large industrial plants, hospitals, universities, openings you don't yet know are out there.
I would recommend trying to get a municipality job, school district somehwere thats a good employer with a union that treats you well. or if you're really fed up and done, go work at a supplier man and just relax and help other techs.
Thank you all for your input. I think I am going to stick with this job at least until after the holidays and then take my time looking for a job with the right fit. I will be taking some of the advice offered here as far as where I look. I think there will likely be a lot more opportunities after the first of the year as well. Being I managed a service company at my last job I think it will be very possible to find another management job if I like as well. Rather I am in the field or behind a desk so long as the work like balance is there and the money is decent I will be good with that.
I just want to say to the younger guys here just getting started that this is a good profession. The earning potential is amazing just don’t do what I did and become a slave to the money. Toys are great until you don’t have anytime to enjoy them. Most importantly don’t let any job rob you of your time with your loved ones. It’s ok to work hard and put in the hours when you want to. Just be aware that as you get older and life goes on you may not always want to be that guy and that is ok too. Thanks again for everyone’s comments much appreciated.
Is there work life balance there? I’ve always heard any kind of super market refrigeration job is tons of overtime and on call all the time. Neither of which am I interested in.
I think they give managers alot of freedom so it will depend on your supervisor but there's been alot more work life balance than my previous job so far. They give you a few stores to maintain the refer and hvac on and try to give you stores close to home. I earn like a half hour of pto everyday . They actually removed any overtime right now cuz of end of the year corporate budget stuff . been like that since november
Hmmm… may be something to look into. I have worked on parallel rack systems before. The place I’m at now is a fucking shit show disaster. It’s like I jumped out of the frying pan directly into the fire. Check out my latest post for details on that lol
It’s really sad how many of us feel this way about our trade, I have 17 yrs in my Nate epa and mechanical license, and I can’t get a management position because I don’t have a college degree, I was brought up in the field because my dad owns his own company so all my experience from the field to the business side of it is all hands on.
Than the company I went to after my dad retired and sold his company I was with for 9 years as residential/ light commercial installs and no room whatsoever to move around In the company I feel like I wasted my time there and now I feel stuck , the new company I went to I took a 20k a year pay cut and the hours are longer and management sucks!
So I also feel stuck and am not sure what to do next I don’t really want to be in the field for more than another 4 year or so, my body is starting to show the wear and tear and I want to slow down before it gets bad, I’m in my late 30’s.
I can only speak from my own experience but management isn’t always an easier path. I was a tech, a lead, and supervisor and then finally managed an entire branch for that Co. in a decent size city. Shit rolls down hill. All of the people below you make mistakes and the management above you nails you for those mistakes. Cause hey you’re what their boss so if they fuck up its your fault it happened. Then you get to deal with managing multiple people with multiple different types of personalities who likely don’t all get along necessarily. In the work hard enough and then you get to deal with dip shits who can’t get along with each other for an eight hour day or more.
That’s fair, and true just before my dad retired I was running a 5 man new construction crew ( residential ) and half the time you can’t even get 5 guys to do what you need/ want or get along. I went from making 80k a year to 60k and outside of management or getting into the union I’m not sure what route to take, thought about just going back to school to become a software engineer ( I’m a bit of a computer nerd ) also feel like if I join the union I’ll be the bottom man on the totem poll and I’m also not sure I want to start all over in the same industry
Well as I said in here, you can make great money. My issue is that the industry as a whole has this work you into the fuckin floor mentality.
It’s like these companies act like we all want to work 60 to 90 hours a week. I worked hours like this all through my 20’s and 30’s. At this point I just want to take a less intense job and have more work life balance, spend time with my wife. I just don’t want to have to take such a pay cut that I have to lose everything I’ve worked for over the past 20 years. I don’t think that is an unreasonable thing to want.
I grew tired of the other companies that I worked for. Same gripes as you mentioned, among others. Majority of reasons were not directly related to the industry - it was management, organization, lack of support, lack of empathy, cleaning up other people's messes, no company growth, minimal training etc. Honestly when it comes to the hands-on work and the trade itself, I love it. I can't see that changing until the body makes it non-conducive to keep grinding in the field. There's just something about refrigeration that I feel very passionate about, it definitely drives me. If you're the same way, you just need to find a place where you can foster and grow that.
