Seven Cheers for Seven Years: Celebrating Seven Amazing Years of NexTech Academy

In May of 2018, Nexstar Network launched NexTech Academy, marking the beginning of an incredible journey. Since then, Nexstar members have had online technical training resources right at their fingertips; many even started their own workforce development programs within their own businesses!

This month, we’d like to celebrate seven fantastic years of NexTech Academy by celebrating seven incredible NexTech achievements.

Thorton and Grooms site visit in 2023.

1.To date, NexTech has seen 1,562 Tech Builder graduates.

NexTech’s Tech Builder program helps Nexstar member businesses train their own technicians in-house. This program has built 5-star technicians, including some who had no experience in the trades prior to enrolling in the Tech Builder program! We’re honored to have seen 1,562 students graduate from our Tech Builder program as of April 2025.

2.The NexTech team has developed courses for targeted training.

We’ve launched countless training courses, including Residential Mini-Splits, Residential Heat Pumps, HVAC Install, Soft Skills Courses (aligns with Service System training), and Boilers/Hydronics. The NexTech team has also launched HVAC, plumbing, and electrical courses for non-technicians. These informational courses introduce the trades at a high level, and are designed for those without any prior technical training. They’re great training for comfort advisors, Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), Dispatch Sales Representatives (DSRs), service managers, and more!

3.Onsite technical training for ALL trades? You bet!

Have you ever considered having your workforce development coach come to you for a site visit? A coaching onsite visit combines soft skills training with technical, hands-on training. Our coaches can come to your shop to help you address any concerns you and your employees have, to further train on any areas that you can improve on, and to support your business as it grows. If you’re interested in having your workforce development coach visit your business, please reach out to them for more details.

4.“NexTech coaches” became “workforce development coaches”.

In January 2024, NexTech Academy announced that the NexTech coaches would henceforth be known as “workforce development coaches”. This change was designed to let members know that they didn’t have to be using NexTech Academy products to leverage the knowledge, tools, and resources available from their Nexstar workforce development coaches.

5.Members love NexTech’s Trade Knowledge and Trade Experience assessments!

NexTech offers two different kinds of assessments to help member businesses grow. The Trade Knowledge Assessment offers insight into an individual’s trade-specific knowledge of plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. The Trade Experience Assessment is a training opportunity survey that dives into a candidate’s experience in their career. Each trade is divided into segments that help evaluate a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. If used as pre-employment screens, the assessments are great indicators of what a candidate brings to the table.

These assessments are FREE to all Nexstar members. As of April 2025,

• The Trade Knowledge Assessment has been taken 4,332 times.
• The Trade Experience Assessment has been taken 3,060 times.

2023 site visit at Golden Rule Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical.

6. NexTech launched the Certified Training Leader Workshop in September 2023.

The 3-day virtual Certified Training Leader Workshop was developed to help individuals in a “trainer” role be successful by sharing best practices for facilitation, showing examples of great learning environments, and explaining how to create 5-star technicians.

Our next offering of the Certified Training Leader Workshop is October 14-16, 2025. Click HERE for details and registration.

7.We’re migrating NexTech On-The-Go video training to YouTube!

NexTech On-The-Go is currently transitioning all learning videos to YouTube so that all members can benefit from the valuable training that NexTech has to offer! This is to help raise the bar across the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical industries.

As we at NexTech Academy celebrate these seven remarkable milestones and achievements, we reflect on all that’s happened since we started out in 2018. In the NexTech e-Guide, Michael Shaw, CEO and Co-owner of Centennial Plumbing, Heating & Electrical shares his reflection on NexTech below.

“There’s definitely a competitive advantage in having this program. The most limited resource in our business is technicians, and to be able to create our own training academy is incredible. I’m so thankful to Nexstar for creating it. It’s one of the reasons why we’re going to continue to be successful in our market.”

From helping Nexstar members begin their own training programs to creating different online courses and workshops, NexTech has consistently provided quality technical training to the next generation of the trades. Here’s to many more years of success and building the workforce of tomorrow with NexTech Academy!

Interested in starting your own training academy with NexTech? Please reach out to [email protected] to get started.