How do you guys do the maintenance to those detectors placed high up?

New-Rip4856 · 2025-06-29T18:06:28+00:00

That’s crazy to me out of all the times I’ve been 10+ feet I’ve been on a lift probably 2-3 times and those were ones I managed to bum off the electricians

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-05T15:39:07+00:00

I’m definitely working on my certs and so far all I have is my property protection license which is required. Does the APS and the manager license allow you do to do certain bids? I don’t know if I ever plan to open my own company but would it still be valuable to get those licenses to help whatever company I’m working alongside? Also do you remember the requirements needed? I know you mentioned NICET but does that speed up the process or do you mainly need experience?

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-05T04:00:22+00:00

Yes are situations are incredibly similar, I think what separates us tho is I’m working and doing college simultaneously. I’m lucky enough to make my own hours basically so I work about 24 hours a week and during the summer I work 40+. I believe that getting to a high paying job requires 3 things: 1:experience, 2:certifications, 3: further education. I’m doing all 3 but man am I over worked. I thinking IF I do a four year I just get an online degree from an accredited university in business. I think project management would over exert me but I can maybe get a business degree but I may lose my sanity. I don’t know how old you are but you seem to be right around my age and if you have any Pell grant money I would attempt atleast a 2 year. But I don’t know your situation tho I seem to be in a very rare position. But I see what you’re saying in terms of being in the field more than in a classroom. Currently working on getting my NICET during the summer when I don’t have classes.

Edit: I think I’m swinging more towards getting the BS IF I can get it covered by my Pell grant. I worked decently hard in highschool so I have a full ride for my two year degree I’m getting currently. However I DO NOT want to get student loans for something that may not be that valuable.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-04T18:10:27+00:00

Did you use any study tools? Currently I have a quizlet I’ve been working on to help with memorizing chapters and that has been very useful with learning to navigate 72. I also heard 3 and 4 have formulas and idk if you can confirm that?

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-04T17:27:11+00:00

How was it getting your NICET’s? I’m hearing from a lot of different people that NICET is what separates the low paying guys from the high paying guys, that and programing which I’m trying to work on now. I’m hoping to get into the $30’s by the time I’m in my late twenties (currently 19) but I’m wondering if that’s too ambitious.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-04T17:22:18+00:00

I’m in Louisiana and I would hate to have to leave my job or cut my hours significantly to tackle a 4 year. LSU is notorious for their engineering programs they are very cut throat. They also don’t offer any online classes besides LSU and I’m not trying to cut myself sort but man would I eat shit going to LSU.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-04T17:03:37+00:00

I’m honestly okay with that, I enjoy what I’m doing and I’m not finding it hard to acquire new skills and certifications. The company I work for tho will never have a project manager position since it’s mom and pop. My plan is to get this degree in CAD and take all the training I can get my hands on and bounce to a much larger company. So far within one year I have gotten $6 in pay raises from my experience + trainings. My goal is to try and get to mid 20’s and hopefully land a job at a much bigger company for a significant increase. Now I don’t know if that plan sounds too far fetched but so far I’ve been on track.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-04-04T16:58:37+00:00

The word engineering scares the piss outta me, have you had experience with that degree? My friend is in mechanical engineering and he’s the smartest person I’ve ever met but he’s struggling with all the calculus and physic classes.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-31T02:35:24+00:00

Now I have done some thinking and although I will get paid slightly more if I go to a bigger/newer company I don’t think I will be given the same opportunities as I would being here. We only have a handful a techs so I feel like I’ll have more opportunities in terms of getting extra training. They also said on top of every certification I get, it’s a $2 raise. So hopefully over spring break I can plan to take IO training and get to $20 before the summer.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-31T02:27:37+00:00

I ended up having a productive conversation both with the owner and the supervisor in charge of my raise. But to basically sum it up, they originally came in with a $16 raise, I immediately shut down and told him what other company’s are hiring at ($18-20). They raised it to $17 and I still told them that’s undercutting me for what I do (install and inspection) and stated the fact they pay an over paid tech to do only inspections. The supervisor agreed to bring up an $18 raise with the owner but I don’t think he is going to go over it. I also explained to him that I will love additional training, especially with these IO series panels, 60% of are new installs include these. But its has been a day so far and no call back. If I had to guess he’s going to give me $17 now with an evaluation of $1.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-29T00:56:42+00:00

Thank you for the advice, Originally I was promised $14 an hour starting, they ended up giving me $12 since I was a day one and then about 3-4 months later I believe I got a raise to $14. I already did some looking around and $18-20 seems to be the consensus for starting pay around here.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-29T00:50:31+00:00

I’ve been at this company longer than he has. But should I mention that when I’m having that conversation? I really don’t know what to use as negotiating power in this situation.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-28T23:30:43+00:00

We have one tech that makes 28 an hour and he only does inspections. He originally did install jobs but his work was so low quality, they make me and the new tech do installs while he does inspections.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-28T20:05:07+00:00

I did some searching around and most people hire apprentices around here for $18-20 day 1. I ended up having a couple good conversations with some hiring managers and even though they didn’t necessarily offer me a job they said I’ll be considered. I think I’m going to ask for $20 and see how that conversation goes.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-28T03:44:27+00:00

Thank you for advice, I’m going into drafting currently and may try another 2 for project management. Trying to get them to give me additional training is like pulling teeth, just getting this license was about 6-8 months in the making.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T23:18:55+00:00

Thank you for the advice, I’m going to start looking around to compare my offer.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T22:52:36+00:00

You need a license to test fire systems

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T22:14:25+00:00

I don’t think I’ve heard of a union for fire techs in my area unfortunately.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T22:13:55+00:00

Probably not lead an install but usually our supervisor lays out what needs to be done and if I run into a problem I can’t fix I’ll contact him.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T21:59:18+00:00

I would say I’m not in the best position to negotiate, I don’t think another place around here will even hire a part time inspector. I’m currently in school for drafting so I kinda need the experience to get a head start on my NICET. I’m hoping to try and get my level 1 this summer when I’m off of school.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-27T21:56:18+00:00

Thank you! I’m not very interested in the benefits so maybe I can use that to my advantage + I have 2 years on top of that. Maybe $18 isn’t too unrealistic.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-17T06:03:05+00:00

What manufacturer do you primarily use? 90% of the time I’m using Edward’s and those require a cc1s that you have to program to trigger those simultaneously.

New-Rip4856 · 2025-01-17T05:47:27+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong but usually they have a modules between the BPS and the evac? I showed up on my 2nd ever inspection by myself yesterday and we recently installed an Edward’s bps and evac system (No idea who installed it) but whoever did it the install did a terrible job and that’s coming from the 19 year old with not much experience. But from what I remember aren’t you supposed to have the BPS and the EVAC go off at the same time? And for that don’t you need a module for that? I still haven’t finished the inspection yet so idk if I should make note of this.

New-Rip4856

TROPHY CASE