Latin America. Jonathan Díaz recently obtained the NATE (North American Technician Excellence) Certification, which is already present in Latin America thanks to the management of the Academy of Technical Fundamentals (AFT by its acronym in Spanish), the entity that leads the program in the region.
Jonathan spoke with ACR Latinoamérica to share his impressions of this achievement: "It is satisfying for me and my family to have achieved international certification and recognition, after these 20 years of experience in the HVAC/R sector. In addition, it is a dream come true to be able to measure knowledge and experience abroad, and to know that what we do in the country is what is done abroad; however, you have to be aware that you must know and comply with the rules and references of the USA, in case you want labor migration, because once you are certified from here you can work legally there."
Regarding his preparation, the engineer explained his process: "In the preparation I made a list of the topics in which I did not have the knowledge or that I needed to reinforce, taking into account that the process is accompanied by a basic primer compiling the topics that the technician must know to pass the certification; Then, reading on the page, I found a Kate's, where it lists in more detail what the booklet has. Then it's a matter of searching, reading and understanding, in forum with the colleagues who were in the process. To achieve the certification you have to have a lot of discipline, take the time and change the routine of work for self-learning."
Likewise, Jonathan, who also serves as a refrigeration and air conditioning instructor at the National Learning Service (SENA), shared his appreciation on why it is important to be certified with NATE: "In general, certifications help us build trust in your products or services by increasing and strengthening our knowledge, and increase competitiveness by meeting measurable national and international standards. Recognition is provided thanks to the skills and knowledge acquired, in addition to having a better performance within the professional world."
Finally, Díaz offered some recommendations for people who are interested in becoming certified with NATE: "That they face the knowledge that is held under an international HVAC/R benchmark such as NATE. Read the guides and Kate's, in detail; Work on the ability to read and understand reading well. Look at various sources of information. Follow the technicians who are already certified, they can tell you more details of the preparation. Do online training tests, feedback in study groups."
How is NATE Certification going in Latin America?
After 5 months of officially launching the NATE Certification for Latin America, Miguel Hurtado, who is a partner of the AFT Academy and serves as NATE's global marketing director and collaborator, gave us progress on this.
"We have two groups from January that are being certified and one in February, we are putting together the groups for March. In addition, we have several initiatives that we have achieved with alliances in different countries in Latin America and we have students from more than 10 countries enrolled with us. Additionally, we are in the process of expanding the program to cover GWP or A2L topics; We are also in talks with EPA, to offer the certifications in Spanish at a moderate cost, and to have it validated by the Department of State in the United States.
In March we are starting a new program to train staff in general and without technical knowledge, this program is comprised of two certificates, the "Ready to Work (RTW)" and the "HVAC Support". The first assesses basic knowledge in general, and the second covers 11 safety models, tools, construction terminology, basic concepts of chemistry, mathematics and mechanics, electricity, IAQ, temperature, design, installation, service, and components.
Additionally, more projects are coming with this NATE certification, as Miguel explains: "We are also implementing alliances to use three-dimensional and holographic technology for training, which is something that has never been done in Latin America; It's a high-level program. We are also developing several projects with the AFT to seek support from other platforms in order to complement the trainings we have and thus be able to offer technicians a more complete portfolio."
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