Sprocket Academy · English cohort: 2027 waitlist
An online course built from real service calls, plus five days riding along to real customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The best student in each group gets a job offer at Sprocket.
The online part is the same for everyone. The intensive is not a classroom with training machines: it is real service calls with real customers. No more than two trainees enter a customer's home.
$690
one year of access
$2,400
online course and five days of ride-alongs
Payment opens two weeks before a cohort starts. Until then you pay nothing: leave your contact, get the program and the dates.
The order a technician meets things on the job: electricity and safety first, then appliances in order of how often they break, then the customer and the money.
01
Electricity and the multimeter: 120 and 240 V, how to read the rating plate. Water, tools, how to behave in someone's home. Homework on your own appliances.
02
Door gasket, drain pump, heating element, belt, thermal fuse, 3- and 4-wire cords, error codes. The most common calls in the city.
03
Pump and clogs, inlet valve, gaskets; oven igniter without touching the gas line; over-the-range microwaves: removal, install, discharging the high-voltage capacitor before any work, fuses, diode, magnetron.
04
Fans, defrost, thermostats, gaskets, ice and water. Where the EPA 608 line is and what to do when you reach it.
05
Paid diagnostic, warranty, estimate, before-and-after photos, reviews. Manhattan buildings: COI, freight elevator, the super, parking.
06
W-2 or 1099, EPA 608, insurance, a tool kit under $600, where to find work, what you get asked at an interview.
Gas, refrigerant and sealed systems are deliberately out of scope: you cannot learn them in customers' homes, and most calls in the city close without them.
Now
Leave your name and phone. You get the detailed program and we tell you when the English cohort is scheduled.
2 weeks before start
Payment opens for those who said yes. The first-cohort price holds until the start date.
Weeks 1–6
Lessons by module, a quiz after each, cohort chat and a live Q&A every week. Questions from your own jobs are welcome.
After the online part
Five days of service calls, two trainees per ride-along. A final exam on a live call, and a job offer for the best student.
Sprocket is growing, and we want people who have already shown what their hands can do. The intensive is the best way for us to see that: five days on real service calls say more than any interview.
The best student of the group, by the exam result, gets an offer straight at Junior Technician level: $18/hour plus $12 per completed job, skipping the helper month. From there it is a six-level ladder with clear numbers at every step.
One offer per group, so everyone sees it is a fair selection, not a lottery. If you want your own business rather than a job with us, the course covers that too: modules 5 and 6 are about exactly that.
Buyan, owner of Sprocket Appliance Repair. The service has run since 2023 across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens: washers, dryers, dishwashers, ovens, refrigerators, coffee machines.
We film the lessons on real Sprocket service calls, and the breakdowns draw on our knowledge base: about 10,000 passages from service manuals and repair journals.
No. The course starts with electricity and the multimeter. You need steady hands, attention to detail, and the willingness to do homework on your own appliances.
The first cohort, in December 2026, is in Russian. The English cohort is planned for 2027; waitlist members get the date first and the first-cohort price.
For the online part you need a multimeter and a basic kit; we send the list with the program, and it fits under $600. Bring the same kit to the intensive: you work with your own tools.
Yes. The online course gives an Academy certificate after all module quizzes; the intensive adds a practice and exam endorsement. It is not a license: in New York City the DCWP appliance repair license is held by the company, not the technician, and Sprocket holds one. Refrigerant work needs a separate EPA 608 certification, which module 6 covers.
Five consecutive working days on real Sprocket service calls in Manhattan and Brooklyn. A cohort of up to four is split into pairs: no more than two trainees enter a customer's home, and customers are told at booking. Trainees do not touch gas or refrigerant.
Online course: within 7 days of the cohort start, before module 2 opens, no questions asked. Intensive: in full until it starts.
Leave your name and phone. We will send the detailed program and tell you when the English cohort and payment open. No commitment, no payment now.