I became an HVAC technician, but I did it in a way that was not normal.
I actually became an HVAC technician by joining the military.
I had no idea that the military even needed HVAC technicians, but it makes sense once I started thinking about it. Every military base in the world probably has furnaces and central air conditioners, and they probably didn’t want civilians being allowed to come into the bases to fix the HVAC units when they were broken. Instead, the military would hire an HVAC technician that was specifically in charge of fixing HVAC units. I did not know this, and when I joined the military, becoming an HVAC technician was honestly the last thing on my mind. I knew that wanted a real job in the military. I wanted to be able to find a career once I left the military. When I talked to my recruiter, he asked if I wanted to be an HVAC technician. They would provide all of my training as an HVAC technician, and they would give me tons of experience working on HVAC units in different parts of the world. I would get paid well as an HVAC technician, and I would be able to retire with a career. They could even pre-schedule an interview with an HVAC company as a guarantee as soon as I returned from deployment. At first, it sounded lame, but I didn’t want to go into infantry anyway, so I gave it a shot. Now, I am no longer in the military, but the military gave me enough experience that I own my own HVAC company now.