I started off in a shop from the ground floor up, running and learning manual lathes, mills, press brakes, etc. Did a lot of fab work and tig welding as well, all part time while going to college. Dropped out due to needing to put diapers on kids and having the chance to grow in the trade. Learned to program CNC lathes by reading the Fanuc manuals and started focusing on opportunities machining completion tools. Once productive, we bought CNC Mills and I was able to learn them and started growing from there. When I left the shop. we had grown to have 22 CNC machines and I programmed each and was manager for the shop.
Opportunity came along to work as an Application Engineer at a Machine Tool Distributor and train people how to operate the new equipment that we sold as well as do some turn-key projects. This led to a move into sales in 2010 and I have had some success, basically due to my hands-on experience. I now manage our sales team as well as our Applications Department. We represent Japanese, German and Spanish builders and have machines throughout the country and the world, primarily at companies focused on oil-field manufacturing.
Sorry for the long-winded biography, but, in a nutshell, it has been a great career and I have no regrets. Hard work and excelling at a trade can take you a long way. Easy to get passionate about a trade that requires perfection!