1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,780 Tales from the trenches, stories forged in the fires of experience. 2 00:00:08,780 --> 00:00:12,980 It is our mission to provide you with the resources that you need to be successful in 3 00:00:12,980 --> 00:00:17,020 the HVACR and building sciences professions. 4 00:00:17,020 --> 00:00:23,760 Learn more about what we can do to help you at escogroup.org. 5 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,560 All right everyone, thank you so much for joining us once again on Did You Know? 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,760 The ESCO HVAC Podcast. 7 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:34,760 So we are preparing to head off to the National HVACR Education Conference. 8 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:36,400 I'm hanging out with Ty Branaman. 9 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,200 Ty, how are you my friend? 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:39,200 Doing fantastic. 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:40,200 So excited for the show. 12 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,720 I know, it's so crazy. 13 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,220 It's like we build up, we build up and then all of a sudden it's like oh my goodness. 14 00:00:46,220 --> 00:00:48,400 It's like days away. 15 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,480 Making sure everything is prepared. 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:55,880 So I kind of, the reason we want to do this podcast is I kind of felt that way when I 17 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:57,880 walked into the classroom the first time. 18 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:02,200 And we're going to have a lot of new educators and educators that are just coming back. 19 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,400 Like last year we had so many first year educators and I imagine probably all or if not most 20 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:09,400 of them will be back this year. 21 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,680 But I wanted to talk about that first year in the classroom because there's a lot of 22 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:20,120 things that we can prepare for and there's a lot of things that we may not have even 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:21,120 thought about. 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:27,440 So I wanted to share some personal experiences of both of us and talk about that first year 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:36,760 and the resources that we really need to become an effective educator, a new educator. 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,400 I remember that first year was so exciting and so scary all in one. 27 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,520 It was just a complete ball of both. 28 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,240 When I first started I didn't even know that I could do this. 29 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,640 And there was a friend of mine and she was like you always talk about HVAC everywhere 30 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:54,800 we go. 31 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,760 Every Duckwork, every unit, you're obsessed with it. 32 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,920 She goes why don't you get into teaching where you can talk to somebody else about it. 33 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,280 And so there was this job posting that she found at the school in Miami and I was living 34 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:08,760 in the Florida Keys at the time. 35 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:14,120 And so I went and applied for it and then didn't hear anything back for a little while. 36 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:18,480 And then they called me and said hey can you, we want to hire you. 37 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,240 Can you come in and start, how soon can you start? 38 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,800 I said well I got to give at least a two weeks notice. 39 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,360 It's going to take some time. 40 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:30,040 And they said well can you come in and start teaching after work so we can start training 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:31,040 you. 42 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:32,040 I'm like yeah I think so. 43 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,280 I can think it's going to be some long hours with that drive. 44 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,360 And they said well can you start today? 45 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,440 Can you come in at least do the paperwork today? 46 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,800 I said well I mean it's last minute but I guess I can. 47 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,980 So I had to tell the boss that he was super upset about it. 48 00:02:46,980 --> 00:02:50,320 So then I went straight to the school to start doing paperwork. 49 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,960 And I'm in my company uniform. 50 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,640 And I'm sweating out of the field. 51 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:58,160 And they said hey well this is taking a little bit longer. 52 00:02:58,160 --> 00:02:59,160 We can do this later. 53 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,400 We want to show you the school. 54 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:02,680 I'm like well you showed me when I first applied. 55 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:04,720 They said well we'll take you on another tour. 56 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:05,720 You have time. 57 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:06,780 I'm like yeah sure. 58 00:03:06,780 --> 00:03:08,960 And so they took me straight to this classroom. 59 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:10,600 They said how do you say your name? 60 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,080 I said well it's Ty Brandeman. 61 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,080 They said okay. 62 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:14,600 And she had this funny look. 63 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,560 And then so she walks into the class and says hey class this is Mr. Ty. 64 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:20,940 He's going to be your instructor. 65 00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:23,160 She handed me the book and she walked out. 66 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:28,480 And I was just completely like oh my what happened. 67 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,560 And so I asked the class what they were talking about. 68 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:34,520 And they said we're talking about heat pumps. 69 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,560 So I set the book down and we just started talking about heat pumps. 70 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,120 And you know I've been hooked on it ever since. 71 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:43,680 I love that. 72 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:46,720 Mine couldn't be as far opposite as that. 73 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:48,640 It can't be. 74 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:49,640 Oh my gosh. 75 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,320 I love that. 76 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,600 It's like you walk in and boom it's right here in front. 