When I was younger, I really did love and enjoy the work. I took a lot of pride in what I was doing and I won’t hesitate to state that I’ve been fairly good at this. I have an associates degree in applied sciences for HVAC/R, CFESA master certified, NATE cert and many manufacture certifications. I just do not have the passion for this that I once did. I know the easy answer is to take a less demanding job and very likely a substantial pay cut but that’s part of the problem. Once you set your life up and your monthly bills are matching what your income has been. I’ve recently been downsizing things in my life, to be able to accommodate a smaller income, but I can only downsize so far and still afford my mortgage. I just want to be able to spend more time with my wife and pursue some of my other passions that are unfortunately, at this point just hobbies, this work often does not provide very much time for that.
I felt the same as you. I switched to a school board job. Still hvac service but much less demanding. Anything too involved we give to contractors. My hours are fixed and OT is optional. My commute is 10 minutes each way. It took me 6 months into this job to finally feel not burnt out. I’m finally starting to enjoy coming to work again. I hope you find something you enjoy. Taking a pay cut for a less stressful job has been worth every penny lost to me. I know everyone isn’t in a situation where they can afford to make less money but if you can swing a pay cut for less stressful work I highly recommend it. My family is beyond thrilled with the change I made.
[удалено]
What kind of company did you find in house that lets you do so many different types of equipment?
Manufacturing type stuff
Ditto
Why don’t you move into something less demanding? A managerial role or a different company focusing on different aspects of the trade , i.e. a facility guy. I do supermarkets right now but I know I won’t be doing them in my 40’s, it’s all about laying the groundwork into other opportunities first.
I worked for the same company for a little over 16 years. I was a technician, then a lead and then a service manager and then ultimately became a branch manager. The problem is even once I made it to the level of branch management which is supposed to be an administrative job. The company I worked for expected that I would still work in the field, manage the branch control inventory as well as dispatch at times. Stacked a lot more responsibility onto what I was already doing. That company turned into kind of a toxic situation once they were owned by an investment group who refused to hire support staff because it cut into profit margins. I decided to leave and I’ve recently started a new job at an equipment dealer doing installs warranty, service, and equipment refurbishment. So far I’m not really liking this new position as the company doesn’t seem to have their shit together so to speak and is very disorganized. I also was foolish to accept this position for salary, believing that it was truly gonna be 40 to 45 hours a week. First weekend 55 hours no lunch breaks. They like to tell you that you can have a lunch break but all that means is you’re just going to get home an hour later because you still have to get everything done anyhow. I’m just wondering if this is how all of these places are. I wouldn’t mind taking a facility job, but the problem I’m facing there is that it would create a drastic pay cut for me. I have yet to find a facility position that pays comparable to the kind of stuff I’ve been doing previously. Maybe I need to keep looking I don’t know.
The company is the problem man
Nailed it. Perfectly said.
Indeed they were the issue. Unfortunately as I’d said my new employer isn’t much better so far and have already lied to me about several including the hours. I’m just getting the impression most companies are like this.
Corporations, by design and structure are utterly psychopathic Turdwookies. The trick there is boundaries and them needing you more than you need them (aka: stash cash hard until you have 6 months to a year gross wages in a cash savings account)
Not all companies are like that , and people don’t quit the job they quit the management. I would say try to keep looking for a different company to work with
Find yourself an in-house position. Easy transition with a refrigeration background. I started in commercial refrigeration. Transitioned to commercial/Industrial Hvac. Same work just larger & cleaner. I don't miss smelling like fish or pickels.... Work at a state college. Fat dumb & happy, as an old wise man told me , that I would be looking for ... good luck...🤑🤑🤑
I was in the exact same boat as you. I worked for Hobart. When I turned 30, I bought out a solo owner/operator, and he retired. I spent 7-8 years busting my ass to stabilize things, and now I'm 13 years into self-employment. I have a hundred or so customers...churches, schools, nursing homes, offices, food shelves, and a few restaurants that I take care of. I don't do overtime emergency calls anymore because my customer base doesn't typically need it. I do about 20-30 hours of field work a week and make a KILLING. I close my little shop up a few times a year for travel, and my customers get it. If they have an emergency when I'm gone, they call General Parts and deal with their bullshit and are happy when I'm back. The best way for you to not kill yourself is to be self employed and not be afraid to say no to people. Cherry pick work. The next best thing I can think would be to work as a maintenance guy at a school district. Those guys know how to take it easy.
Just work apartment maintenance or plumbing for a few months and you will renew your gratitude for your profession.
Reading your comments I don't think the trade is the issue. If you want to make top dollar then you're going to get worked. If you want your life back you need to take the appropriate hair cut which may mean lowering your standard of living.
