The BAS industry is thriving and offers numerous pathways for career growth. Talent is in high demand! SBA's Workforce Development Program is a collaborative effort between Smart Buildings Academy and our clients (top BAS companies) to develop talent for work in the building automation space. Our unique training solution has minimal upfront cost (lab materials) and is completely online. Course tuition is deferred until you have a job in building automation.
SBA's courses are accredited and effective, yet our program is significantly less expensive and less time-consuming than traditional trade schools and degree programs.
Smart Building Academy's Building Automation Technician Certificate Program will prepare you to hit the ground running on day one.
In just 10-12 weeks, you will cultivate the foundation you need to step into a fulfilling BAS career. The building automation industry is full of opportunity and offers many different career pathways to grow into.
Explore the program roadmap below to learn exactly what it will look like to move through the pipeline, what you'll learn, and when you'll learn it.
Because we will be referring students of our Workforce Development Program to top BAS companies for hire, we'll need to complete a standard background check at the time of application.
All applicants will take an aptitude test to help determine their top skill areas and whether they're a good fit for the Workforce Development Program.
Because we believe that hands-on training is the best training, all Workforce Development Program students will receive a lab kit. Your lab kit will be your only required upfront cost ($2,700 USD). It will provide everything you need to construct your own home lab with items including controllers, software (Niagara Workbench license), power supplies, actuators, relays, sensors, and wiring supplies.
You will be taking the exact same quantitative skill assessment that companies use to evaluate the performance of their employees.
The results of this assessment will determine your strengths and weaknesses as well as pinpoint areas for you and your instructor to focus on during the program.
You will take the exact same assessment (along with your practicum) at the end of the program to validate improvement.
Phase 3 is the educational portion of the program. By the end of this phase, you will be able to effectively install and configure physical building automation devices.
Click on each course title below to see what will be covered.
At the completion of the course, the student will demonstrate a general level of knowledge and understanding of building automation. This knowledge level will be evaluated via a series of discussion forums, knowledge checks, and a final exam.
Key knowledge areas are:
This course will focus on providing the foundational knowledge that a BAS professional needs in order to succeed in the first two years of their BAS career. This course will cover BAS components, processes, and technologies. You'll learn
This course solves the issue of finding building automation professionals that understand HVAC and "systems thinking". This course will teach what a building professional needs to know about HVAC systems and how to control HVAC systems. Some of this course's key topics are:
This course will prime students for physical installation work by teaching them the fundamental skills related to:
This course will teach your technicians how to effectively install controls systems from start to finish based on real submittal documents. Here are some of the topics that are covered in this course.
The Smart Buildings Academy validation process is unique in that we utilize an extensive written exam and physical practicum.
As part of the practicum, the student will physically install, commission, and program a set of controllers according to provided submittal documentation.
In order to exit the program, you will need to perform a proctored final exam and hands-on practicum that will test your understanding and mastery of the skills you learned.
Final Exam
You will perform a comprehensive final exam that will test your knowledge of the skills and processes learned during the Building Automation Technician Certificate Progam
Hands-On Practicum
Your instructor will remotely observe you assemble your lab kit into a functioning system based on an assigned design submittal set. Your instructor will then remotely connect to your system to evaluate your installed and deployed system.
Smart Buildings Academy will help graduates with job placement with some of the top companies in the BAS industry. Connect with us and we'll walk you through details of the job placement process.
SBA's Workforce Development Program is broken down into lab kit costs (due upon enrollment) and tuition (payment begins once you get a job). Many of the over 2,000 customers we serve are willing to sponsor the right applicant.
The pricing is as follows:
Lab Kit: $3,600 USD
Core Skills Tuition: $8,970 USD
How does tuition payment work?
Once you get a job, your employer may sponsor you or you can pay for yourself with a payment plan or income share agreement (ISA). For more information, give us a shout and we'll answer all your questions.
Scholarship Opportunities
Interested in applying for a scholarship for the SBA Workforce Development Plan? Contact us for more information.
SBA is the go-to training provider for top companies like Albireo Energy, Climatec, and Sunbelt Controls. Our mission is to give you a clear, concise learning plan to help you launch a thriving building automation career.
We help our students succeed and grow in their building automation careers without sacrificing their health, hobbies, or family. Learn at your own pace, fully online. We even offer live office hours so that you can ask us questions on anything in your courses that you need help understanding.
Through our Workforce Development Program, online courses, videos, and the Smart Buildings Academy blog and podcast – we are creating a BAS learning revolution. We hope you’ll join us.
SBA has been instrumental in allowing me to break into the BAS industry. Its very possible I would still be doing HVAC service had I not discovered SBA.
I am brand new to the field of building automation and I have learned so much information just in this small window of time. Phil can take you from the ground floor and make you into a great professional.
Very helpful in getting more acclimated in the BAS/Control field. I've been a medium voltage electrician for 17 years and recently decided to transition to controls. It's very nice to have a resource like this to move me along more quickly.