Becoming Mastec Employee

[rkboid]

I have been offered a job as a Satellite Installer with mastec. I was really excited untill I started reading about the business and Mastec in general. I would be working as a remote techinician in West Texas. In my interview there were several guys who had friends as techs and they seemed to like it. I have also seen where and how they can nickle and dime you right out of a paycheck.

Right now I make about 32,000 a year, BUT I have no Insurance. At the interview they said the average income was 45,000 and IF you made less ten 30,000 you should probably look for other employment. IS this anywhere close to be accurate.

I was also told:
They were on a 5 day work week
They gurantee 4 jobs a day.

I understand there is good and bad and lots of crap with any job, but is pay expressed anywhere close to being accurate? Do they tend to rush and push techs in the name of numbers/installs into doing shoddy work.

Thanks for any input

 

[Joe Diamond]

Texas is a big place. How fast can you drive?
How many 4 receiver jobs can you do in a morning time frame?
How long can you stay on hold to close each job?...Did they toss you their phone?
Would there be a problem getting paid if the cx wanted you to reprogram the remote for a different TV? Can you survive on four service calls a day? Do you know how to install phones? Can you trouble shoot phones and identify the same phone number in the NID and the installation address? How are you at running coax in apartments? Any idea how to ground a dish in a third floor apartment? Do you feel a company truck is an employee benefit? Can you maintain an IRD inventory and prove where you put every receiver?

Huh?

Joe

 

[rkboid]

Joe thanks for a well thought out reply. I guess your reply was a backhanded way of saying I have no clue what I am doing? IN a way you are right I would be starting anew and having to learn this trade. With that said I would intend on LEARNING this trade.
But just For Ss and giggles I will answer your questions.
1. Most places out here I can drive 75 mph
2. I would assume right now I could probably do 1 maybe 2. I have installed personal use and it took me a little over 1 1/2 hours. Just to preempt a SA comment (YES IT STILL WORKS)
3. Really do not know, sounds more like a rhetorical question
4. Cell Phone provided my company
5. I don't know, care expouding on that so I might learn?
6. Guess that is the crux of the situation
7-10. I never said I new this business and that is my apprehension. If I do it I want to learn it and be good at it. I do not want to be like the guy who came out for an upgrade. I have an old TV in the bedroom that is stuck on VCR. I had to explain to the tech to just plug the AV cables into the VCR input. Ability and willingness to learn and learn right is not the Problem
11. Yes a company vehicle and gas card I would consider a benefit. Even paying the weekly fee since I would be remote would be worth it.
12. I was in business for myself for lots of years, and have pretty good organizational and inventory skills.

Again thanks for your sarcastic comments. I can understand were you are coming from. Lots of idiots coming off there partime job with taco bell and dreaming of big money. But if you have any helpful comments I would love to hear them. Be it pitfalls, things to look for, etc. As I said in my first post, if Mastec wants idiots who do crappy jobs fast I do not want to do this. If I can learn this trade with them, and help support my family I do.

 

[bozzworth4462]

I currently am a lead Tech With Mastec. 5 day work week never 4 jobs a day yes if not more but you only can work 40 hours a week so when you get payed by the install on paper you can put 40 hours but in reality work 60. if you want to make 40,000 you will work your ass off just be ready for repeat service calls that are not explainable or valid be ready for the rules to change like the wind be ready for all the guys that you start with not to make it longer than a month. be ready to work late nights be ready to work EVERY saturday be ready to work every other sunday Can you make money at mastec yes do they have great techs YES but they are few and far apart the good guys are taken advantage of and left out to dry I am currently in the process of leaving mastec when I told what I thought was a friend in my supervisor that i was leaving every thing changed instantly I dont think that my two weeks notice will be fulfilled i belive that i will be asked to leave before it is time but thats ok I have learned a lot working at mastec I have made great contacts at directv I have had great opportunities with mastec i did the install and the dolphin staidum in miami for the super bowl but now it is time for me to move on thanks to one of our office the presidents complaints from dtv that I went out to fix and the customer offered me a position i could not turn down i will no longer have to work until 8 9 pm at night I also will be well payed for my time so get all the facts before you jump in and dont let Mastec take advantage of you stand up for your self do quality work. good luck

 

[Joe Diamond]

Bozzworth,

You got it right. My time with MASTEC was real brief. I already knew what I was doing and the way they ran things...only MASTEC.