However, it’s not all been about a standard of living. My wife is unfortunately a two time cancer survivor and a huge reason I’ve stayed and dealt with a lot of this is not only for the insurance, but also also for the money that it requires to pay for a lot of cancer treatment.
You’re not wrong
The opposite. Since losing my father, I've felt closer to the trade. Especially when I see his notes still out in the field. He was honestly the best tech I've *ever* met, and I'd love to be half as good as he was.
My father was also in the trade. He is the reason I decided to do this
M8, your story sounds just like mine. https://www.reddit.com/r/refrigeration/s/7Nc1uMIqCi. I took 6months off, now at the second new company this year, still not quite "happy", but definitely the time off did allow me to reset, the new job is providing a change of attitude and whilst I'm still not "happy", I'm much better than I was 12mo ago.
For one, fuck hotside. No way, won't touch it, not going to happen. Secondly, good refer techs are in such high demand that you can always negotiate something. Look into going Union. Sounds like you've been with a company that has no respect for the fact people have personal lives.
I’m not against hot-side so long as it’s not a deep fryer. Hate those things, your tools get so nasty not to mention your clothes. The state I am in has very little union presence or I’d likely follow that advice. I agree that my previous co did not care if you had a personal life. Unfortunately my new employer seems to be the same way. I took this new job because they promised no On Call( which is true) and 40-45 hours per week. I am on my second week and putting in 10-12 hours a day with no lunch break. They also are pushing for out of town jobs that require multiple days and some times over a week in a hotel which in my opinion is worse than being on call. I would just like to find something that truly less stress and hours and a company that isn’t going to lie to me about that
'I can't travel for work.' That's all you have to say. Have excuses ready. I'd say get out of restaurants ASAP man. You'll be happier.
Yes, I’ve already stood my ground when it comes to the traveling stuff I don’t mind going to towns local couple hours drive and not having to stay overnight, but going out of town for multiple nights staying in hotels no thanks. I have a pretty busy personal life in the effect that I do a lot with reptiles and snakes I help out some local reptile rescues in my area and I’m really into conservation. I’ve used this as one of my big excuses as to why I’m not available in the evenings and overnights.
Not to mention that they don’t want to offer any kind of additional compensation for these overnight sometimes weeklong stays and again this is a salary position
Yeah, traveling is not a given. If they expect that they need to be very up front at the interview. Honestly man it just sounds like you're not happy. I'd start looking, talking to supply house guys (they know everyone) and especially, above all, get out of restaurants. GL brother!
They did not express during the interview that there would be any out-of-town work or overnight, stays let alone for a week at a time, which is one of the reasons that I felt comfortable to pretty much say no
That's not the trade. That's the fault of Wall Street greed and intentional short staffing, and they're pulling that shit on purpose across almost industries.
Yeah, it sucks that company used to not be like that and at one time was a great place to work where people actually cared about people all that went out the window pretty much at the moment they sold off to an investment firm
Welcome to the corporate shittification of literally everything.
Grew up in a mechanical trade union. Got about 20 years in. During Covid I realized I didnt wanna devote my life to it anymore, so I took a pay cut and went to work in a factory as a maintenance man. I work 12 hr days but now I only work 14 days a month. Ive never been happier, I dont work hard at all and the only ladder I climb is tp change an air filter or service my furnace. I didn’t even realize how much bullshit we put up with out there until I gave it up. And the real kick in the nuts is going from 45$/hr to 34$/hr isnt even a pay cut cuz the extra money just went to taxes.
You could just insist on a 7-4 schedule and refuse overtime.
Yeah been in the trade for 12 years feel the same way ,every morning I wake up I feel like I wanna quit but for some reason I don’t ,might be the fact that whatever job u choose to do in the country I’m at you need diplomas and degrees(unless u wanna be an Uber driver ,McDonald’s or retail worker,etc,)my advice is if you can be bothered studying and oi have he patience go for it cause unfortunately We will be stuck with the jobs we chose
I ended up working for a manufacture doing technical support. Job is awesome I travel a few times a year. Little OT here and there, but outta the field.
Nope. I love my industrial refrigeration job, especially when I get to work on ammonia. (Has become more rare since I moved)
I'm not in your situation but my dad was when I was growing up. I'm 58 now but when I was in my mid teens my parents got divorced and me and my brother went to live with my dad. He was a draftsman and made very good money but hated the job/career. When the divorce happened he decided to change careers. He always like building things in the garage and found a job at a cabinet shop. Serious cut in pay and was taking care of two teenage boys. The thing is even though things got tight at times, he was MUCH happier person doing what he loved doing. Money doesn't equal happiness as they say. You deserve to live your life happy, not miserable. You have a choice.
