Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 15: Learning the Ropes w/ Jayden Colletta
30 Plays1 year ago
Welcome to episode 15! Today we have a great episode with Jayden, one of the newest members on our team.
For being only 18 years old, Jayden has a tremendous amount of knowledge and wisdom, and we are very fortunate to have him on our team. He is developing into a supremely talented machinist and learning a lot from the amazing team we have at HFW!
This was a great episode and I am thankful for Jayden for taking some time to do this.
I am always looking for more guests of the podcasts! Please let me know if you are interested!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:08
Speaker
All right, and welcome back to the HFW Shove Talk podcast. This is episode 15. Today we have Jaden Coletta with us. Jaden, thanks for joining us. Oh, yeah, of course.
00:00:20
Speaker
So in keeping with the theme we've had, we kind of tried to bounce back and forth between having one of our more experienced guys on here and one of our younger guys. Jayden certainly follows that younger guy track being however 18.
00:00:39
Speaker
So, yeah, definitely younger. I think it's interesting to hear the juxtaposition, you know, we talked to guys like Rich or Peter Sanisiero, now to have Jaden on and along with the other young guys we've had on it. It's definitely interesting to see the difference in perspective, but then also the things that are, I guess, the common threads between someone who's 18 or early in their career and someone who's more senior and on the other side.
Jaden's Upbringing and Early Interests
00:01:07
Speaker
So Jane, I guess to start, can you give someone the elevator pitch of who Jane Colletta is, how you got to where you are today, what your upbringing is like, and things like that.
00:01:20
Speaker
Well, who I am might be difficult as well. I'm kind of everywhere. But I won't go too much into how I was brought up because I'll be honest, it was pretty boring. I was raised by a single mother. My father left when I was about eight years old. He suffered severe PTSD from serving two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom Unit.
00:01:43
Speaker
Didn't get along too great with my mom afterwards, caused them to split. It is one of those. After that point, I did a lot of solitude in my room with the Legos. I built a lot, I don't even remember what, the only thing I remember is this weird gun I thought was an alien gun and honestly that was the extent of it. I was really proud of it and I ran to my cousin's house to show him
00:02:07
Speaker
And I think he showed me the guns he made out of paper. Just silly stuff. Then eventually, around the age of 11, I got what I believe was called a knobby tablet for children. Immediately found out how to get into the adult side of it. Jail broke it, for lack of better terms, and just watched lots of YouTube.
00:02:29
Speaker
on all sorts of things I was younger I liked games like video games I used to play them with my father before he left so I had that in my head I love guns because I've shot them since I was like three and a half years old again taught by my father but something that left with him because my mom wasn't as trusting with them probably the correlation to building the guns out of Legos and stuff like that
00:02:51
Speaker
If I watch a lot of games, mostly FPSs, because I like shooter games. And then the other main demographic I watched was people making stuff in their home garage. I always thought it was really, really cool. People making things in their home garage. That basically took me all the way through middle school and high school. I went to school and then I went home and I learned in my own time on the internet. So nobody believed anything I ever said, even though I did.
00:03:20
Speaker
a ridiculous amount of research using all the methods I was taught in school to deduce whether an article is or is not believable. And then I would even follow that article's resources to discern if they were or were not believable. Nowadays I don't go as far because I have less time.
00:03:39
Speaker
I feel that I think it's that's something that's interesting.
Self-directed Learning and Online Resources
00:03:43
Speaker
There's a lot of conversation about how kids back in, you know, the 60s and 70s and 80s, they were outside a lot and kind of had more room to roam. There was less, you know, helicopter parents weren't really as much of a thing until you have more modern technology and more involvement in schools. But it's almost like you have that
00:04:06
Speaker
that free range kind of thing on the internet now which is obviously it can be very bad but you know you I've heard several people describe what you just said as well where you just kind of learned and explored and kind of found things that seem like they're now your passion through kind of your teen years. Kind of stumbled my way around until I thought things were interesting then I stuck with them.
00:04:32
Speaker
Well, I think that's the other thing too, that when we talk about formal education, I hear so many entrepreneurs and blue collar people and people that don't have necessarily, they didn't go to Harvard or something like that, who say, you know, all this education is available for free or for very little online.
00:04:51
Speaker
I actually listened to full Harvard classes on YouTube for free. I listened to two-hour lectures from Harvard classes on business and entrepreneurship and how to make products, how to come up with product ideas and stuff like that.
00:05:07
Speaker
Well, that was funny about you. You came in, I think it was like a couple weeks in, you had suggestions for like, oh, if you want to boost profit, you should consider this. And it was, I just thought I was amazed that an 18 year old's brain is wired like that because I'm not much older than you. But when I was 18, I'm not sure I was thinking that way either. So.
