If you work in commercial or industrial HVAC, you have probably asked this at some point:
Does a degree actually matter, or is experience all that counts?
As a former executive recruiter and director of talent acquisition who has hired across skilled trades, construction-adjacent roles, and technical operations, here is the honest answer.
In HVAC, experience usually opens the door, but education and certifications can change how fast you move up and how much leverage you have.
Let’s break this down clearly.
For most commercial and industrial HVAC roles, hiring managers look at three things in this order:
If you can troubleshoot systems, read prints, work safely, and show up reliably, you already meet the baseline for many HVAC employers.
That said, education still plays a role. Just not in the way most people think.
Experience wins when:
Most HVAC hiring managers would rather hire:
A technician with 5 to 10 years of solid field experience
over
Someone with a degree but limited hands-on exposure
Especially in service, maintenance, and field technician roles, real-world experience is king.
Education becomes more valuable when you are:
Trade school, associate degrees, or technical coursework show:
Bachelor’s or advanced degrees matter less for field roles, but can help when you want to move off the tools and into leadership or technical planning positions.
In many cases, yes.
Certifications often carry more weight than formal degrees, especially when they are relevant to the job.
Examples include:
These signal immediate job readiness, which HVAC employers value.
For HVAC roles, the name of the school usually matters far less than:
Unless you are attending a well-known technical institute with strong employer relationships, most hiring managers care more about what you learned than where you learned it.
Avoid programs with poor reputations or that feel disconnected from real field work.
If you stepped away from the workforce to go back to school, this does not hurt you if you explain it correctly.
On your resume or in interviews:
Example approach:
“I stepped away to deepen my technical knowledge so I could contribute at a higher level long term.”
This shows discipline, planning, and commitment.
Education should support your experience, not replace it.
As a rule of thumb:
Hiring managers want to hear:
Not just what classes you took.
The biggest mistake is relying on education alone.
Someone with only schooling and no real-world application raises concerns. HVAC work is practical, physical, and problem-driven. Employers want proof that you can apply knowledge in real environments.
Always balance education with examples from the field.
Here is the simple truth:
The strongest HVAC candidates combine all three and know how to explain how they work together.
If you are applying for HVAC roles now, make sure your resume and interview answers clearly show how you apply what you know, not just what you studied.
That is what actually gets you hired.