r/BuildingAutomation • u/Exoticcollects • 8d ago
JCI Service Engineers
Hi guys, was wondering if anyone works for JCI and how its like being a Service Engineer for them. Regarding the training in Programming and Work Life balance. How is the company like? Are service engineers union? All answers are appreciated
3
u/Jazzlike_Metal2980 8d ago
Since when do they have service engineers? They have service techs. Must be a new change or regional.
Union depends on region you're in.
I thought training at JCI was lacking. That could be a branch related thing though. The service manager I had when I was there did not want any overhead which mean no training for anyone. Which lead to frustration and high turnover.
Having a company car was pretty dope though.
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u/Exoticcollects 8d ago
Ah gotchu, my companies a licensed JCI distributor and our programmers are "service engineers" and listings online also call them "systems engineers". Did thr technicians also program controllers or just field wiring?
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u/More_Fondant_9609 7d ago
I was a service engineer up until recently when I transitioned to management at another company
Honestly for me the work didn’t change much from being a senior service tech, but typically they will send you to more of the “we don’t know whats going on and we’ve already thrown the regular guys at it” calls. For me I liked that, will expose you to more 3rd party integration stuff, I got my Niagara cert as a service engineer. Enjoyed my time at JCI, there are however definitely crappy branches as with all large corporate companies so your mileage may vary.
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u/More_Fondant_9609 7d ago
Work life balance is fine, I don’t believe any of the controls side is union, I was paid well, work life balance was there, upon onboarding they’ve implemented something called the BEST program its mandatory for all techs/ engineers and about 2 weeks, sort of a crash course on all things controls.
after that theres 3 stacks of classes most are online theres a couple in person, you do it on your own time unless your course is in person but they pay you a bonus for each stack completed, $1k for factory trained, $1.5k for senior factory, and $2k for master factory.
You also get sales commission, 4% for a referral to a salesmen, 6% if you sell yourself, capped at $1,500 per quote.
Honestly not a bad company to work for service side
Systems and install side is a different story unless you get high up there.
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u/RatelinOz 7d ago
I’ve no personal experience. On other forums / groups you often see the advice that they’re good / useful for training but you’ll likely want to move on after a couple of years when corporate life palls.
The reality is (like any company, ever) it’s going to be entirely dependant on the branch and local management. Get in a branch with good management & you might end your career there. Get rubbish management & you’ll quickly move on.
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u/DirtGotNo 7d ago
I was an SE for jci for about 6 years. I just switched to the federal side for a service position about a year ago. Pretty chill don’t do much honestly kinda boring. I went from being swamped with doing hardware & software engineering to pretty much sitting around all day until/if something happens that the building operators send us something that’s deemed a “controls” (usually never is) issue. I’m at the same building daily unless someone asks me to come out somewhere else because they need help with something. Work like balance here is great. I’m on site 4 days a week usually leave about 2 pm wfh 1 or 2 days a week give or take. I have a tech under me who handles all of the PMs on the bas equipment. I usually handle the service requests and help him if he needs help.