00:05:25
Speaker
I just always thought everybody else was boring and I didn't care for what they did. Everybody my age, they want to go out and drink and party and I guess there's a little bit of fun in that but I just never was my world.
Journey into Machining
00:05:40
Speaker
yeah i'm right there with you um so i mean that kind of leads into the next question i was thinking which you answered a little bit um how did you first discover machining was it those videos watching people it was honestly i something i'm realizing i'm kind of proud of is i'm a first generation machinist everybody always asks me how i found it and if it was my father or my grandpa or whatever
00:06:05
Speaker
No, my father, I respect what he did for the country, but he wasn't a huge part of my life. My grandfather also wasn't a huge part of my life. He was my replacement father for two or three years. He died while I was in sixth grade. So the way I look at it, my father died twice.
00:06:30
Speaker
And it becomes interesting with stepfathers because my mom still dates. It's hard to explain to them that I don't even want that role, but let's not get into that. I think it's something kind of cool to be able to say that I'm a first generation machinist because not only does it mean I'm figuring everything out for myself in my own way and through my own means,
00:06:53
Speaker
But also makes me more proud of what I have achieved because I'm starting to get to the point here in this company where every once in a while people will tell me that they think, at least from my age, that I'm doing a real good job. And that makes me feel good because not only am I doing a good job, but I'm doing a good job compared to people who have had figures to show them what to do. Mentors is what I'm looking for. And it's kind of cool to be able to say that I've done that without them.
00:07:23
Speaker
It's a different world in a way. I've kind of walked my whole life in a different world than everybody else. And it's interesting to see where that's taken me. Yeah. That's really interesting. Do you feel like now, I mean, you come in and there's like, we're just talking about God, like Fred there, even Peter. Um, do you feel like there, you have models at work now or what's your process been as you transitioned in the workplace?
00:07:49
Speaker
When I look at the machinists on the floor with me. Most of the time I see them and I go I respect that guy because I could tell he knows what he's doing and he's good at his job. After that point if I'm on one nine six and it seems like that guy's friendly with me I try to go up to him and I try to talk to him and ask him questions. I try to do a little bit of asking about work and what he's working on. I try to do a little bit of talking about what I have worked on and I try to do enough.
00:08:19
Speaker
just regular talk to keep them not thinking I'm just only learning from them or only using them from knowledge. Something I've realized is I have a bad tendency to just be very focused on I want to learn this or I want to know this and it makes me come off in a way that's not very good in other people's eyes.
00:08:42
Speaker
something i've been trying to get better about here so i'm trying not to only focus on what i'm doing here in the shop but also just the person yeah so when i see that person i want to go to them and i want to learn from them because i know they have experience i know they've been here for x amount of years because they're good at their job so i want to learn from them because they have to have something that's useful for me but i want them to
00:09:07
Speaker
actually feel like I'm talking to them as a person on the same token. I don't see many people here as a mentor, but that's just because of the way I've lived with my life. I don't really see people as mentors anymore. I see people as higher ups and I see people as more or less experienced and all that stuff. It's just the mentor role is hard for me now.
00:09:27
Speaker
That makes sense. And then, especially in my position, if I was to get a mentor, in my eyes, it'd be someone I'm working with all the time. I worked with Fred a lot for a while, and then I worked with Mike a decent little bit. And now I work with Pete a lot, but I still am just going in between. I'm one of the few, if not the only, guy here in the shop who moves so much, I don't really stick to an immediate supervisor. So it's kind of hard to say who would be a mentor, even if I thought I had one.
00:09:55
Speaker
Well, I think that's a compliment to you, though. The fact that you are moving around, they want to get you exposed to all these different areas. I mean, that's what you look at some of the guys now, like Mark, he did a lot of that. Even Rich and some of the grinders and guys like that have moved around a lot, too. And I think that's, you know, they see that capability in you to learn quickly and learn a lot and take in a lot and help out where it's needed. And I think
00:10:22
Speaker
As you can probably see, and we talk about all the time, being a utility player at a place like HFW is extremely valuable. Well, I hope that's true.
Educational Experiences and Practical Learning
00:10:31
Speaker
Well, that they feel that of me. I know it's true that it's valuable here. Yeah. So let's back up a little bit. You were part of a really great program at BOCES.
00:10:43
Speaker
I'd like to talk about that a little bit because I think there's a lot of, you see conversation online in regards to the trades. People are always talking about trade school and going to trade school. But not all trade schools are built the same. And you went to a very good program. Can you talk a little bit about that experience and what made that program what it is and why it's nationally recognized?
