I was laid off earlier this month from my job as an HVAC service tech due to lack of work, a first in the 8 years I’ve been in the industry. I’m looking for work but the mild winter in California has made my job obsolete until it gets hot and I’m feeling ROUGH.

My wife became pregnant with our second child last month, and my hours have been slashed since last October, so money is tight, and our relationship is strained.

I’m considering a career change but I have a couple thousand dollars worth of specialized tools and experience that I’m loathe to put aside. I’m feeling hopeless and I just wanted to reach out to other dads to vent and see if there’s other ideas out there.

  • @worldofbirths
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    39 months ago

    I think HVAC will continue to be a necessity, especially considering the changes in climate we’ve seen. It’s true that demand is seasonal though, so maybe you just need something temporary, at least until summer?

    In regards to a career change, if you’re serious, don’t be deterred by the sunk cost fallacy. If you’re not familiar with the idea, look it up: there’s a lot of research and advice on how sunk cost tricks people. The gist of it is that yes, past investment in something matters, but only to the extent that the alternative can compensate for it in the long run.

    Do the research on the alternative and crunch the numbers, if you’d be better off doing something else and it’s promising then you should consider it seriously. Just remember what you learned: sometimes jobs come and go.

  • @dugmeup
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    17 months ago

    See if you can teach HVAC? Down times are seasonal. Try putting a HVAC course in when downtimes are going to occur?

    Other options are trying to see where demand is during your downtime and going there, like Washington or East to Vegas?