project manager

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Stellar

I relocated for this company selling what I owned for a chance to be a service technician in the Bay Area. I left behind a good job with above average pay for a chance to learn from industry experts and grow as a technician or so I thought. This is my review from working 3 months for Stellar as an industrial ammonia refrigeration service technician in the Bay Area.

During the first interview we agreed on relocation bonus.

I never received less than half of what they promised to pay me due to them taking out taxes. That made it difficult to move so I sold my personal car and purchased a service truck.

The truck cost me 7 thousand on my own and the company said they would pay per mile. I thought I would be making money traveling but what I did not know is that once I moved and got my first paycheck.. I received very little compensation- they said they paid me from Hayward as a starting point not my house which is much farther away.

Insurance for a commercial vehicle is a lot of money too.

So to work in Hayward with my truck everyday now cost me tires, gas, breaks, & hire insurance.

On my paycheck I had numerous deductions taken from my account for their cell phone plan because I went over their data plan. I got chewed out about it which was bad enough so I gave them back their phone and just used my personal phone to contact other facilities where I was working.

I was making close to 36 dollars an hour and was promised a raise after a month of time but that raise never happened and because it was not written on the contract I couldn't do anything about it.

The day to day was wake up early get to the jobsite around 6 am work until noon then take a lunch. Call the office see where they want me to be for tomorrow. Finish my job fill out the completed work order on their tough-book laptop. Have the contact at the plant sign it. Sign out of the plants attendance book and head home.

Get a call at 2am that something is not working and I need to go fix it. Work until 10am then fight with management because you need to get your sleep to be a safe worker. Managment just wants you there to bill the customers over $100 + an hour.

More on "being on call"

They work the heck out of you when they need something like let's say service calls in the middle of the night. 

On the same service call that started in the middle of the night once it hits 6am they pay you regular pay even though your still at the same company on the same service call- so instead of being paid overtime your check is way short. 

Fighting over pay is a horrible feeling, having to send email after email about where is your pay makes you feel like you're begging for it. Calling corporate doesn't help either and because your the new guy- you have no pull.

So as far as pay i'd give them 2 Stars- because they at least are not paying below market wages. Begging for pay and having to be a math wiz and teach their accounting a thing or two about California overtime laws- priceless-

Management is still the biggest problem.

None of the technicians knew where they were scheduled to work the very next day and for guys who take initiative and go to the same facility to do something they know needs to get done thats on the schedule- they won't pay you for it and will consider it free work- there is no training, except a laptop refrigeration video game that doesn't even make sense. 

If you want training the only training you will receive are those problems your forced to solve on your own so growth potential is out the window.

So as far as management goes 1 Star because for this company to be successful they need MORE managers and group conversations to create an inclusive team not a team of individuals. 

There are some really experienced and smart techs there- those old school guys dont get messed with because they are so critical to the company that if they left the whole service division would fold.

I got called out to help other technicians twice a week. Every tech who works there is very smart because to be willing to do this type of work you have to be smart. The Darwin effect will take care of the rest if your not careful around ammonia.

So I'd give them 4 stars because working with other skilled technicians was a lot of fun.

I hope this review helps you avoid some of the negative happenstances that have occurred in my outer experienced state of work at this company.

The Stellar Group was my the first internship I was accepted in and I coudn't be prouder of the work I helped with, as well as with the knowledge I gained through the project managers in the company's commercial division. Even as an intern, I wasn't subjected to completing run-of-the-mill tasks. I was always engaging with all of the project managers as well as with other interns to finish all tasks. All in all, I would rate this as a fairly positive experience.

The atmosphere is relaxed, you’re not micromanaged.  Promotions are a little hard to come by, but they do give annual raises and other little perks like occasional free lunches.  The pay is decent—could always be better though.  For the most part, teamwork is great, you’ll always have 1-2 people that are just there to collect a paycheck.  The benefits were pretty good and they are family oriented.  They are also good about employee recognition.  Overall, it’s a great place to work.

Stellar energry was strong in the 2000s it has since died from management or should i say micro management. You have a bunch of green people trying to fit pipe while the foremen and lead men stand back and talk about how terrible this place is to work.. It almost seems like you work with a bunch of old washed up women.. and to top it all off they sub contract all your work to other companies just to keep you at 40 hours and no overtime. You will never make over 18 an hr no matter how long you are there.....terrible waste of time .

I enjoyed working for Stellar. We travled to many different cities and states. The supervisors, formen and co workers were like family away from family.7am start times, loading and appling product usully ended when daily quotas was meet. Odtained forklift and aerial work platform experince there. Hardest part of the job may have been the weather and the time away from wife and children .The most enjoyable part may have been the compleation of job sites,taking in the finish product and visiting new cities and states.

On a day to day basis I was given a set of tasks ranging from making plans and confirming for upcoming tradeshows to researching potential clients for the sales team. I was also assisted with planning an upcoming company convention and . My co-workers were pleasant and a joy to work with. They encouraged me to strive to be the best I could be in any task I was given. The hardest part of my job was saying good bye to my friends at the end of the day. My favorite part of my job was working on the convention details with co-workers.

I learned how to work on the building envelope in a commercial construction job site. I enjoyed every minute of it, simply because there was always something new to learn and grow on. There were times where job tasks required careful planning and execution but were rather rewarding when accomplished. After leaving Stellar, I gained knowledge and skills that have benefited me greatly.

I was fortunate enough to work directly for Stellar for 4 years and would recommend them to anyone looking for a challenging long term opportunity with a team that is there to support your career growth.  It was such a fun team to be a part of and have many fond memories.

It was a horrible organization. I was given a lot of responsibility with no authority to make decisions. I had a project manager with the responsibility for the budget, but I had absolutely no control over the budget. The crafts people were promised overtime and we had to allow them to work  over- time when budget or schedule would not aloow it.

Stellar is great for a driven production or mainstream support role. There are real opportunities to prove yourself and contribute to the company performance. I've seen people excel in Service, Sales, Engineering, Field construction functions, HR and several customer support roles. If you are an engineer, be a PE. Certification matters in all disciplines.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Project manager 3 salaries reported	$106,000 per year
Hvac installer 6 salaries reported	$1,050 per week
Associate project manager 4 salaries reported	$71,375 per year
Programmer analyst 3 salaries reported	$51,000 per year
Developer 1 salary reported	$56.50 per hour

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