Trevor Straub, Refrigeration Mechanic

A nice cool spot?

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“A lot of people say, 'You work on air conditioning units, that must be great; you’re always in a nice cool spot.’ It’s quite the opposite. An air conditioner is going to break down when it’s plus 35 outside, and a lot of times it’s on the roof, so you’re the one that’s on the roof fixing that air conditioner.”

“You've got to be prepared to deal with the weather. If it's really hot outside or really cold outside, you have to deal with the elements.”

Images from my workplace

Where I work

I work for Black and McDonald. We're a mechanical contractor, meaning we have plumbers, millwrights, electricians and refrigeration mechanics. Basically we can take care of any building needs, including maintenance.

Black and McDonald is really unique because it is quite a large, national company, but it is still family owned. They come into Winnipeg and they know me by name and that's really a good feeling. They know what I'm doing and they appreciate my work.

Installation and service

I install heating and air conditioning systems.

I also do maintenance contracts to make sure everything's working properly. I spend a lot of time maintaining equipment and that's really a crucial part of the trade. If you maintain equipment it will last a lot longer.

Sometimes I answer service calls where I have to go out and find out what the problem is and possibly replace some of the parts.

Every day is different

One day I might be standing at a control panel troubleshooting an electrical control circuit. The next day I might be changing a 300-pound compressor.

I might even have to install a big refrigeration unit, with a 3,000-pound compressor, where the street is closed off and we are using a crane to get the unit onto the roof of a building.

Opportunities to specialize

I get to work with environmental control units. In a large computer room, I have to keep the humidity and temperature fairly stable for the computer equipment. This is a niche - not everybody works on these units.

In my trade there are a lot of opportunities to specialize in different areas like this.

More than a technician

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"You'll meet the customer on site and they'll explain what's going on. At that point you would go and figure out what the problem is. Once you've found that, you've got to report back to the customer and say, ‘This is your problem, do you want a quote for repair? Do you want me just to go ahead with the repair?'"

"You're dealing with the customer in that way a lot, you almost get into sales."

Grew up and stayed there

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"I grew up just west of the city in St. Francis Xavier. My parents had a two-acre yard so we had lots of room to run around, play ball and do anything you want. Friends were always just a bike ride away, so if you wanted to go anywhere, (you'd) jump on your bike and go. Lots of fun, lots of areas with trees, a really neat place to grow up."

In my time off

I enjoy playing sports such as baseball and golf, plus I play touch football on a football team. I've got a pool table in my basement; I love having my friends over and playing pool.

I've got a fresh yard that doesn't have any grass, so I spend a lot of time in the yard levelling it, tilling, and getting ready to plant grass.

I love electronics. I want to buy a nice TV and sound system for my house. I've got an unfinished basement and I love nothing better than going to the hardware store and buying stuff to finish my basement.

Balance work & life

Our trade is up and down. In the summertime when it's hot outside it is really busy and I may be expected to work more than eight hours a day. It's a real balancing act between work and relaxing.

Still, there are times when I need to be with my family and the job allows me to do that as I have flexible hours.

Country living

I lived in the city for a little bit and I moved back out to the country. It has a much more personable feeling out there. I live in a small cove with 10 houses where everybody has just under an acre of yard each.

Everybody knows everybody out in the country. When I come home, somebody wants to talk to me or come over and have a drink with me; it's a great place to live. I just found the city was a little bit too busy for my liking.

Pressure situation

I was working on a job where a press was down and a shift of people was coming in at eleven o'clock. I had managers coming up to me and saying, "Can we bring these people in for eleven o'clock?" I was under the gun, but it turned out to be a great situation. The customer was extremely impressed with everything that was done. They did bring their shift in at eleven o'clock and everything was running.

Not a typical 8-to-5 job

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"One day you may have a customer that needs a job done and they have a shift starting at seven o'clock and they work around the clock ‘til midnight, so you might have to come in at midnight and work until five o'clock in the morning to try and fix them up and work around their things."

"You've got to work with your customers, and there may be certain times that they can't have the job done and certain times that they need to have the job done."

Rain or shine

Eighty percent of our work is done on the roof, rain or shine, unless there is lightning or a blizzard. There's nothing I love better than a beautiful summer day to be on the roof.

The rest of the time I work in industrial factories and in office buildings.

Don’t be timid

You can't be afraid to just jump in and start doing the work. When I first started, I wasn't confident and I didn't have experience, so I was shy about getting into a situation and telling a customer this has to happen.

Customers don't want me walking up to them and just saying, "I think this is wrong." The customer wants me to go up to them and tell them, "This is what's wrong; this is what we've got to do." You learn how to do that as you go on.

Biggest challenge

When I go to a new customer or a new building that I've never been in, it may be a huge building and I've got to find my way around and find out how everything is supposed to operate. If I've never seen that exact system before I still have to get to work on it quickly. That's probably one of the hardest things I have to deal with.

My work matters

When I'm working on the air conditioning in a computer room where they may have huge servers that company could lose a lot of money if those servers go down. We have clients that lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a minute if their computers are down.

When I'm repairing or maintaining a system that takes care of such critical business equipment, I'm a pretty important guy.