00:11:09
Speaker
That's a good question. I honestly think the parts that make that program so good is yes it has. It gives you access to all the information you could need. But something that's interesting in my mind about the way Mr. Akansi took it that while I don't know from experience because I haven't been in other programs I feel is different from other programs.
00:11:31
Speaker
As well, he's giving you, let's say he's giving you 100% of the information you could need in the machining world. He's only actively teaching you a slightly majority of it. So like 60 something percent, let's say, just to throw out a number that allows us one to have more machine time. And more machine time means that we have more time to just figure it out for ourselves. So we can actually put things together. It's like a.
00:11:58
Speaker
Let's say trigonometry and math, everybody thinks it's really boring, and that's because it is. But the reason it is is because they don't have a connection to make it interesting.
00:12:10
Speaker
For me, I love math and I hate math because I love the part of math that I've made a connection to and I hate the math that I haven't. I want to equate that to machining world because feeds and speeds are really boring if you're not using them to make a pretty piece of metal, right? He gave us all the feeds and speeds as formulas, but he didn't make us crunch the numbers a thousand times. I feel like a lot of shop classes are going to make you just do a bunch of formulas. He made us do it too.
00:12:39
Speaker
And then we went and if we chose to use that information, it got ingrained in us. Like I chose to use that information, Anthony chose to use that information, Connor did when he remembered. I'm just throwing shade, no harm. They're both very great people.
00:12:55
Speaker
Anyways, he gave us, he took more of the approach of here's the information. Here I'm going to teach you what I think is the most important information. I'm going to do it a little slower for the people who aren't as quick to learning. And then I'm just going to send you out and the people who are more ambitious are going to do the extra that's going to help them learn more. Well, there's so much value in that process. I think because of what I'm hearing you say is.
00:13:22
Speaker
that a lot of it was learning by doing yeah he did of us I'm gonna cram knowledge in your head and more here is access to the knowledge you can figure it out obviously if we needed help figuring it out he
00:13:37
Speaker
would do what he could to help us and he would try to help us understand and he did a lot of hands-on in the machine area too because he didn't want us to die. That's important. But something looking back on I'm really happy he did is he spent less time telling us knowledge and more time giving us access to a machine to practice that knowledge.
00:13:58
Speaker
That's so interesting. That's such a great answer. Something that you said that resonated with me was I kind of had that realization when I was in college. Yeah, high school sucks. The best teachers and professors I had, they didn't force you to learn the straight facts, but they wanted you to apply it. And by doing that, when you applied it,
00:14:27
Speaker
it actually became ingrained almost like subconsciously. I mean, it was a much more valuable way of teaching. I think if we taught, and I think that's probably why people talk about, well, you have the book skills, you have the background, but you need the on the job experience. The on the job experience is usually what they're usually saying with that is it's the learning by doing and learning through trial and error. Wow, that's really cool.
00:14:53
Speaker
That's where I think most people get it mixed up. I don't think it's on the job experience is required. I think that's the most common place to get it. The best way I can put it is by using the saying. You always hear the saying knowledge is power. Well, I want to add to that. Knowledge is power, but it's powerless if you don't understand it.
00:15:17
Speaker
The reason I put it that way is he could have just given us knowledge, knowledge, knowledge, knowledge. But if I never touched a lathe, I don't understand the knowledge enough to really apply it.
00:15:29
Speaker
I can be perfect at doing math for feeds and speeds. I can know the exact length of the machinable area of my lathe. I could know the tensile strength of the carbide and the insert. That's not going to make me a good machinist. Understanding how those actually apply to making the material into the shape I need is what makes me a good machinist. I need that knowledge, but until I understand that knowledge, it's useless.
00:15:56
Speaker
Well, it's so funny because, as you might imagine, I'm a big podcast person. I like podcasts. And so when you're listening to podcasts, particularly the ones I listen to, I guess, there's a lot of talk about, well, to be successful, you need to fail. And failure is a really important part of the learning process. It is. And I think that's...
00:16:17
Speaker
I think it's redundant though. People are like, oh, you need to enjoy the failure. And I don't think you should enjoy it. But there is something when you know what to expect. They always talk about with machining and even sports. And Peter's taught me this too. As you're running a machine, you start to learn what it should feel like and then also what it shouldn't feel like. And then through those years of experience, you learn
00:16:45
Speaker
Okay, is this it shouldn't feel this way, but I know how to react to it. So I don't think it's like, I don't, you should never seek failure. Sometimes I think some of these pockets, oh, you should, you know, failure is really important. I don't think you should try to fail. You should always try to succeed. But through the trials and tribulations, you learn, okay, I've seen this before. I've done this before. How do I react to it?
