Advice on how to get into industrial refrigeration

Hi all,

I am a 24 y/o refrigeration mechanic who has 6 years experience in the HVAC industry. The first 2 years of my apprenticeship was spent on a production line in a factory overhauling 20y/o packaged units for trains and trams. Which consisted of going through the units and replacing and faulty switches sensors fans and replacing the tx valves and scroll compressors and leaky ball valves. I was unhappy in the production environment as i felt i was missing out on a great deal of the trade and loved trade school and the theory and wanted to get out and work on as much equipment as possible. So i managed to get a job with a typical HVAC company who maintained equiment consisting of high wall split systems, ducted splits, water cooled and air cooled hvac chillers and air handlers, some cool rooms and small sandwich display fridges. I Spent another year of my apprenticeship in a car with qualified service/install techs who taught me and showed me the ropes untill the director felt comfortable for me to be in a car in my fourth year to do small maintenances and breakdowns. I really enjoyed my time in the service department learning and fault finding however as a young service technician i did and still do make mistakes, and the company director ran a very tight ship and was very tough on me to the point of making me stay back after hours to rectify mistakes and in some cases pay for parts. He also appeared not to take stress well and tends to take his stress out on his staff. So because of this i decided to resign and i am working back in a workshop on a production line for a company that manufactures energy heat recovery packaged units. Which really has me thinking about where i want my career to head next... i am not suited to a production line/workshop role as i fine it very repetitive and boring.

I would really love to work in industrial refrigeration, With my current experience/work history what do you think is my best course of action to make myself more employable to a company that does industrial refrigeration as i am obviously very underqualified and have little experince in refrigeration and mainly in air-conditioning.

submitted by /u/paravibe
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