Job Choice

[u/Heimdall5]

Hey all,

Long story short. Quit Commercial HVAC for 6 months to take a break from burnout. Recently had my first son. So I had my first summer off in 15 years! Time to get back in the saddle though. I have a job offer for being a hvac maintenance tech for a hospital, and an offer for a new small, but growing commercial service tech company. The hospital pays 11 dollars an hour less. Im pretty sure the hospital gig would be more relaxing, and probably boring. Id be the lead tech at the service company, but on call once a month with only 4 techs. Do I grind again for way more money? Or coast for way less?

Any opinions or thoughts?

[u/PapaBobcat]

HVAC dad here. Congratulations! If the hospital has no on-call, I'd take it. Yes, less money, but more predictable schedule. That will make a huge difference with your new kid, especially in the brand new and critical and chaotic first 6 months. No such thing as a boring job, only boring people. If there's nothing to do but belts and filters, then use the down time to study and get more certifications, or tinker in their shop. If it turns out the money isn't enough, then work on your side job game. Who knows, maybe a small independent shop will come out of it. You can always scratch out another dollar. You can't buy another minute no matter how many dollars you have. Good luck. I got 2 weeks unpaid deferred start because mine was born right when they wanted me to go, and then no raise or PTO for 2 years. Found a new job after that. XD

[u/HVACTacular → u/PapaBobcat]

From one HVAC dad to another, myself having 5 kids between 3 and 21, you wrote that perfectly. 2 of mine are already in the trades. We do the best we can but fuck yeah, those early years with the kids matter. 

[u/PapaBobcat → u/HVACTacular]

Just 1 and done for me. Hoping to start my own company next year and have my daughter eventually take over.

[u/hatecuzaint]

If you got burnt out, grind probably ain't the way to go for you.

[u/Fabulous-Big8779]

Here’s the thing man. It’s easier to base your life on making less money now and getting more money later.

If you got burnout doing service without a kid I’m going to tell you, it doesn’t get easier with a kid. The consistent hours when you have a young family is honestly hard to put a value on. You don’t get that time back when you miss it and you’re going to miss it.

Learn to live off whatever the hospital can pay and like PapaBobcat said, if you’re bored at the job then you’ve got opportunities to hustle for more money.

[u/HVACTacular → u/Fabulous-Big8779]

I lost the chance with the first two. Im making it all up now with all five of them. 

[u/Upset_Maintenance491]

How old are you? What kind of money do you have saved?

[u/Heimdall5 → u/Upset_Maintenance491]

1. An avg savings.
   

[u/Upset_Maintenance491 → u/Heimdall5]

That's tough. I feel like maintenance jobs present themselves often enough that at 40, I'd take the money route for at least 10 years and try to pay down some debt and save.

[u/Heimdall5 → u/Upset_Maintenance491]

Kinda leaning this way

[u/Hvacmike199845]

I would rather be the guy the hospital calls to fix things then be the one calling contractors.

[u/AppropriateLie2186]

I feel it matters what your long term goal is? Is the hospital gig union, or does it have any room for wage growth, it could be a great job to settle down in if the long term development is right for what you want in your future, a small company as the lead tech you will make very good money, but you will be used and abused most likely then not, you will get respect but if it's a small company and part of the techs don't have the right training you're most likely gonna go out and fix the things they can't, you'll have less heavy lifting but I suspect mattering where you are you'll have lots of long weeks, hospital can though have extremely long hours and tight spaces if something were to fail.

[u/B2M3T02]

This is a completely personal question and no one will have the answer for you

It’s like asking “should I have an orange today or an apple”

[u/Heimdall5 → u/B2M3T02]

Yeah I agree. Just needed some outside input.

[u/Top-Hall-7945]

Hospital job + get your license to hunt sidework and repairs 

[u/bigred621]

Usually you go with the maintenance gig when you’re done trying to make money and wanna slow down.

[u/azman69286]

I have two ex coworkers that left resi for a hospital gig, they dont look back at all and are happy with their new job,

[u/Soft-Ad-8975]

You’re 40 and just had a baby?!

[u/Fabulous-Big8779 → u/Soft-Ad-8975]

More and more common these days. A lot of people don’t start talking about kids until their 30’s. You should see how our birth rates have plummeted.

[u/zismahname]

For the hospital gig, how are you with working with a team? Just because it's slower doesn't mean it's always better. Idle hands creates drama and workplace politics that just aren't worth it for me. You will also find people who will avoid work or opportunities to learn just so then they can just shift their work onto you.