At the core of our mission statement, Customer Excellence Through Employee Empowerment, lies our investment in our employees. This investment begins with our Apprentice Training Program. We hire apprentices for the purpose of building the best technicians in the industry. Any candidate who makes it through our rigorous vetting process to become a Medford Wellington Apprentice is charged with one overarching responsibility – to learn.
You will be supported well beyond the 6000 hours of on-the-job training required by the state, and you will be provided with a minimum of 150 hours of classroom training during each year of your apprenticeship. To ensure your success, we combine classroom training with supervised, hands-on training at real customer locations, on real equipment.
Apprentices begin each day in the field with one member of our team of technical experts called the TSMs (Technical Solutions Managers). The TSMs teach our apprentices how to set up your service trucks, perform maintenance and repair tasks, and use your test instruments, as well as introducing you to systems and components and how they function.
The second half of your day is spent in the classroom learning topics ranging from electrical theory, thermodynamics, fluid movement, psychrometrics, and the mechanical refrigeration cycle. All of these topics are connected directly to the experiences you had working on real equipment with the TSMs earlier in the day. Your time in the classroom learning the physics and theory of operation underlying the tasks you performed in the field reinforces your newly acquired knowledge and rapidly builds expertise.
Our program allows our apprentices to begin working interdependently in the field in weeks rather than months or years. After the initial classroom portion of the training is complete, you will perform work under the mentorship of our TSMs through the use of our internal, tech support hotline. This ensures continued development while allowing you to perform diagnostic and repair work to Medford Wellington’s industry-setting standards.
Year two and three of your apprenticeship will continue following the format of combined field and classroom training, but will be on more advanced topics, to include: advanced electrical diagnostics, advanced refrigeration system diagnostics, refrigerant recovery and handling, refrigeration system evacuation, parallel rack system operation and diagnostics, water source heat pump operation and diagnostics, ice machine operation and diagnostics, chiller operation and diagnostics, OEM controller programming and testing, as well as repair processes and techniques for replacing and rebuilding components and equipment.
After year three you will have met the state requirements to sit for your license exam. Congratulations, you have obtained your refrigeration license after 6000 hours in the field and 450 hours of classroom training! Medford Wellington apprentices have a nearly 100% pass rate for the license exam!
After you obtain your license, your development doesn’t end. As the industry evolves and manufacturers continue to update their equipment, you will be presented with opportunities to continue your education through manufacturer training events, as well as in-house and online continued education sessions, keeping you at the cutting edge of best practices and service techniques in the industry! You will also have the opportunity to obtain trade licenses in other states, depending on where you’re located and what your long term goals are.
If joining the Medford Wellington HVACR Apprentice Training Program sounds like a great fit for you, please contact us today!