Pipefitter Experience: Oct 2014-Present
After the Marine Corps, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but my father was a career Pipefitter through Local 598 and I knew that they made good money. I decided to pursue the construction path through Local 598 and have been working there ever since. Through Local 598 I was hired by Intermech Inc in March of 2015 and have continued working with them. I began as an apprentice, worked my way up to journeyman going to night school at the hall and completing the mandatory 10,000 working hours. I then was turned into a Foreman and given my own crew at the Hanford Nuclear Site. I was foreman at Hanford for about four years before being asked to be the General Foreman and lead a job at Framatome which is where I find myself now. Going into being a pipefitter I had no idea what they did or how it was accomplished. I learned everything from pipe-related trigonometry to blueprint reading to quality assurance as I progressed in this career path. I was able to lean on my Marine Corps experience for communication and leadership although I had to adjust both to the civilian lifestyle. Moving into the General Foreman position also added more skill requirements including communicating directly with the project manager, scheduling and projections, ordering material and maintaining documentation on any change orders, quality of work, and compliance with industry standards.
United States Marine Corps: Sept 2006 – Oct 2014
In 2006 I joined the United States Marine Corps and chose Infantry as my MOS. Looking back, hindsight always being 20/20, I would have chosen a MOS that related more to the field of cybersecurity. I do not regret my time in the Marine Corps, and it taught me so many valuable lessons such as accountability, communication, leadership and many more. I did not think that a lot of the skills I learned would apply to working in cybersecurity but the more I studied the better I understood how much further I am than someone that is just out of high school and college. I have been under enormous stress and pressure during my time deployed to Iraq and have made tactical decisions, communicated those to my team, and executed the missions successfully. I have had Top-Secret clearance and attended briefings that I could use to help deploy my squad in the best position to successfully help the company. When I moved to Quantico to teach at the basic school I had even more skills that I was required to learn. Teaching over 300 new lieutenants that would go straight from The Basic School to their units and be responsible for an entire platoon. I had to ensure that what I was teaching was completely understood so that they could implement what they had learned in their individual units. All of these skills can quickly be applied to my new career path in cybersecurity and help ensure that my team is the best there is.