Mindset Towards Failure and Learning
00:17:08
Speaker
I'd say failure is very important, but I think the reason it's very important is watching how somebody responds to failure and what they get from failure and what they learn from failure tells you more about that person and their adaptability than any other metric. I completely agree. The reason I say that is because
00:17:30
Speaker
Somebody could fail and they go, this is stupid. I don't know why that happened. I'm frustrated. Grr. Or you can go.
00:17:39
Speaker
I didn't expect that. What happened? Why? How am I going to change this? What am I going to do different? What did I do that caused this? Why did it cause it? And when I figured that out, what can I do to avoid that? What did I do that caused it? And you know, they're on there out something I've been huge and as long as I've known it as the scientific method. And while
00:18:06
Speaker
It's a buzzword at this point. There's a lot of good to it. It's like, when you reach something that makes you frustrated or that you don't understand, keep asking questions. And that's something that people really get annoyed with me about because it's just not common in typical socialization. But for some reason, my whole life, I've just been fascinated on gaining knowledge. So I've prioritized that over a typical socialization. So it's like,
00:18:34
Speaker
like i was just putting if i fail i'm like why did this happen what caused it what did i do what can i change and i just basically keep on going through those cycles until i feel like i can't ask the question any deeper if that makes sense kind of doing like a five y or something keep keep peeling the layers of the onion it's like uh this is gonna be a horrible joke it's like figuring out what a woman's actually mad about
00:19:00
Speaker
She's going to tell you she's mad at you. You're going to ask her what it's really about. Then she's going to tell you it's you and your friends. And you can ask her what it's really about. You're going to do that a few times until she finally tells you it's the fact that Jared didn't say hi back when she said hi at the dinner party last week or whatever. You got to ask the question. It gets you to a deeper level. You ask a new question. It gets you to a deeper level. You repeat that over and over again.
00:19:25
Speaker
until you're at a level so basic you can't go deeper.
Taking Ownership of Life
00:19:29
Speaker
Well this all speaks to mindset I think too and yeah it actually reminds me of this book Extreme Ownership which was written by a former Navy SEAL where it's cool thinking like every decision or every every outcome you played some role in yeah and so you know what what was your
00:19:50
Speaker
You know, you're accountable for everything that happens to you. For the most part, there are obviously random, there is random, but for the most part, the environment around it, you control a lot of it. So it's like, what could you have done differently if something goes wrong, or if something goes right, you know, what can, what that you did contribute to that. I think thinking through it that way, you know,
00:20:11
Speaker
For me, I've tried to embody that mindset, and you're much more positive, you're much happier, and then you also realize you stop blaming people for things that are going wrong in your life. You're like, okay, well, what did I do that could have caused this?
00:20:25
Speaker
That's how I've been for a long time. It's like you can go out on the ocean in a boat and the water is going to push you. You put a sail on that boat, now you're being pushed by the water and the sail. Without the sail, water dictates your life. With the sail, you dictate your life despite the water. That's awesome.
00:20:43
Speaker
It's like this morning I have a good example from my own life. I was driving to work and something that was rather mean went through my tire. My tire then lost all of its air pressure and decided that the rim is a good place to ride on. So I had to pull over to the side of the road. I could have at that point decided I'm not going to work today. I'm going to sit at home and be all sad about how I'm not making money because my tire popped.
00:21:12
Speaker
Instead, I came into work late because I took the time to do what I needed to do to make my vehicle safe to drive again and then came into work. The water in this metaphor was what put a hole in my nail. I put a hole in my nail through my tire, whatever it was that put that hole.
00:21:32
Speaker
But in this metaphor, the sale was my decision to go to the store, buy a new tire iron, because mine didn't fit, go back to my car, change my tire, then come into work anyways. Life will always influence your life, but your influence will always be greater than any other. I don't really have much to say after that, but I think that's...
00:21:58
Speaker
That's exactly the mindset that we're trying to foster at HFW. I think we have a lot of guys that think that way. And I mean, you see the results and that's why we are.
00:22:09
Speaker
we've built this company where we're primarily a problem solver because we have people like you and Fred and Peter and I could just go down the list of pretty much everyone at the company and you know we don't like to sit when a customer comes to us the challenge we don't like to say no we do sometimes because sometimes it you know the best way to say no because you save yourself a lot of pain and
00:22:31
Speaker
I'm going to think of a few products that I won't state that would have been better to say no. Yeah. But it's that mindset of how can we figure out a way through this. And I think you just explained how you do that now. So that's nice. And well, it's not nice. But I mean, it's. I mean, hey, it's pretty nice.
