As soon as I was done with high school, I went into the military.
I decided to choose the army, because my Dad served too.
I served my country for six years. During the time I worked on HVAC systems at the base. I knew that it would be a skill that could transfer to a real job in the civilian world. I wasn’t particularly excited about HVAC repairs and installation work, but I found a lot of the technology interesting and I learned everything I could when the government was paying for my education. I left the military with a special certification in building automation systems. This type of knowledge allows me to work at specialty HVAC firms. When I started interviewing, I realized that my special skills were in high demand. I received a lot of call backs and even a few job offers. I started to think that I might not be asking for enough money oh, so I updated my resume. The next company that called was a security firm that installs building automation systems. They were impressed with my resume and willing to pay me the salary I requested. Today is the first day of my new job and I am very excited to get started. I’ve never worked in a civilian job before, even when I was in high school. I have the knowledge to complete any heating, cooling, or ventilation job, but I’ve never worked without a drill sergeant breathing down my neck. It’s going to be a lot different to work on my own time schedule.