Over the past few months I have been considering going into a different line of work because of the real estate market. After looking around the Solar industry looked like a great opportunity. After doing some research I decided to take a class at the local community college to help me get the certification that would allow me to get my license.
So, after talking to many people about it including the Utah Solar Energy Association, the dept of licensing, and the local community college that is offering the class I decided it was worth looking into further. The USEA had a "seminar" of sorts that me and the old man attended before the class and even though I had some concerns after that I still decided to take the class.
Basically the story I got was that in order to get your license you had to get a certain certification on solar and you were good to go. The licensing requirements read a lot differently on the dept. of licensing website (basically they wanted 2 years minimum hands on experience in the solar industry), so I got it in writing that they were waiving that requirement, at least until later on this year. So, I knew there was a small window of opportunity that they were opening (probably for some buddies of theirs), so I was bound and determined to get through that while it was open. I did talk with the college about the same thing and told them that I did not want to put my money out there and end up with nothing. They assured me that the classes were designed specifically to help students pass the certification test that they offered there and get their license.
Well, on that first day of class (after they had my money) they let a lot on information slip out. First, the old man that is the pres of the USEA stood up there and told us that really it's going to take 2-3 years to get a solar company up and going. There really isn't that much demand for it right now because Utah pays the 9th lowest energy bills in the nation right now. On top of that the licensing requirements are changing because they (USEA) are "special advisers" to the dept. of licensing and basically run the show when it comes to licensing requirements. This is a total 180 from what this asshole said during his little "seminar". He said that he is a distributor of solar products and they need more installers because there was sooooo much interest is solar right now. He also pointed out that in the next 5 years the solar industry expects to hire 30,000 new people because of all of the interest in solar. FUCKING LIAR!!!
Next the "teacher" gets up there and does his little spill. Well, come to find out the certification that this class is designed to help you pass requires 2 years minimum hands on training in the solar industry. "Ummmm dude, that's not what it reads on the website" I protested. "Yep, the site has not yet been updated" he claims "the 40 hrs class time is not longer a substitute for hands on experience". WTF???!!!!! So why the hell am I here??!! I have ZERO time invested in the solar industry, that was the entire purpose of taking this class. On top of that the certification test IS NOT EVEN OFFERED IN THIS STATE!! Seriously, has everybody I talked to about this lied to my face??
After that they went into the licensing requirements, what a fucking joke. This is nothing like what I have in writing. Now, on top of the certification (that takes 2 years minimum hands on experience to get) they require that you get your contractors license. That has never been mentioned before. All of this can be waived though if you are a licensed electrician. No general contractors license or certification required, only class hours. But that is going to change "very soon" (aka the week after this class ends). Hummmm, I wonder if this class was specifically set up for some of the friends of the USEA guys, perhaps the people that they were shaking hands with at the beginning of the class??
In the end it's all a bunch of lies. The first class was Tuesday, I blasted off an e-mail to the teacher and the college demanding a refund Wednesday, and according to an e-mail I got this morning my money has been refunded to my CC. I kind of had them backed into a corner on the refund because I guess they offered a deal to a few people to come to the first day of class for free and if it wasn't what they wanted they could walk away without paying a dime. Funny, I was never offered that deal!
So, it looks like I am going to get my money back, but I'm still pretty pissed off. This kind of thing seems to be how everything is handled in this state. I'm soooooo fucking sick of it. I know there are politics and games played everywhere, but it seems to be escalated in this state because of the religion factor. Some people say I'm just over sensitive about it, but it's the damn truth. The mormons run this entire state from top to bottom however they please and with whomever they please. I don't know if I can take it much longer. Me and the wife had a pretty long talk last night about moving out of here and it looks like it's a pretty good possibility. I'm going to give it a few weeks before we talk about it again so I can cool off and see if I'm just soo pissed right now that I can't think straight.If you can't tell, I'm pretty fed up with everything right now!
Sorry for the long post, but I think I needed to vent this out.