Transition to Adulthood
00:22:51
Speaker
I'm still here at work.
00:22:52
Speaker
and we really appreciate that. I mean, that's what I think. I think it's not just, it says a lot about you, not just obviously the paycheck's nice, but you learn a lot about people, like you said, in situations like that. I feel like I've been learning a lot about myself since I've gotten out of school.
00:23:10
Speaker
Well, I was curious, you know, so you've been in the workplace now, you know, about six months. You know, it's a pretty stark transition from especially high school, but being out in the, I guess, the real world, what's that transition been like? And what are you, you just said you've learned a lot about yourself. Talk about that a little bit. I feel like the transition for me is not what it would be for
00:23:40
Speaker
this will sound bad a typical person because i just i feel like my mindset lends it to seem like it's not a big deal because i would see the first few days the first week working here was a little weird but i was still at my mom's house the second week was like okay i kind of know what's going on i can at least figure my way about
00:24:03
Speaker
And I moved out on my own, so it was less that here was weird and more that where I was living was weird. Did that a few weeks while I was living in a camper. And then I got myself an apartment.
00:24:18
Speaker
Working here didn't feel like a big transition to me because I spent, since I was 16, 15 and a half, 16 somewhere around there, I've been working anyways. I was just in a different field. I was cooking in a pizzeria, doing subs and pizza and fryer food for two, two and a half years, something like that. And then at school, I was doing machining. So it was kind of like just
00:24:46
Speaker
The mentality I had at work for the time I was at school, plus a few hours, which is fine. I actually like it better this way. But anyways, the mentality I had at work for the time I was at school, but doing the things I was doing in both use. So it didn't seem like a big deal to me. The biggest deal to me was I drove an hour. After three or four weeks, that wasn't a big deal though.
00:25:15
Speaker
I don't drive an hour, I drive about 30 minutes, but I don't know. It's closer to 40 coming in because of how little traffic there is. 40 minutes. Are you the one that tells me you're a little heavy on the pedal too at times? I feel like someone told me that. That's alleged. Yeah, we'll keep that off the record.
00:25:37
Speaker
No, but I think it's obviously that it's a transitional period. But again, it's just how you face it. And I mean, we're super glad. We're super happy. I think it's been. All three of you guys, Anthony, Jayden and Connor, I think have been it's been that's a different path for us taking on. I mean, when Anthony started, he was 17. Yeah. So Dana wasn't too thrilled with me about that, but we got through it.
00:26:08
Speaker
But it's been a different path, but I think it shows like you guys have understood the basics, have a good work ethic. And, you know, obviously, like, you don't come into this business with, you know, when you're 18 years old and be a senior machinist right away, but if you have the right work ethic, you know, pretty quickly you can get on to some of the stuff and then you gradually work your way up, which is exactly what you've been doing.
00:26:34
Speaker
Right now, the way I see it, I'm just trying to earn the respect of the other people in the shop because it does not matter what I can and cannot do without the respect. I'm not going to do anything. Well, you and I have had a lot of conversations about that, right? And I think seeing your growth there is going to go that direction.
00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah, I think you have and I. It's all about exactly what you said. You can know everything in the world, but you gotta earn that respect and you know when guys have been doing this for 30 or 40 years, it's understandable that their bars pretty high, right? So but also on the same token.
Personal Growth and Mental Health
00:27:06
Speaker
They see me as a kid, they're just going to assume that I know less. It's honestly part of our society, I've realized. Well, a lot of the guys have kids who can almost be your parent at this point. It's understandable, I guess. Yeah.
00:27:27
Speaker
something i really have to put a lot of effort into not letting it go to my head is i've been realizing more and more what i'm capable of that people my age just simply aren't and honestly these questions since i've had some time to prepare for them have kind of helped me realize that i think a reason why i'm in a place that i can't see anybody else my age in
00:27:51
Speaker
is because of my mentality I've been working for I dealt with depression and anxiety to a point that I had to see a therapist for a while I dealt with that for eight nine years depression anxiety I had I had bad thoughts that
00:28:11
Speaker
are frowned upon and now in schools there are things that people try to do to try to help and i don't know really what caused it it's kind of one of those miracles in life that you're like i can't put a finger on it but i'm glad it happened yeah about two years ago i just started really focusing on trying to fix my mentality because something made me realize that if i ever wanted to be not depressed and anxious constantly all the time i had to change something inside me if i change something inside me
00:28:40
Speaker
Apparently the rest of the world magically changes with it. And that was really, really, really, really hard to grasp.