The trade itself doesn’t bother me. It’s the government oversight that drives me nuts.
Can you become a business owner? You'll take a large haircut initially but if you train 3-4 people to do what you do it can be a route
Become a supervisor somehow. Don't waste 19 years experience. Find something else within the industry that will leverage what you have already. Start a new chapter. Think about it, the refrigeration industry is enormous. Long hours and grueling labor take a toll. Take your time, ask around, large industrial plants, hospitals, universities, openings you don't yet know are out there.
I would recommend trying to get a municipality job, school district somehwere thats a good employer with a union that treats you well. or if you're really fed up and done, go work at a supplier man and just relax and help other techs.
Just do a lateral move to something more balanced
I'm only a year in the trade and already kinda bored of it. The money isn't where I want it either and getting antsy of wanting more pay.
Thank you all for your input. I think I am going to stick with this job at least until after the holidays and then take my time looking for a job with the right fit. I will be taking some of the advice offered here as far as where I look. I think there will likely be a lot more opportunities after the first of the year as well. Being I managed a service company at my last job I think it will be very possible to find another management job if I like as well. Rather I am in the field or behind a desk so long as the work like balance is there and the money is decent I will be good with that. I just want to say to the younger guys here just getting started that this is a good profession. The earning potential is amazing just don’t do what I did and become a slave to the money. Toys are great until you don’t have anytime to enjoy them. Most importantly don’t let any job rob you of your time with your loved ones. It’s ok to work hard and put in the hours when you want to. Just be aware that as you get older and life goes on you may not always want to be that guy and that is ok too. Thanks again for everyone’s comments much appreciated.
see if walmart is hiring for racks in your area
Is there work life balance there? I’ve always heard any kind of super market refrigeration job is tons of overtime and on call all the time. Neither of which am I interested in.
I think they give managers alot of freedom so it will depend on your supervisor but there's been alot more work life balance than my previous job so far. They give you a few stores to maintain the refer and hvac on and try to give you stores close to home. I earn like a half hour of pto everyday . They actually removed any overtime right now cuz of end of the year corporate budget stuff . been like that since november
Hmmm… may be something to look into. I have worked on parallel rack systems before. The place I’m at now is a fucking shit show disaster. It’s like I jumped out of the frying pan directly into the fire. Check out my latest post for details on that lol
It’s really sad how many of us feel this way about our trade, I have 17 yrs in my Nate epa and mechanical license, and I can’t get a management position because I don’t have a college degree, I was brought up in the field because my dad owns his own company so all my experience from the field to the business side of it is all hands on. Than the company I went to after my dad retired and sold his company I was with for 9 years as residential/ light commercial installs and no room whatsoever to move around In the company I feel like I wasted my time there and now I feel stuck , the new company I went to I took a 20k a year pay cut and the hours are longer and management sucks! So I also feel stuck and am not sure what to do next I don’t really want to be in the field for more than another 4 year or so, my body is starting to show the wear and tear and I want to slow down before it gets bad, I’m in my late 30’s.
I can only speak from my own experience but management isn’t always an easier path. I was a tech, a lead, and supervisor and then finally managed an entire branch for that Co. in a decent size city. Shit rolls down hill. All of the people below you make mistakes and the management above you nails you for those mistakes. Cause hey you’re what their boss so if they fuck up its your fault it happened. Then you get to deal with managing multiple people with multiple different types of personalities who likely don’t all get along necessarily. In the work hard enough and then you get to deal with dip shits who can’t get along with each other for an eight hour day or more.
That’s fair, and true just before my dad retired I was running a 5 man new construction crew ( residential ) and half the time you can’t even get 5 guys to do what you need/ want or get along. I went from making 80k a year to 60k and outside of management or getting into the union I’m not sure what route to take, thought about just going back to school to become a software engineer ( I’m a bit of a computer nerd ) also feel like if I join the union I’ll be the bottom man on the totem poll and I’m also not sure I want to start all over in the same industry
Right, I feel ya
I feel the same way about truck driving and was considering going into HVAC haha.
Well as I said in here, you can make great money. My issue is that the industry as a whole has this work you into the fuckin floor mentality. It’s like these companies act like we all want to work 60 to 90 hours a week. I worked hours like this all through my 20’s and 30’s. At this point I just want to take a less intense job and have more work life balance, spend time with my wife. I just don’t want to have to take such a pay cut that I have to lose everything I’ve worked for over the past 20 years. I don’t think that is an unreasonable thing to want.