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Chris Webster - Episode 24
58 Plays10 years ago
Profiles in CRM features short interviews with CRM professionals from all experience levels and educational levels. I ask a standard list of questions and see how each person answers them based on their experience.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast Network
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. Welcome
Episode Introduction
00:00:07
Speaker
to Profiles in CRM, Episode 24. I'm your host, Chris Webster. Profiles in CRM asks CRM professionals eight simple questions. The answer
Interview Anonymity
00:00:15
Speaker
is very wildly depending on their experience and education. Because of the nature of contract archaeology and how small this field really is, some people choose not to reveal their name or the company they work for. Stay to
Listener Engagement
00:00:24
Speaker
the end of the show to hear how you can have a chance to answer these same questions.
00:00:31
Speaker
Okay,
Personal Reflections on CRM Questions
00:00:32
Speaker
today on Profiles, I'm actually interviewing myself. No, I'm not interviewing myself. I'm answering the questions that I have set out for everybody. I've wanted to do
DigTech LLC Introduction
00:00:40
Speaker
this for a while and now seems like as good a time as any. So let's get started. Question one, what is your name and who do you work for? Well, obviously my name is Chris Webster and I work for DigTech LLC. Although can you actually
Career Journey in CRM
00:00:52
Speaker
work for the company that you own and started? I'm not sure. I'm not sure how that works. It's very strange. How long have you been working in CRM?
00:00:59
Speaker
I've been working in CRM for about 10 years now. I took a year off for
Career Roles and Responsibilities
00:01:03
Speaker
my master's degree at the University of Georgia, but aside from that, it's been about 10 years. What is the position you usually have in CRM and what is the highest position you've attained?
00:01:12
Speaker
So the position I usually have now is president of the company, which means principal investigator, project manager, crew chief in some cases. It means
Geographical Work Experience
00:01:21
Speaker
what it means. In the past, I was usually a crew chief for the last few years before I started my own company. I was actually a project manager for one company before I started my company. It seems like early on, I spent a little time as a field tech, but then I quickly moved up into crew chief for one reason or another.
00:01:38
Speaker
So I think most of my time as a CRM archaeologist in the last 10 years has been spent at Crew Chief or higher. Where have you worked? I started in North Dakota and then Florida, Vermont, the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Ohio. Let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Ohio. Yeah. Then we went to New Mexico, Utah, Portland.
00:02:06
Speaker
California, Nevada, obviously, and Washington State. That might be it.
Personal and Professional Milestones
00:02:11
Speaker
I don't know, I counted up one time and it was like 17 states. What is the best thing that's happened to you that's related to being an archaeologist? That's tough to say. I mean, I did meet my wife on my second project. She didn't
00:02:25
Speaker
We didn't get together on that project, but we stayed in contact and began dating later, actually, in the last half of that year. And the rest is, I guess, history. And it actually made CRM a lot easier traveling around with somebody. You go back to the hotel room, it's not this dark, sterile place. There's actually somebody else there. Then on the other hand,
00:02:48
Speaker
Sometimes you wear thin on each other's nerves. We seem to do alright most of the time, but you know just like any relationship there's going to be Tension and when you're sharing a tiny little space with all your stuff then tension is inevitable But I think the good outweigh the bad on that so that's probably
Advocacy for Field Technicians
00:03:05
Speaker
That, and then I'd have to go further than that and say just my entire career and where it's led me to now, just being an archaeologist has opened up a lot of possibilities for me and given me things that I never would have had a chance to do otherwise, I don't think. What is the biggest thing you would change that would make being a serum archaeologist better?
00:03:28
Speaker
Well, like a few other people have said on this show, I would say one of the biggest things I would change is stability. But that's only a minor part of a very big picture. I think what I would really change is the way that field technicians are perceived and treated in this field. Field technicians are tended to be seen as tools, as
00:03:53
Speaker
as a necessary means to finish the project, which they are, but so is everybody else. I mean, that goes without saying. But the thing is, I was just talking to this today with somebody. A lot of companies will just push, push, push, push, push, and they'll get the project done, get the project done. If they covered as much ground as they thought they would in one day, but there's time left, they'll just keep on pushing, keep on pushing, and they'll work their people into the ground.
00:04:20
Speaker
And I'm not sure what the reason for that is. My hypothesis is that you get these project managers and or crew chiefs that they're doing this project and then they're either pushing through it so they can get on to another project for their company or possibly so they can get into the office and spend three or four months writing out the report.
00:04:40
Speaker
what they don't often realize, or maybe this is just how they work, but what they don't often realize is that the field techs, this is their nine to five. This is what they do. When they finish this project, they don't get to go sit in an office for three months. They get to go to another project and do the same thing and get run ragged by another crew chief.
Vision for CRM Industry
00:04:57
Speaker
So it's that basic treatment of the largest segment of the archaeological profession that just needs to change. I feel like when all of that changes, when field texts are treated better, then everything else will just fall into place because it's all tied to that. What is your career goal in CRM?
00:05:17
Speaker
Well, some people think that since I'm the quote-unquote president of the company, it still sounds weird to say that, but that that's like my ultimate career goal. But no, my career goal is to make CRM a better place. I don't care what title I have or where I end up or what company I end up with. I mean, I don't need to own my own company, but as long as I don't have another option out there for doing what I want to do, then I'm going to do it myself.
00:05:40
Speaker
If another company came along and said, hey, we like what you're doing and we're doing the same thing, except we've got this whole infrastructure in place, then I would gladly join them and move on and help try to make things better.
00:05:55
Speaker
In the meantime, you know, my quote unquote career goal is really just to stay in this field of archaeology and keep improving, keep doing archaeology and keep trying to make it not only a more efficient, but a profession that people can look back on and say, you know, I really had a good time doing that and I learned something and I feel like I contributed to society. Lofty goals
Career Advice for Aspiring Professionals
00:06:18
Speaker
indeed. If you could give an undergrad thinking about CRM as a career one piece of advice, what would it be?
00:06:25
Speaker
Well, I will echo again some of the other people we've had on the show and say, learn as much as you can. Actually, no, if I can give them one piece of advice, it would be get a geology minor. Okay. I've said that time and time again. I mean, there's all kinds of things you can say, improve your CV and do all this stuff, but get a geology minor.
00:06:42
Speaker
You don't know how many times you're out in the field and you have to know stuff about rocks, okay? Landform processes. Just all kinds of things that you end up learning on the job that would be so much clearer if you had a solid geology background. And you don't need to, like I said, just get the minor. Through the introductory classes, you'll be light years ahead of probably people that have been in this field for several years.
Closing Remarks and Audience Interaction
00:07:05
Speaker
Just understanding a little bit about that and a little bit how it works, like I said, will just make you go further, or at least start further ahead, and then it's up to you from that point. Show notes for this and all episodes can be found on the Archaeology Podcast Network website at www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com forward slash profiles.
00:07:30
Speaker
At that page you'll also find a form that you can fill out so you can be interviewed on the show. Interviews take less than 30 minutes and you don't need any special equipment. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the field. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com