00:28:48
Speaker
But I mean, I doubt there's anyone listening to this, because it's mostly made for the company. If there's anyone out there who needs somebody to tell them it is real, well, I mean, it is. I mean, something that shocks me to see is that one of your questions is about how positive I am. And I just don't see myself in that light. I don't see myself as a positive person. My whole life, I've been the negative Nancy who is so negative nobody wants to be around me.
00:29:15
Speaker
So for me it's a real big deal that people see me as positive but also on the same token the fact that I've made that transition is the reason I am the person I am today and why I am so good at machining for my age and why I'm so punctual despite many incidents that I've had coming into work and things like that.
00:29:38
Speaker
Well, thank you for sharing that. I think that's really impactful. And, you know, it's interesting hearing how you processed it. And that, again, goes to something that I've been trying to work on myself, which is just, and this is where I think positivity comes from, just the realization that you control the way you approach every situation and what you think about it. You know, you can wake up
00:30:04
Speaker
you know everyone at HFW and in most of the world especially the work the trades in the industrial world wakes up early right oh yeah and so you can wake up like oh I hate that I have to wake up early I hate that or you can wake up like
00:30:20
Speaker
You know what, my life's pretty good. I get paid well. You know, if you work in the shop, you mostly get Fridays off. You know, there's just, I think it's, and obviously, like, actually my, it's, it's funny because my girlfriend and I were talking about this because she's going through exams at the end of the semester at school. So not a fun period of time. And we were having this conversation. It's not like,
00:30:44
Speaker
anyone wakes up says oh boy I can't wait to take an exam but you can control your mindset especially her she's a phenomenal student you know that's a great opportunity to show show off what what you can do and you know I thought it was stupid uh you know when I was in in like middle school and high school some teachers would call tests what celebration of celebrations of knowledge which is a little bit of a euphemism but
00:31:08
Speaker
You know, it really is. It's all about how you approach it. If you go into something or you approach something negatively, chances are you're going to come out of it and think negatively about it. But if you go in and you have a positive mindset, it just completely transforms the whole way, your whole experience and really your whole day. I mean, it's been, I can totally relate.
00:31:30
Speaker
I've been fortunate, I haven't gone through, had a ton of anxiety or depression, but just completely changing your mindset and how you approach something and what you think is something, it makes your quality of life so much better. Yeah, I would say so. Because like, I mean, I'll be honest, most mornings I wake up before work, I'm like, it is so early, I don't want to get up. I'm not saying I don't feel that way. But you have to flip the switch pretty quick. Every morning that I wake up, I'm like, I do not want to go in.
00:31:59
Speaker
And I'm like, I get up, I get ready, and I come in, and I get here, and I'm like, cool. What am I working on today? I'm ready. I'm excited. Well, it's funny because we had one of the questions you got right here. What does get you out of bed in the morning? What gets you excited? What do you look forward to when you wake up in the morning? What gets me out of the bed in the morning is honestly my ideal future, if that makes sense.
Financial Planning and Goals
00:32:26
Speaker
I've known since I was like 12 that I want kids in the future. But I realized for a long time that if I want to have kids and not be like all the other fuck up parents I've seen and not fuck up in the way that they're bad parents but they just they can't provide as much as they want to or they can't provide as much as they need to or that or anything like that.
00:32:50
Speaker
the most common thing i've noticed is it just had kids before they were financially stable enough to take care of themselves let alone another person so my thing that gets me up and to work every morning is that i want to i want to work really hard for first few years of my career
00:33:10
Speaker
so then i have set up myself pretty well and i won't have to work as hard in the future i'll be financially stable maybe hopefully financially stable enough to take care of some kids and be able to take some more free time than i would now so then i can have more time to spend with my kids and then i have enough money for myself my hopefully wife and children to all be comfortable and i have to worry too much wow i actually have had very similar thoughts i feel like
00:33:40
Speaker
In popular society, I feel like it's common to see people talking about really enjoying your 20s, which I don't disagree with, but I also think your 20s are a time to work your tail off a little bit and go hard in your 20s before you have kids, assuming you have, so let's say you have a kid around 30, I guess that's the assumption, you don't have a kid super young. Or even just before, if you have a kid at 25, I think that period of time, you're healthy,
00:34:08
Speaker
You can get up. You can work weird hours, right? You know, as you get older, it gets a lot harder to do both from a health longer hours. Yeah. Yeah. And you can go longer. I'm the same way. I just feel like I'm just trying to go as hard as I can before I have kids. So I do have the time to be there with them. I was definitely I.
00:34:28
Speaker
I guess I kind of gave it away there. I'm not really playing. I'm trying not to have kids until probably at least 30 or so. It sounds like you're a little ahead of where I am in terms of thinking about that. I was not thinking about kids when I was 18 years old. I've been thinking about them for years. You said 12. I'm still not really thinking about kids. So you've got me be.