77 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,440 There was no prepared you're just in it. 78 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,520 You're jumping in feet first. 79 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,760 So mine I was a technician. 80 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:09,280 So I was a mobile engineer and working on commercial refrigeration and HVAC. 81 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:11,640 And I thought I was going to be there the rest of my life. 82 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,200 I had no intentions of doing anything other than that. 83 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:16,200 Because I enjoyed it. 84 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,200 And it was a really good job. 85 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:22,240 And I had a recruiter reach out and he said Mr. Beck you're probably not looking for a 86 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:23,240 job. 87 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:24,240 But I was looking over your LinkedIn. 88 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:29,160 And I think you're supposed to be an educator and you've missed the bar. 89 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,160 Can we have breakfast or lunch and talk about that and let me tell you why. 90 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,400 And I thought well that's interesting. 91 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,600 And so I decided I was going to give it a try. 92 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,320 And I was so nervous. 93 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:40,840 I was like oh my gosh. 94 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:41,840 Everything had to be right. 95 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:42,840 Right. 96 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:43,840 I had time to prepare. 97 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:44,840 I had a few weeks. 98 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:49,360 I had to buy me a new jacket, new shirt, new shoes, new pants. 99 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,200 I've got all of my best gear all lined up. 100 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:56,040 And I'm going to do a intro into refrigeration course. 101 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:58,940 I'm like oh man this is going to be so much fun. 102 00:04:58,940 --> 00:05:00,600 So we've got the class all set up. 103 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:02,520 Remember I was working at a distributor. 104 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,780 And so it was contractors that were coming in for classes. 105 00:05:05,780 --> 00:05:06,780 And so I get all prepared. 106 00:05:06,780 --> 00:05:07,780 I'm all psyched. 107 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:10,180 And I walk into my classroom. 108 00:05:10,180 --> 00:05:14,400 And I'm sitting there and no one shows. 109 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,480 And I'm sitting there and no one shows. 110 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:22,240 And come to find out that in Indiana there is no state license. 111 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,640 So there's no required CEUs or CEHs. 112 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,840 So in our other branches that were in states like Ohio and Kentucky that had licenses, 113 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:30,840 the classes were full. 114 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,360 They had tons of people. 115 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:34,960 I didn't have a single one. 116 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,040 And my heart was broken. 117 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,320 I was crushed. 118 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:43,860 So I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to do this thing. 119 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:48,680 And then the second class was an EPA 608 class and I had 30 people. 120 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,480 And the light bulb happened for me in that class. 121 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,160 Was it your first class that you caught the bug? 122 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:57,160 Absolutely. 123 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:58,160 First class. 124 00:05:58,160 --> 00:05:59,160 Yeah. 125 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:00,160 I was hooked. 126 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:01,360 Yeah. 127 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,680 So the things that I really would like for us to talk about are the things that I personally 128 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,440 and you personally were not prepared for. 129 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,600 So one, walking into a classroom going here's your class. 130 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,540 That's definitely something not to be prepared for. 131 00:06:14,540 --> 00:06:18,180 What I learned about myself was I learned in the field. 132 00:06:18,180 --> 00:06:19,680 So I had a good mentor. 133 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,200 I had a really good service education. 134 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:24,420 All right. 135 00:06:24,420 --> 00:06:27,940 I didn't spend a ton of time on new construction and installation. 136 00:06:27,940 --> 00:06:32,000 I was a service guy my entire career for about 20 years worth. 137 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:37,360 So when I got into the classroom, I started realizing that there were things that, especially 138 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:42,040 in fundamentals that I didn't understand that other people did. 139 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,960 And so that's when I actually started the 608 was where I got introduced into ESCO. 140 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,880 And then that was in January of 18, I started teaching. 141 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:54,040 And then 2019, I went to the National HVACR education conference, like we're getting ready 142 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,700 to do here in a few weeks. 143 00:06:56,700 --> 00:07:00,560 And I didn't even know what was happening around me. 144 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,360 I had so many resources. 145 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:09,320 I had so many things to do and we started talking about educator credentials and certifications. 146 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:14,420 And so I started looking at, okay, what do I need to do? 147 00:07:14,420 --> 00:07:16,500 What is an educator? 148 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:17,880 What things do I need to be qualified? 149 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,920 Because I got all of these certifications from out in the industry that are all service 150 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,320 related and none of them on fundamentals. 151 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,160 And the first time I took a course, it was, I'm just going to go for it. 152 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,800 I'm going to go for the electricity course. 153 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:33,800 And I failed. 