This job taught me a lot
The mechanics of Worcester had much to teach me. I learned how to pickup a trade, and integrate myself into a work environment that was complicated.
('complicated' may well be an understatement.)
Operating these machines is a minimum requirement
I mean this really was a fun job!
But it also carried significant responsibility,
at the minimum I'd operate 6 or 7 different 50,000 lbs machines daily.
This is Mark,
sitting where an engine should be.
Marc and the team worked long hours, and expected me to do the same.
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My shift was 7 - 3.30, but if I showed up and left then, I'd be asked: "showing up late again?", and "leaving early?"
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I quickly learned that overtime was the norm.
I'm proud to have been a member of Local 4.
This job gave me the opportunity to join Local 4.
Commonly known as IUOE, or
The International Union of Operating Engineers.
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I'm incredibly grateful to have been a part of such a unique, pragmatic, and capable group of operators. They are such a large part of who I am today.
I also picked up having real pride in my work
The mechanics taught me to have pride in what I did. If I did a poor job on a project, I'd redo it until it wasn't.
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I also knew that what I did mattered.
This is seriously one of my favorite photos. I could walk around my city (Worcester) and say:
"That's one of my machines! I serviced that."​
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A bird's eye view
At Monroe Tractor, we were shipping out excavators daily. I quickly learned that jobs had to be done because people needed their machines to work. This was not some arbitrary task.
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I took this same mentality back to my education and started earning top marks. I stopped thinking about assignments as simple to-do items. Instead, each project had a plan, goals, deadlines, and in the end it had to get done.
I still carry this outlook with me today.