00:34:46
Speaker
I mean, I think that's that long-term mindset, too. I think that's helpful, too. When the day-to-day can be a grind, thinking about the bigger picture of what you're doing it for is very important. That's what's gotten me by since I was eight years old, is thinking about what I'm going to do as an adult. I've been planning for my adult life almost as long as I can remember, which is why when it happened, I wasn't focused on the transition. I was focused on getting done what I need to.
00:35:12
Speaker
If I focus on a transition, what's that gonna do for me? If I focus on working, that's actually gonna do something. If I focus on what I can do on my weekends to make sure I have my chores done or to make some extra cash or to keep my relationships good, that's doing something for me. Thinking about how weird and wacky it is that I'm an adult now, what's that doing for me? Most people, every person that I went to school with that I keep in contact with,
00:35:43
Speaker
just talks about how they don't want to think about how they're an adult now. What's that going to do for you? That means you're going to be struggling just as much in five years as you are right now if you're just focused on how you don't want to be an adult. When instead you can work as hard as you think you are capable of now. And then when you end up working harder than you think you're capable of, you're going to be proud of yourself. You do that for a few years. And then five years down the road, you all of a sudden don't have to work as hard because you've built something for yourself.
00:36:12
Speaker
I see it that way because I've done so much looking into investing and putting away money for saving and stuff like that. And the one consistent is that time is more powerful than money. If you put away a little bit of money and when you're 18 it is going to be worth far more than if you put away a little bit when you're 30.
00:36:32
Speaker
Most people, they don't start thinking about it until they're 30. And then they get screwed and they struggle their whole life just because they started caring too late. If I start caring now and I work my booty off for a few years, maybe I might have done just enough to make it so I don't have to work as hard.
00:36:53
Speaker
I don't think maybe. I mean with this mindset, I don't think it's a maybe. I think it's, I mean you don't want to be complacent, but I think with that mindset and what you're thinking and the things that you're thinking through as an 18 year old, I mean you have a very bright future. Something that stuck with me for many years. I don't even remember where I first heard it.
00:37:12
Speaker
But somewhere I heard somebody say that your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits and your habits become your personality. And I looked at my habits at that time and I did not like them. So I knew I had to start with my thoughts. That's awesome. It took me years to get to where I am now and I'm not where I want to be.
00:37:36
Speaker
But I'm happier than I was. And that, for me, is a win. I mean, hey, I'm in a company that I'm proud to work for right now. That, for me, is a win. Most people, in general, not even my age, hate their day-to-day life and are just repressing the fact that they honestly don't want to live it anymore. That is the current American struggle.
00:38:03
Speaker
I mean there's so many things to unpack right there. The majority of people in the American workforce are depressed or anxious or both and all studies done in America on the workforce show that most people are on the path that ends them calling a suicide prevention hotline or being found in their house in a way that their family didn't want to see.
Workplace Satisfaction and Company Culture
00:38:26
Speaker
Well I think that's.
00:38:30
Speaker
Not to be quite that dark, but I think what I have noticed where my mentality comes from. Well, no, but I think it's it's you bring up a point where most people like work is just a gets them something right gets you advise you the life that you want. It allows you to do certain things and that's good. But I don't know. Fundamentally, I just think it's wrong that so many people are subjected to a work environment they don't like and working with people that
00:38:57
Speaker
they wouldn't hang out with outside of work and not that you know you should be buddy buddy with everyone but I just think that like one of my goals
00:39:05
Speaker
Really, my primary goal is, and I think we're doing some good things toward this, is to build the most people-centric manufacturer where people come to work and they're satisfied by what they do. They're not beaten down by a boss they hate. You know, the workday isn't grueling. People aren't being subjected to crazy things that are unsafe.
00:39:31
Speaker
Uh, and really build something where you can build the career that you want. So if you want to rise up to be like the top machinist or an engineer or, um, you know, whatever it is or a manager, you know, whatever that path is, um, to alighted or if you just, you know, want to be, you want a comfortable career that's reliable, provide that too. And I think HFW has been.
