“ Work hard and never stop learning, growing, and smiling.”-Kristin Tucker

Staring out the office window and back to her computer screen, Kristin Tucker, from Arnold, Maryland was feeling something churn inside her. She was ready for a change of pace, something new, something more exciting.

While grateful for the desk job of 5 years at the HVAC business where she was currently working, Kristin started reminiscing about her childhood, many years prior to her first “big girl job” here at the office.

As a homeschooled child in the Northeast, Kristin found herself in a continuous cycle of projects, competitions, crafts, chores, woodworking, 4H, sports events and the list goes on.
Always something new on the horizon with her family, and with little time to sit around and twiddle her thumbs.

She remembers the excitement of working at a challenging task and then suddenly breaking through with success at the completion of either learning something new or creating a masterpiece of sorts-be it a new wood bench or the growth of her first garden coming to harvest.

All of these dynamics of her childhood built within Kristin a desire for staying active and involved in the world around her, and yet here she was sitting at a desk shuffling paperwork and taking phone calls. In all reality, Kristin knew this office job was important and had helped her learn many things, but she wanted to expand and work more with her hands once again.

She looked around her, “What if she would stay with this company who had been a great resource for work and relationships, but instead of sitting indoors at the desk, she would take on the challenge of working in the field as a technician?”

Once the thought was planted and she asked herself that question, there was simply no stopping the idea from taking root in her mind. She had a few conversations with her co-workers and boss, and before you know it, Kristin was getting on-the-job training from field techs.

If you ask Kristin what kind of support she found for her new decision you would hear her give a glowing report of co-workers and friends pushing her forward with positive feedback, and not just with words and on-the-job training, but she found herself being gifted with hand-me-down tools and the entire crew standing behind her with the new job transition.

Kristin has been working in HVAC for over 8 years now and is still enjoying *almost* every minute of it.

Her only regret for becoming a field technician is that she didn’t start sooner.

We mustn’t forget though, the real challenges techs face. One of them for Kristin, specifically, has been being a single mom and juggling the responsibility of parenting and service work; it can be pretty tough sometimes. 

Life isn’t easy and any HVAC field tech knows there’s just not a perfect work/life balancing act when it comes to being an HVAC technician (well, except if you’re balancing air throughout a house, one can get quite good at doing that job just right).

Amidst the challenges she faces, Kristin is positive and says that she plans on staying the course of continual learning in the field. For her, facing new and interesting problems that need solving each day and genuinely helping people along the way is the sole motivation to stay in the HVAC trade. And who knows, the dream of one day running her own company if circumstances allow has entered her mind as a real possibility. 
We want to say thank you to Kristin and every other HVACR technician around the world who during each season and now during these uncertain times of COVID-19, are putting themselves on the frontlines, day in and day out, serving others and working at keeping our air more comfortable and healthy.