Success Stories

Graduate Profile

Jeff Tweeten

Building Technician, Bellevue School District,
formerly Kent School District, Bellevue, WA

Jeff Tweeten knows the organizational and personal benefits of Building Operator Certification.

As a building technician for the Kent School District near Seattle, Tweeten put his BOC education to work to cut peak electric demand at Kentlake High School. Staggering heating and lighting schedules with an energy management system saved about $1,000 a month in power bills. "I used some of the knowledge they exposed to us and applied it," he explained.

Tweeten also credits BOC for helping him land a new and higher-paying position, as an HVAC technician with the nearby Bellevue School District. "I used some of the course material in my interview as well as the written test," he said. "If I wouldn’t have went through the schooling, I wouldn’t have had those tools. It helped promote myself; it opened opportunities for me."

This job switch moved Tweeten into his long-sought-after HVAC field--"It’s just where I wanted to be"--and provided a substantial raise.

"I’m happy,” he concluded. "It was a wonderful course."

Tweeten appreciated the breadth of BOC training, for which he has completed Level I and Level II, both on Washington Association of Maintenance and Operations Administrators [WAMOA ] scholarships."“I don’t know of any other program around that has such a diverse offering of every aspect of running a facility, from the operations side to the maintenance side." He particularly liked the electrical and HVAC courses, but also noted the relevance and importance of all topics covered in BOC. "There’s just a wealth of knowledge you could get out of each class."

And that knowledge remains easily accessible. "You can’t retain everything that’s passed on to you," Tweeten said. "They show you the avenues where you can find the answers," such as books and Web sites to help in troubleshooting problems.

Tweeten also found BOC training to be a valuable shared experience. His fellow students included managers, engineers and outside contractors, in addition to tradespeople such as himself. "In that setting we learned from each other," Tweeten recalled.

This collaboration extended to the Kent schools, where Tweeten was responsible for working with head custodians on preventive maintenance and building systems. "By me collecting the knowledge offered through the courses, I was able in turn to pass that on to the head custodians, to help them troubleshoot and support them . . . Hopefully the knowledge I get I can pass on to others to make a successful team or department."

BOC training has great value for employers as well as employees, Tweeten believes. Employers gain from reduced utility bills and better-educated workers. Employees, meanwhile, can help their colleagues and advance their own careers.

Tweeten "absolutely" plans to keep up his BOC training with recertification. "After putting that much effort into it," he said, "you’d be crazy not to."

By Mark Ohrenschall.