I came away with a quote, overheard from a phone conversation in an office while I was interviewing,". . .look. we are too busy to train people around here. Go work for a cable company for a few months and then come by and we can talk some more..."

rk,
learn as you go... I cited a few areas I saw as abuses but you will have a different experience. I think you should be aware of the difference between an employee and a contractor and know what the overtime rules are in Texas. Every state is different that way.

And the strange thing is.......the folks I met at MASTEC were not evil or stupid or dishonest. They just wanted to put in a day's work and be paid. I just didn't see MASTEC as a place where that would happen.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[sksatellite]

When you talk about west texas, there is really no way you can work 4 jobs a day what so ever, maybe 3 jobs a day in summer time, but with the heat as close to 100 or plus degree, I wonder. Since west texas also frequently involved driving from one town to other, you also will spend more time on the road.

I had been done installation job at the north east texas back to couple years ago, two jobs were all I can done because of the drive time problem, you can't drive fast at those small farm road, sometime, a 15 miles house off the main road could take you hour to reach there. My worst case was an installation job 45 miles outside Dallas, took me about 7 hours to go and back, installation took less then 2 hours on freeze day, it was started falling sleek when just off the city limit, took me more then 3.5 hours to got home that day/.

 

[iceturkee]

guys, i'm going ask nicely again........please don't use run-on sentences and break up your copy block. your post was very hard to read bozzworth.

please, everyone, make your posts reader friendly. thanks.

 

[rkboid]

Thanks everybody,

Looks like for the most part it is a really tough. I can out of the interview excited then started wondering how all three people who I interviewed beat around the same bush the same way. Them: "10$ an hour for apprentice pay, in three months you move to the next level"

Me:"how much is that?"

Them:"I don't know I am a people person I don't worry with the numbers"

I would be okay with 2 saturdays and 1 sunday a month. Ahh Well sounds like something I do not want to get mixed up in.

Thanks.

 

[chadzx11]

We're mostly contractors around here, so we KNOW how much money can be made if you don't get screwed over. $10/hr for installing satellites? I'd rather push buggies at walmart. For $10 an hour, I am not going to assume responsibility or warranty ANYTHING. I want the least amount of responsibilty I can get.

I used to love installing satellites and meeting people, even as late as 2005. However, I have never been more happy than now.

Office drones can't route. Even lead techs are generally ass kissers and anyway, somebody has to run the sh!tty route every day. Guess who is gonna get it? The new guy!!!

G/L I get out of school on May 15 for the semester, and I will be hitting the road. Perhaps we can do lunch!

 

[Joe Diamond]

rk,
Report back & keep in touch.
That "people person" will eventually say, "you gotta take the good with the bad," meaning even though no overtime is authorized your services are needed for free. Observe that an employee reports to a job site..saddles up in a company vehicle and hits the road to the first job. At the end of the day an employee returns to the parking area and clocks out for the day.
If you encounter anything like :"work time is only paid while at the customer site"....run!

I could be wrong about all this.

Joe

 

[Teronzhul]

While I wasn't a Mastec employee, I have worked for a different Home Service Provider in the past and can echo the sentiments of the other guys in this thread. As a new guy you'll end up underpaid and overworked. My HSP paid $12/hour with everything provided including vehicle/gas and when I started was paying drive time as well. Top pay was $20/hour after 5 years. I would assume mastec's rates to be similar.

Six months into the job after working 60 hour weeks almost nonstop they decided to take away drive time pay and switch to the "work time only paid while onsite" system that Joe mentioned. I provided my 2 weeks notice the next day and joined the ranks of independents/subcontractors.

On the plus side, the HSP trained me and paid for my SBCA cert, but the working conditions they put me under for the pay received were barely acceptable, and I live in an area with below average income for the majority of the population.

It can be a good situation to jump into and see if you like the type of work, and it will allow you to make some contacts, but most likely you won't make it more than 6 months before you get the urge to tell your superiors to go fly a kite.

 

[grydlok]

guys, i'm going ask nicely again........please don't use run-on sentences and break up your copy block. your post was very hard to read bozzworth.

please, everyone, make your posts reader friendly. thanks.

I didn't know this was DBS talk.