In high school, Roger Cuadra, now 40, played football and baseball and tried wrestling and track, but was not a star student.
“High school was an adventure,” he says. “I didn’t take it seriously, to be completely honest. Even though I was trying to go the right way. My family sacrificed a lot to bring us here in the United States.”
Born in Nicaragua, Cuadra’s family moved to Santa Fe Springs, California, and later to Whittier, California when he was a child.
After moving from Pioneer High School to La Serna High School after his freshman year, Cuadra faced serious decisions.
“I was for a while with some of the crowds wrong a bit, but I got back on track and started to focus more on school,” he recalls. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get to finish school there. I had to go to continuation school and finish like that.” In California, the following schools are dedicated to helping students who could not graduate from high school to earn their diplomas.
The university felt “inaccessible,” he says. “My family obviously couldn’t afford to get out of my pocket in college. That’s why I joined the staff right after high school.”
One of his first jobs was to eat at Food For Less. Remember to earn $ 7.25 an hour.
Today he lives in Corona, California and earns between $ 80,000 and $ 120,000 a year working as a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) technician. Cuadra says he wants him to be able to go back in time and orient himself to his high school.
“My advice for a 17-year-old Roger is, ‘Stay in school and do the best you can,'” he says, adding, “And get HVAC right away.”
Get the job
“I joined the workforce after high school and started doing little construction work,” Cuadra says.
“Dead Ends Only”.
Cuadra says his professional path was formed in large part by the fact that his father took him to work.
“My father sometimes took me to his job and encouraged me to dedicate myself to mechanics. He was a mechanic all his life. To this day he is a mechanic,” he says. “I think a lot about him when I’m working – [about] those moments we shared “.
In 2009, Cuadra heard that a local CVC distribution center was looking for a driver. He considered this to be his opportunity to work closer to a job like his father’s.
He walked into the office and filled out an application. He returned the next five days in a row to make sure he was considered for the role.
Its persistence bore fruit. Cuadra got the job of driver, began to know the different parts he would deliver and met air conditioning technicians who began to teach him the basics of the trade.
One of the mechanics he met was called Ishmael Valdez. In 2016, Valdez created his own air conditioning company called NexGen and asked Cuadra to join.
“At the time, I was retaining. I had a secure salary. I didn’t roll the dice and I took the opportunity immediately,” Cuadra says. “So, I made the leap and decided to go try the opportunity to try out my professional career. I started sweeping flats. I would organize our little small warehouse that we had at the time. I was responsible for delivering some of the parts for the installers we had, which were three to four crews at the time. ”
Over time, his new co-workers began offering to teach Cuadra more.
“In one of my last installments, I had the opportunity to stay a little longer, clean up his mess, learn a little more about the ropes and what it consists of: installing this equipment that had been around for many years. I finally started riding. -everything like “Okay, these things go here, here they go,” says Cuadra. “Until I finally had a chance to join a crew and be the third assistant.”
In 2017, he earned $ 55,000 as a third assistant on one of NexGen’s HVAC crews. A year later, he went from third assistant to second assistant and later, to install and chief technician. Now his base salary is $ 80,000, but the total salary depends on how much business he does. Cuadra says he can earn $ 120,000 this year thanks to commission bonuses.
“I was dedicated. I would go home and watch YouTube videos,” Cuadra says. “I signed up for some classes that Downey City provides, NATE certifications, related to air distribution, heat pump units, the different types of systems we use in the industry.”
NATE means North American Technician Excellence and Cuadra says these classes, in addition to his obsession with getting positive reviews from Yelp, helped him climb the ladder.
“I’m proud to have a great online reputation. We have Yelp comments that we’ve received and I’ve received since I was an installer. At first, I didn’t really think about it too much. I just did what I did. Correct and responsive to any questions these customers had. I finally started seeing these good Yelp reviews. It made me feel good, ”he says. “It made me care more about my position because customer service is an important part of the process and that position.”
A day at work
Cuadra usually works six days a week and wakes up around 5:30 in the morning to go for a run.
“I like to keep fit,” he says. “I think it helps me have the energy to last all day and deal with those 110-degree penthouses that we’re sometimes in for hours.”
He usually arrives at the NexGen headquarters in Anaheim between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., often before his co-workers arrive. Take this time to check what equipment you have in your van and replace what you are missing.
Cuadra’s first call usually happens around 9 in the morning. He usually sees three to four customers each day and arrives home around 9:30 p.m. He estimates he earns about $ 336 a day.
Summer is the busiest season in the air conditioning industry, so Cuadra usually discounts work in December.
“My girls know summer, there’s no vacation,” she says. “Summer is working for me … It’s my time to make money, it’s when I earn most of my annual income.”
Some of the Cuadra family.
“I love being able to provide”
Cuadra has four daughters and says giving them opportunities that he didn’t have the motivation to increase their income to the maximum.
“I want to provide my daughters with a different life than I had. Not only is it a motivation, but it’s very rewarding, knowing that I’m able to do this for my girls,” she says. “What this money means to me and my family is that we have more freedom, more choices, and more sense of security for my family’s future.”
“I love being able to provide.”
But beyond the money, Cuadra says he finds comfort in the security offered by the air conditioning industry. Because of climate change, “everyone will always want and need air conditioning,” he says.
And he finds pride in his ability to make people more comfortable.
“The most rewarding thing about this job is not just the money, it’s just the satisfaction I get when I help these people,” he says.
“My advice to anyone studying this industry would be to‘ stop thinking about it and do it, ’” he says. “Take this opportunity.”
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