154 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,080 I absolutely failed it. 155 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,440 And I went, oh my goodness. 156 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:45,220 And so it was actually taken a minute to evaluate myself to not know what I do know, but the 157 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:47,640 things that I don't know. 158 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:57,660 And by doing that, I was able to use the actual output from the ESCO engine that showed me 159 00:07:57,660 --> 00:08:01,120 what areas of that test I didn't do very well. 160 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,200 So then I was able to go back and really refocus on things. 161 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,320 That was the biggest one for me. 162 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,240 What was the largest obstacle for you when you entered the classroom? 163 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:14,440 Man, it was, it was boulder after boulder. 164 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,200 I can say I came in straight from the field. 165 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,240 I'd trained a lot of people in the field. 166 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,200 I never went to school myself. 167 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:25,720 And when I'm in there in the classroom and you're trying to convince people to do something 168 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,480 and in a field, you tell them what you want them to do. 169 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,520 You explain it a few times and so they get it, but you tell them what to do and they 170 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:33,520 do it. 171 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,720 In the classroom, you get a melting pot of people and they have other jobs and other 172 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:40,160 lives and they haven't even seen this stuff. 173 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:45,040 So you're trying to explain something and they have no concept of what this is because 174 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:46,680 they've never seen it before. 175 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:50,320 So every single thing that I was talking about, I've realized I had to start showing them 176 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,040 because it was just glass eyes. 177 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,240 And so I started having to show people and explain stuff. 178 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:57,520 And so that was huge. 179 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:01,080 And then understanding different demographics of people. 180 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,980 So where I had worked a lot of times was they generalized, you know, a few different demographics 181 00:09:05,980 --> 00:09:11,700 of people that now I had the full variety of people from different countries and different, 182 00:09:11,700 --> 00:09:12,700 you know, accents. 183 00:09:12,700 --> 00:09:17,000 And sometimes I didn't know what they were saying and I had to learn to adapt to that. 184 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,680 And then I remember I was called to the office and I was getting chewed out for the, I think 185 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:27,000 the third time about the paperwork or the attendance sheets or the logs or the grading 186 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,800 or because all this was new to me. 187 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:32,040 And I was just overwhelmed because I was still working on a normal job. 188 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,520 I was still driving back and forth, you know, long nights. 189 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,780 And then it was like, you're yelling at me and I can't do this. 190 00:09:38,780 --> 00:09:43,400 This is not, you know, I can do HVAC and this is, you know, I just can't do what you need. 191 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:50,600 And then she stopped like mid gripe and realized, oh, and she said, OK. 192 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,640 How about you start going and watching other instructors? 193 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:54,640 So I was already lacking sleep. 194 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:55,640 Right. 195 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:57,640 So I started going and I did that. 196 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:01,880 So I just went to every other class I could possibly go to, like medical and automotive 197 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,560 and like, gosh, there was so many classes. 198 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:07,720 I just started sitting in and seeing how they taught. 199 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,120 So any chance I could, I would come in early and listen to other instructors. 200 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,400 And so I started seeing, you know, what an instructor does, like how it actually works 201 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,920 and how they communicate, how they overcome problems. 202 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,360 And then from then I did searching online to find out how can I connect with the student? 203 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:26,600 Because if I can't connect with them in some way, then I'm not going to be able to teach 204 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:27,600 them. 205 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,760 And at the school was all about making sure everybody's there. 206 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:32,240 And I didn't know that at the time. 207 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:37,560 And so I found that once you can connect with people, then and you can make it interesting. 208 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:39,000 They want to come there. 209 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,960 And that was part one. 210 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:45,880 Part two was if I'm going to explain something to somebody, I have to know what I'm talking 211 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:46,880 about. 212 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:52,600 Like I know TXVs, I solve them all the time, but now I have to explain how they work. 213 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,840 You know, now I have to explain what's happening in that refrigerator because people are asking 214 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,480 questions and I didn't know the answer. 215 00:10:57,480 --> 00:10:58,480 Like, you know what? 216 00:10:58,480 --> 00:10:59,480 We'll talk about that tomorrow. 217 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,120 And so I would go and I would read and I'm not a reader. 218 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,800 Like I struggle with reading. 219 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,680 I read stuff three or four or five or six times and I can't remember what I read. 220 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:15,280 And so I started having to read and then I started learning how to help with my ADHD, 221 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,760 like how to use highlights, how to make notes, how to do these different things to make it 222 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:20,080 interesting. 