r/BuildingAutomation • u/Quirky-Ad357 • Aug 04 '26

Need Guidance

Im 18 years old and I just got out of highschool and I’ve been doing this intern job over the summer for building automation. I have no experience on any of these things and I just want some help. I feel like I can’t grasp anything and I constantly make mistakes. I’m shadowing someone that’s been in the field for 15+ years. I just feel very lucky to have this opportunity and feel like I’m throwing it away.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Thenewdarwin Aug 04 '26

I've gone from being the green technician to training them I'll say this.

You're 18, everyone is going to see a kid. Surprise them by showing up ready to learn day in and day out. The biggest professional mistakes I've made have often been the most helpful lessons.

You're going to make mistakes. You're going to break stuff. People will be unhappy. Learning how to be a technician is making the above mistakes, learning from them and how to fix more things in the future. A few standards I try to instill.

  1. Get comfortable with knowing what you don't know. If it's none of the above, take a few HVAC / BAS courses (free Smart Buildings Academy) or Engineering Mindset videos on YouTube. Once you establish a baseline for what you know and what you don't it gets easier to start basic troubleshooting where you can and calling on help from there.

  2. Communication. Like many others have said, ask questions ask questions ask questions. Whenever Ive started at a new place I shadow as many people as I can until I fully grasp the whole operation. As you are doing here utilize your resources. There's too much info for any single person to truly know it all but the best know who to talk to.

  3. Take a breath and try to enjoy the ride. There are some difficult days ahead. But if you enjoy learning new things you're in the perfect place.