Fun on the job

Our company tries to present a very businesslike image, so I always want to be clean and look good. But I also have fun at my job.

The team might be using a crane to bring a new unit up onto the roof and it's pretty cool when I'm working with the crane. That's like playing at work. Getting to play with big equipment is a lot of fun.

High safety standards

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"Safety is a huge thing in this day and age."

"With the safety standards, a lot of the heavier things that guys used to lift on their own, we're bringing cranes and dollies in for. It really cuts down on the heavy stuff, because people can't get hurt anymore. It's expensive when people get hurt."

Wanted to work with my hands

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"When I was in school, grade eleven, one of the things I talked about doing was being an accountant. I was always great with numbers and I thought that would be a really cool thing to get into. I'd even gone as far as looking into Red River and U of M, seeing different options you can take for post-secondary education."

"I looked at myself in grade twelve and said, ‘I hate coming to the same place everyday, I can't stand sitting behind a desk, an accountant just isn't for me'. I want to be outside, I want to be working with my hands and that's kind of what pushed me in this direction."

School and on-the-job

If you're seriously looking to get into a trade, phone a contractor that does that type of work and ask them if they are looking for people to help out. Right after I graduated from high school I went to Black and McDonald and they hired me as a summer helper. I helped the workers - carrying equipment and tools for them.

Then I went to Red River for the 10-month pre-employment course. I learned the skills that I needed to start working in the field. After the Red River course, Black and McDonald signed me up through the Apprenticeship Board.

Training is a team effort

I attended an award ceremony hosted by the Apprenticeship Board for all the apprentices from different trades where they recognized our commitment to our jobs and our relationship with our employers. They also recognized how the employers helped apprentices to get where they are.

An apprenticeship is a partnership between you, the employer, and the Apprenticeship Board. You don't succeed if nobody's helping you. Your employer and everybody you're working with helps you learn.

Found my career early

It takes anywhere between four and seven years to go through the apprenticeship.

Trades seem to be something people think of a little bit later in life - maybe in their ‘30's or later. I was fortunate I got into refrigeration at 18 and by the time I was 24 I had my journeyman's papers and was well on my way.

Necessary skills

Take math, physics and chemistry courses. That's going to help you out, almost no matter what trade you're going to get into. When you're working with refrigerants, you have to understand how different pressures and temperatures correspond to each other.

Reading, writing and working with documents are also skills that you will need every day, whether its reading an electrical schematic, or understanding an operation diagram that tells you how the system is supposed to work. Also, every time you do a job you've got to fill out a service report.

Always room to improve

I enjoy what I'm doing now. I‘m planning to stay in my trade and branch out into in different areas. I want to continue learning from others. I enjoy watching people work and learning from what I see them do. I can watch somebody complete a task and then when I go to work on it, I try and figure out a better or a faster way to do that job.

New technology

It is the younger people in our company who have worked with computers already that are getting into the new equipment and understanding it.

In a lot of the new equipment, computer boards are all the rage. Where there would have been wires and contacts and relays, it's all being replaced by computers. There are a lot of courses from the manufacturers teaching us about their computer boards. It's another step forward in our trade, so now we get into electronics, too.

My trade needs more people

(TEXT FROM SOUND BITE)

"There's a lot of people in their fifties and so working in the trade. They have a great skill set and they're extremely good at what they do, but the problem with that is there are so many people of that age and there's not very many people getting into it. So the trade really is seeing a lack of personnel and could really use an influx of people coming in to learn from all the experience that's there right now."

Job market info

The links below take you to federal and regional government information on employment, education, salary ranges and long range prospects for this career.

The official title for Trevor's occupation is "Refrigeration Mechanic" and its NOC* code is 7313.

Manitoba Job Futures

Employment Prospects - Labour Market Information

*Each occupation has an official name and unique number called the 'National Occupation Classification' code or 'NOC'.

Education

Useful High School subjects

- Mechanics
- Physics
- Math
- English
- Physical Education

*Source: JobFutures.ca

For those out of school, Adult Learning Centres can help you get or upgrade your high school diploma, including adding subjects that are required for work or further education. All Manitobans are normally entitled to four free courses.

Below are links to various programs and courses that will you on the path to a career as a Refrigeration Mechanic:

Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade: Apprenticeship Branch

Trade Programs: Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Mechanic

Red River College

Apprenticeship Programs

Refrigeration and A/C Fundamentals

Essential Skills

The most important Essential Skills* for refrigeration mechanics and other related occupations are:

- Reading Text
- Document Use
- Problem Solving

*For more information on Essential Skills and their importance to this occupation, go to: Essential Skills (NOC 7313)

Professional Resources

Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program
Certification allowing tradespeople to work in all provinces.

Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI)
HRAI is a partnership of industry sector organizations that represents Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) manufacturers, wholesalers and contractors who provide the Canadian public with products and services for indoor comfort and essential refrigeration processes.

United Association of Journeyman and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry in Manitoba.

CareerTrek
A not-for-profit organization that provides innovative educational programming for young people with perceived barriers to entering post-secondary education.

Related Careers

Electrical Technician (NOC 2241)

Gas Fitters (NOC 7253)

Electric Appliance Servicers and Repairers (NOC 7332)

Sheet Metal Workers (NOC 7261)