223 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:21,620 And then so I would have the answers. 224 00:11:21,620 --> 00:11:23,960 And then I realized my students are the same way. 225 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,960 So I started showing them these little tricks about highlights and underlining and notes 226 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:33,760 and how to, you know, put little sticky notes in places and how to make it where your mind 227 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,980 can focus on what you're reading. 228 00:11:35,980 --> 00:11:38,100 And so they just really connected well. 229 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:40,360 And so then the students were loving learning. 230 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:41,360 I was loving learning. 231 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,520 I was loving teaching and everything was going really good. 232 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:50,720 And I remember I called Esco and I was like, hey, this is like some years went by and I 233 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:52,400 was like one of the lead instructors. 234 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:55,640 I thought I was, you know, a badass. 235 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:57,600 Yeah, I'm doing good. 236 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,360 You know, everybody wants to come to my class. 237 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:01,920 Other instructors are coming to my class. 238 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:02,920 Like, yeah. 239 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:07,560 And so I called Esco and I don't remember exactly who it was to talk to at the time. 240 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,480 And I wanted to take some of the credentialing test. 241 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,880 And the guy was like, well, you know, these are going to be pretty hard for you to pass. 242 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,480 And I was like, how dare you? 243 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:18,480 I know my stuff. 244 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:20,080 I know who you're talking to. 245 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,120 And so I was arrogant. 246 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:27,720 And so I went and took the first class and I bombed. 247 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,120 I was like, at first I was bad at the test. 248 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:31,120 This test is stupid. 249 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:32,120 You're not going to use that stuff. 250 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:33,120 This can't be done right. 251 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:34,120 That's ridiculous. 252 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:36,040 That's a little ply. 253 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,640 And so I just had to put my ego down and realize, OK, let's learn. 254 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:43,640 And so I forced to go back to the books and look at things again. 255 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:47,000 And I was looking for these little pieces of information. 256 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:51,480 And then I would find like this massive amount of information that I wasn't looking for. 257 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:56,400 But I learned so much stuff looking for this one little nugget, this one answer that I 258 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:57,400 needed. 259 00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:59,080 But I learned this huge amount of information. 260 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:00,080 So then I was hooked. 261 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:01,080 I'm like, that's cool. 262 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:02,080 Let me take another one. 263 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,320 And then I would, even if I pass it, I would take a retake it again because I wanted to 264 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,080 make sure it's not that I had the highest grade, but that I I was learning so much and 265 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:11,780 I was hooked on the learning. 266 00:13:11,780 --> 00:13:14,440 And I just kept going on until I took all the tests. 267 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:16,200 And then I started doing other things. 268 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,440 And I was like, man, this guy that almost dropped out of high school that was couldn't 269 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,280 do anything else but be a trades person. 270 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,080 You know, hey, I'm learning all this stuff and applying myself. 271 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:27,560 And it was it was amazing. 272 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:28,560 It was it was incredible. 273 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:34,500 Isn't it crazy how we look at ourselves from a different perspective when we start teaching? 274 00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:35,500 So I'm the same way. 275 00:13:35,500 --> 00:13:38,400 I've got I think three, it might be a fourth one. 276 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,160 I'm working my way through my CSM ease. 277 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,700 And that's my goal is to wrap those up here in 2024. 278 00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:47,440 But they are challenging. 279 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:52,040 But the beauty of it is it's not like it's a great like we sit in a classroom and we 280 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:53,520 see what everyone else's grade is. 281 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,560 And we go, oh, I'm never gonna be as good as that person. 282 00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:57,560 Right. 283 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,560 Many of us struggle with that, especially when you get to the ADHD. 284 00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:05,960 I think you and I could probably have a separate podcast just on how many incredibly intelligent 285 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:12,440 people end up in the trades because of concentration and focus issues in a classroom that thrive 286 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:13,440 out in the field. 287 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,160 And maybe we end up coming back to that. 288 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:21,720 But I yeah, I think it is a fantastic point, because one of the reasons that we don't like 289 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,200 to take tests is we don't want to fail. 290 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:29,080 We don't want to we don't we don't want to fail anyone, let alone ourself. 291 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:34,520 And the beauty of taking the credentials, the certifications is that we see where we 292 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,720 need to improve, but we are never compared to anybody else. 293 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,560 We have the analytics to see how we compare to the rest of the industry. 