Turning hobbies into strengths

Smith said the course got him up to speed on both sheet metal and welding, as well as HVAC and installation. He didn’t have much experience in either field — and initially waved off the prospect of going into HVAC work, because he thought the electrical work might be too much trouble.

“Wiring is something, if you don’t work with regularly, it can be pretty complex and intimidating,” Smith said. 

But with the encouragement of the friend who told him about the program, he reconsidered.

Smith suspects his lifelong love of tinkering might have had something to do with how well he’s taken to the work.

“I’ve been riding dirt bikes since I was 8 years old. I learned how to rebuild two-stroke motors when I was 11. I work on vehicles and stuff pretty regularly, that’s always been part of my background,” Smith explained.

He was hired by mechanical contracting company JH Kelly, and has been doing HVAC installation work at commercial sites ranging from elementary and high schools, to office buildings, to Seattle’s hub for its public transit, the King County Metro building.

Most of his work is based in Seattle, which means about a three hour daily round-trip commute from his home in Yelm, WA, where he lives with his wife, 5-year-old son and newborn son. Though he has to get on the road before the sun rises each day, Smith said he doesn’t mind, since it gives him more time with his family.

“I leave home at 4 a.m. to make sure I have enough time to deal with traffic, and I’m on site by 6,” he said. “I’m home by 3:30 with my family every night.”

Heat pumps are the majority of his HVAC work

Smith said when he started his training, he knew little to nothing about heat pump technology.

“I heard the term heat pump. It had been described to me in layman’s terms that it was basically an AC system that works to both heat and cool. But that was about the extent of my knowledge of it,” he said.

Now, he estimates that upwards of 80-90 percent of his daily HVAC work involves installing heat pumps, including mini-splits as well as variable refrigerant flow systems. 

“Mini-splits are great for serving different spaces. Depending on the space, a mini-split may be the most efficient,” Smith said. He added that mini-splits are especially good for cooling server rooms, where the computer processing equipment can’t be allowed to overheat — or risk failure or shutdown.

“We’ve also done a fair amount of larger equipment that’s variable refrigerant flow … It has the most diverse application,” he said. He added that variable refrigerant systems work best in settings “where you want to be able to simultaneously heat and cool different spaces within the same system”.

Bringing the expertise back home

Smith said his experience with heat pumps has been so compelling, he’s looking forward to adding them to his own home, which is currently heated with electric resistance heating and a wood-burning stove.

“We have a wood-burning stove in my house, we try to keep going to the fullest extent. But when my son was just born, we couldn’t sit there and tend it, so we had a $300 electric bill in January,” Smith said, estimating that heat pumps would cut that electric bill roughly in half. 

“Once I have a little extra funds in my pocket, I fully intend to install a ducted heat pump system. The biggest incentive to me would be the money savings for using a heat pump — that system would probably pay for itself in three to four years.”

The skilled trades are a bridge to a post-military career

More than 58 percent of SMART Heroes grads choose to continue in a union role — giving them access to increased benefits and starting salaries ranging from $18-28 per hour, or even more in the northeast and northwest, according to Joshua Moore, the field representative for SMART Heroes.

“I say this at every graduation that we have: Joining the military wasn't the hardest decision of my life. Getting out was,” said Moore, who added that 200,000 military personnel leave the service every year. “You lose that benefit of dental, health, medical, vision … it was 100 percent paid for. You got a check every first and 15th of the month, like clockwork. So this program kind of helps bridge that gap of uncertainty.”

Moore added that contractors — and other employers — appreciate the value of military veterans, who even in their early 20s, can offer maturity, skills, and experience.

“They know the importance of being to work on time, having the right tool in their hand,” Moore said, “They understand the importance of safety. They understand the importance of being a good leader, taking care of those on the job.”

Smith said that anyone interested should consider exploring skilled trades. Even in an up-and-down economy, he said, that skillset will always be in demand. 

“The corporate jobs will come and go, but you always need someone to heat or cool your house, keep the lights on, keep the water flowing, the basic necessities,” he said.