Graduate Connections – Meet Chris Watt

Chris, 55, from Florence, Kentucky, completed the nine-month Electro-Mechanical Technologies (EMT) program at RSI in May 2013, and the Associate of Occupational Studies in Mechanical Maintenance Engineering (MME) program in 2017. Chris had over 20 years of commercial HVAC experience before taking the EMT program. He is now a Master Instructor at RSI and has been teaching here for almost 13 years. 

Thanks for your time, Chris. Did you go straight into this field, or start somewhere else?

I definitely started somewhere else. I worked fast food and had a few restaurant jobs; in fact I got my culinary degree out of high school. When I was younger, my dad worked at hotels on the graveyard shift, and sometimes he’d take me with him. I’d be nine/ten years old, sitting behind the front desk so he could keep an eye on me. It wasn’t always the best environment – some rough parts of downtown Phoenix – but I got exposed early to how things worked. My dad eventually went to ITT Tech, got into computer programming, and even became a teacher there, so I guess I followed his path into education.

But after that early introduction, I got into the hotel industry myself around 19 as a front desk clerk. I did that for about six months until one day an owner started yelling at me about an ice machine that wasn’t working. I told him, “I don’t know anything about ice machines – I just check people in.” But I knew how to take things apart because my dad taught me that growing up.

So, I grabbed a screwdriver, went upstairs, opened it up, had no idea what I was looking at, but I saw a reset button and pushed it. It worked briefly, then shut off again. I kept digging and found a fan in the back that was clogged with dust and hair. I took it out, cleaned it, got it spinning again, reset the machine – and about 30 minutes later, it started making ice. That was my first “wow, I actually fixed something” moment.

“Let there be ice!” So, that was your start?

Exactly. And a few days later, they sent me to fix an AC unit in a room – a PTAC unit – the kind of thing that sits under a window in hotels. Same thing: I took it apart, found a burned-out relay, swapped it from another broken unit we had in storage, and got it working. That same day, I got promoted to maintenance. I only made a dollar more an hour – but that’s how it started.

So, you were basically learning everything on the job in the 90s?

Yeah, completely hands-on. I probably broke more stuff than I fixed at first. I didn’t even know how to patch drywall – I made some walls worse before I got better. Eventually, I met someone building a new hotel. I’d  given him a tour at my old job and later ran into him. He offered me a job helping build his new property. That’s where I learned to read blueprints and started working on rooftop AC systems. A few years later, I got recruited again and became a regional maintenance director. I was overseeing 45 to 60 hotels across Arizona, training maintenance teams on everything – AC systems, ice machines, appliances, you name it.

So, really just learning as you did it?

Exactly. We didn’t have the internet like we do now, so it was a lot of reading of wiring diagrams and figuring things out the hard way. Eventually, I got tired of pure maintenance work and took a role at a Ramada Inn where I was doing accounting, maintenance, and managing the front desk – all at once. While doing the books, I realized the owner hadn’t paid taxes in five years. I told him, and a week later the bank foreclosed. They kept me on as maintenance, but at lower pay. This was around the crash of 2008–2009, so jobs were scarce. I talked to my wife and decided to stick it out; we had a young family and bills to pay. I fixed a lot of major issues, helped stabilize the property, and even managed a $4.5 million remodel when it was sold again. Then, three months later, I was laid off because I “made too much money.”

That must have been frustrating.

It was. That’s when I decided I needed a change. I saw a commercial for RSI and realized I already knew how to fix most of this stuff – I just didn’t have the certification, like the EPA 608 license. So, I enrolled. I wanted to learn the technical side – the proper names, the theory behind what I was already doing.

What did you enjoy most about being a student at RSI?

Going to RSI really rounded out my knowledge. I knew how things worked, but not what everything was called or the deeper theory behind it. It helped everything “click.” Like going from a dim lightbulb to a spotlight in my head, “Oh, okay, I really get this now.”  I also enjoyed being back in a classroom. I hadn’t been a student in over 20 years, so it took discipline – homework, studying – but it was worth it. 

Being in a classroom environment just made it a little bit easier than being just thrown into a job and learning on the run like I did it. I really wish I’d gone through RSI way back when, because it probably would have made my life a heck of a lot easier as a youngster.

And being back in the classroom led to a new career as an instructor?

Yeah. It wasn’t something I’d ever considered. Going through school, because of my experience, I ended up helping classmates understand the material, breaking things down in simple terms. I used to call it “Barney” level. I’ve actually upgraded that term to “sock puppet stupid” now, but I broke it down into a way that I guess they understood the language. After I graduated, some of my classmates recommended me to the school, saying I’d helped them and they should hire me. About a week later, I got a call offering me a teaching job. At first, I thought it was a prank and hung up. Thankfully Greg called back.

But I went in, talked with them, and decided to give it a shot. I was also starting my own company at the time, so I balanced both – teaching at night and doing side work during the day. Now, years later, I’ve eased off the side business. I’ve invested well, and I’m in a good place financially. I’ve moved to day shift, which means I get to spend more time with my family. And honestly – I like going to work every day.

That’s worth a lot. What class do you teach now?

I teach the commercial HVAC phase; it’s called Comfort Systems – Commercial. By the time students get to me, they’ve covered the fundamentals, wiring, and residential systems. I like my class because it ties everything together. Whether it’s an AC unit, an ice machine, or a refrigeration system – they all work on the same basic principles. If students understand those fundamentals, they can work on anything.

What’s your plan going forward?

This is probably it for me. I enjoy teaching, I still get to work with my hands, and I like helping students succeed. If everything goes according to plan, maybe in four or five years I can retire early and spend more time camping and fishing.

Looking back, what did you enjoy most about the trade work itself?

The problem-solving – and that “eureka” moment when something finally works. Also, saving money by fixing things instead of calling someone else. A $100 parts fix could turn into a $1,000 bill if you bring in a contractor. But really, it’s just figuring things out. That’s how I was raised – use your brain, solve the problem.

What’s the biggest piece of advice you’d give new RSI students starting out?

Show up every day and ask questions. A lot of students struggle because they miss class or feel like they can’t ask questions. But that’s what instructors are there for. If you show up, stay engaged, and put your mind into it, you can build a career in this field for as long as you want. One of the reasons that I wanted to go to RSI was because I could take this knowledge and get a job anywhere. I could go back home to Kentucky if I wanted to. I could go to another country. I just talked to one of my students from 12 years ago, he just moved to Paris, France, and he’s now a maintenance supervisor of seven different apartment communities over in Paris. This career will take you anywhere you want to go.

Follow this link to read a Faculty Connection interview with Chris from 2015 when he’d been at the school for about two years. His “little” kids that he references in the interview are now aged 28, 20, 17, and 12 – just another reminder that time moves fast! Take a tour today.

If you’re an RSI graduate and would like to share your success and be an inspiration to others, please email [email protected] to be considered for a Graduate Connection interview. Please include details such as your graduation date (month/year) and program.