294 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:48,340 But the rest of the industry doesn't look at our results, unless your school administrator 295 00:14:48,340 --> 00:14:50,160 requires and that's a whole nother story. 296 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,960 But for us, it's to learn how to be better. 297 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,960 So I agree, it was probably the most important part for me because I did the same thing. 298 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,800 As I went back and started looking for this, what I thought were small answers, I end up 299 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:08,000 finding new things about my industry that I didn't even know. 300 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,880 I am I am so involved in things today that I wasn't involved five years ago when I first 301 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:20,680 started teaching, because I was introduced into it while I was re learning my trade. 302 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:21,760 And it's the most beautiful thing. 303 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:29,680 I actually feel like I'm evolving as a technician, even though I'm not in the field like I used 304 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:30,680 to be. 305 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,080 But I'm becoming a better technician because I'm understanding principles better. 306 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:40,800 And I'm like you, recommunicating those back to students and to technicians and to instructors. 307 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:48,240 And I don't know, man, there's just there's something so personal and something so positive 308 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:56,520 about developing as an educator that I encourage everyone to take the time and just do Google 309 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:04,440 self evaluation, do some ESCO educator certifications and see where you're at. 310 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:05,520 And you might surprise yourself. 311 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,800 You might learn a little bit about yourself in the process. 312 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,400 You know, one of the things that we have to challenge yourself with is the well, that's 313 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:14,720 book stuff and you don't need to know that. 314 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:21,880 And I've said that before myself and I remember countless times I'll be teaching one of those 315 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:31,680 topics and I've had these aha moments of, oh my gosh, that explains exactly this problem. 316 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:37,720 And, you know, in 2006 or 2003, I remember Mrs. Jones, I was having a situation I couldn't 317 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:39,640 figure it out. 318 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,600 And then all of those things you didn't need to know the answer was there. 319 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:47,320 I was too stubborn and that book stuff, you know, I didn't need. 320 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:48,880 And I realized, wow. 321 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:50,920 And I was every time I'd be teaching a class. 322 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,360 And still to this day, I have these moments to where I learned something new and I'm like 323 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:56,760 that explains it. 324 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:58,840 You know, those things it's like, well, it just is. 325 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:00,200 It's just the way it is. 326 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:01,240 And it's like, no, it's not. 327 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,920 There's a reason for everything. 328 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:05,920 And then you get to meet the authors. 329 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:10,800 And for me, it was like, well, a book like this corporation or something that writes 330 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:11,800 this. 331 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:15,880 And you get to meet like people like Eugene and you get to see it's a human. 332 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:17,040 A person wrote that. 333 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,000 So just like you and me are having a conversation. 334 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,880 The book is that same conversation. 335 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:26,320 So I started getting authors to sign my books and I would take them back to school and show 336 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:31,840 the students, hey, this isn't just some machine in the background, some man telling me what 337 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:32,880 to do. 338 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:34,080 This is a human that wrote this. 339 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,920 And so I would start showing the autographs of all the different authors I got to meet. 340 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:41,360 And then the students got to realize, hey, it's not this evil thing. 341 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:43,760 It's this communication tool. 342 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,920 How about that? 343 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,840 And that's the only place that you can go and just hang out with all of the authors, 344 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:51,840 the publishers. 345 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,680 That's the crazy thing is that you have, you know, Esco, we are a publishing company of 346 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:01,960 our own material, but we also, we support and we, we work with our industry partners 347 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:06,320 that are also publishers to make sure that all of the content is available for the whole 348 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:07,320 industry. 349 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:09,780 So you have all these different industry professionals. 350 00:18:09,780 --> 00:18:14,920 And then when you get there in one place, you realize, wow, they're all just like me. 351 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:16,160 I had no idea. 352 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:17,160 Yeah. 353 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,160 It's very personal. 354 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:24,680 It's very, very heartwarming to be in an atmosphere where you know that if you have a question 355 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,960 on something, you can actually go to the person that is the expert on that. 356 00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:31,000 If you have a piece of equipment that you would like to learn on, but you never had 357 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,040 the opportunity to work on out in the field, the, uh, the engineers and the, the, the technical 358 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:43,000 trainers for those pieces of equipment are going to be right there. 359 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:48,640 You know, I remember I was at a school and I was, I was just getting kind of on a plane. 360 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,980 I was kind of doing the same thing over and over is getting repetitious. 361 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:56,160 And we had some other instructors come in and they were teaching some really bad habits 362 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:01,160 like beer can cold and you know, like a two smokes vacuum at a school. 363 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,320 And it was like, you know, it's kind of depressing. 364 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:09,280 And I was like, man, I wasn't being challenged and it was just like trying to not fight with 365 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,600 them, but try to, you know, pick people up. 366 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,760 And then a lot of times that turned into a fight because I've been doing this way for 367 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:15,760 20 years. 368 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,840 It's like, well, still wrong, but you know, so I was really struggling. 369 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:25,480 And then, uh, I went to the conference for the first time in Las Vegas and I used my 370 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:26,480 vacation time. 371 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,960 I have one week vacation that I had, I paid for everything myself, like a lot of people 372 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:31,960 do. 373 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,400 And I went cause I was like, Hey, you know, nothing else. 374 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:35,400 I'll get to see Las Vegas. 375 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,100 I've never been. 376 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:38,380 And it was affordable enough. 377 00:19:38,380 --> 00:19:44,440 And I went and I was absolutely just blown away with all the other instructors in the 378 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,720 same exact situation I was in having the exact same struggles I was having. 379 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:53,080 And then I learned so much, like the different layers of building science that I didn't know 380 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:58,520 this was going on and you know, ceiling houses and I thought I had airflow down. 381 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:02,720 And then I get to meet these people that are going into, you know, all of these other terms 382 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:03,800 that I didn't really know. 383 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,260 And I had to go back and learn again. 384 00:20:06,260 --> 00:20:08,840 So it lit me on fire. 385 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:13,960 And I think that was the point that I really came from being, you know, a guy trying to 386 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:20,760 teach to actually becoming a true educator, because now I was able to really learn and 387 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:25,440 grow on a whole different level and get to see how different people present ideas that 388 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:27,320 made it interesting to me. 389 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,880 And I took all this information back and I was literally I was on fire and I've been 390 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,080 going to the conference almost every year since then. 391 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,640 And I love meeting new people that are for the first time you see it in their eyes. 392 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:39,440 I'm like, I was that guy. 393 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:46,080 That's like, no, I absolutely you know, that first year, it's difficult. 394 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,380 The transitions are not easy. 395 00:20:48,380 --> 00:20:52,880 You know, I think back about when you mentioned that all the paperwork and the processing 396 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:58,040 that has to be done in a classroom, things we didn't do much of in the field that's 397 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,520 now required on a daily basis. 398 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:07,120 There are a lot of skill sets that we have to acquire or fine tune. 399 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:11,600 And for myself, the only way to do that is to find like minded people. 400 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,440 And that's what I found when I went to the conference as well. 401 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:22,440 It really was it was my tool to add and sharpen skills that I needed to be successful. 402 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:28,800 You know, there's so many new tools out, new equipment, new regulations, new ways of doing 403 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,120 stuff. 404 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:34,480 And then you get other people that are asking you questions and you get to realize you get 405 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:36,160 to share your experiences. 406 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,220 So as much as I loved all the new technology and things I was learning, it was the connections 407 00:21:40,220 --> 00:21:41,980 that I made that was really special. 408 00:21:41,980 --> 00:21:46,000 People that were all over the country, you know, having these same things, they started 409 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,360 sharing information. 410 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:51,240 And then throughout the year, you had people you could contact and had people to fall on 411 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:53,680 it, as well as a wealth of new information. 412 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,920 You had to figure out how to get into the class. 413 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,040 But it was it was just so exciting. 414 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:02,120 And I really love the conference for that. 415 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:03,600 I do, too. 416 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:09,040 So a word of encouragement for everyone that is listening, especially if you are a, you 417 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:15,120 know, a new educator, that there is a place for you specifically for you to help give 418 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:19,960 you those resources to get over the hurdles that we all encounter in that first year, 419 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,740 the few years of education. 420 00:22:21,740 --> 00:22:26,720 So we look forward to seeing you all and Ty, I can't wait to hang out with you at the National 421 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,480 HVACR Education Conference. 422 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:30,960 And thanks for joining us, Ty. 423 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:35,240 And boy, a lot more things for us to learn and do and share, isn't it? 424 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:36,240 Oh, thanks. 425 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:37,240 It's going to be awesome. 426 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:42,400 All right, everyone, we'll see you again next episode of Did You Know? 427 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:50,440 The ESCO HVAC Podcast.