00:39:54
Speaker
you know obviously I'm biased but I think has provided that well for most if not all of the 75-year history that the company's been here but I can just say like hearing you say that is validation of I think what we're trying to build here which is this company that's really focused on our people. We've always been
00:40:16
Speaker
I think we've always done a good job in terms of the, I think the pay and the benefits are always, have always been good. We tried it as best we can to be industry leading. It's a constant, that's a constantly evolving game. That's a whole other podcast, but I think now it's tapping into some of that emotional side too, and keeping you, keeping people emotionally content and
00:40:41
Speaker
you know playing into that uh that this like I guess the say the psychological safety and all that's a term that's thrown around a lot um I don't know I just am very committed to being uh building this company where you can come and have an engaging and rewarding career because I think it's such a shame like I understand that you know not everyone's working their dream job right like
00:41:08
Speaker
a lot of people when they're kids you know dreamt of being an athlete or an actor or something like you know something that's kind of unrealistic to most people but at the same time I don't think you have that doesn't mean okay so you're not an actor but that doesn't mean you have to work a dead-end job that you hate your whole life I think that's why
00:41:30
Speaker
And I think what we do here is cool too, right? It's not like where everyone's sitting in just a hive of cubicles all day. I think it's a pretty engaging dynamic. It's cool what we do, and we're trying to explain what the work we do is used for. I don't know. So I'm going to end my diatribe now, but I think that
00:41:53
Speaker
you just really kind of hit on something that's like a core value of mine which is building a rewarding workplace where you don't feel like you're all working toward nothing or you know your life's kind of miserable.
00:42:04
Speaker
The way I see it, it's a conflict of mentalities. I'm going to reference a stand-up comedian I was watching over the weekend. I don't remember who he was. All I remember is he's born mainland China, fully Chinese, came to the U.S. when he was real young with his parents. And he was talking to his father at some point about how he wants to do a job that he loves and that he's passionate about.
00:42:30
Speaker
And his job was not very proofing of his, his father was not very proofing of his job because it was stand-up comedy. And, well, I'm not gonna try to sound bad, but the way the comedian put it is his father wanted him to do stereotypical things like being a doctor. And the way his father put it was, no, you don't go to work to do what you love. You go to work to do what you hate to get money to use to do what you love.
00:43:01
Speaker
And that's just how it was for centuries. That's how it was since hunter-gatherer days. You spent a certain period of time during the day doing enough, especially during hunter-gatherer days, enough really challenging work to earn your ability to live for that day. And only then did you get to go back to your tribe and live, do something that you like. Yeah, maybe you liked what you did, but they didn't care if you did or not.
00:43:29
Speaker
Well, I think you have to, it's interesting because like you look at like the hunter-gatherer days and even less developed countries, if you want to call into that today, you have to take care of basic essentials, right? And so that might require doing things that you don't necessarily want to do. But now we're in a place in an amazing country like the United States where you, you know, the basic, even for people that are in poverty or near poverty,
00:43:53
Speaker
A lot of people still have, most people still have access to the basic essentials. So then you're kind of moving up the hierarchy of what's important to humans. And I think that
00:44:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think we've moved beyond that. It doesn't have to be. I just question the assumption that, you know, work has to be a place that's associated with bad things. I don't think it has to be. And like, my goal, I love this company, obviously. And my goal is to make everyone that works here love this company. And if you don't, I'm not personally a fan. I know not everyone likes the company or loves the company they work for. My goal is to help people get there. And I know not everyone's a fit, right?
00:44:31
Speaker
people find their own niche, it might not be at this company that I'm not saying that every person, we're not building a cult here. But I don't know, I just think there's something to that point that, you know, if you find meaning in what you're doing, it makes your life so much more valuable.
00:44:49
Speaker
Definitely. So a couple closing questions just real quick.
Career Choices and Teamwork
00:44:53
Speaker
As a younger guy, I'm curious what excites you about HFW. You've made the decision to come here. What is it about the company that we're doing well and that drove your decision to be here? And what do you like about it now? I'd say big reason why I came here.
00:45:15
Speaker
It was very different from what I did in BOCES but the same area and that intrigued me. Big reason why I'm here still is there's just so many learning opportunities and I'm learning.
00:45:33
Speaker
Reasonably quickly, I've always been that way. It's something I'm proud of. But the fact that the higher ups than me, my managers, kind of forced me to slow down in a way I think is good for me. Because it allows me to digest a little bit more than I normally do. And I'm learning a lot. Since I have to slow down, I spend longer on each step.
00:45:54
Speaker
So while there's not more steps, it feels like there's more. And I most days feel like I'm learning. Obviously, as an example, I've been doing the roles.
00:46:06
Speaker
I'm pretty good at them. They're simple in my eyes, and I can get them done pretty reliably. I haven't messed up one yet. I mean, there's going to be a day. There's always a day. I've been saying that for so long though. That's what I find funny. There's always going to be a day. But anyways, obviously, if I'm doing roles, I'm not going to be learning much more. But there's always something. Like most roles are on journals. So I do my work mounting a certain way.
00:46:34
Speaker
But not too long ago, I got rolls actually at the center board. That was a completely different game. I thought it was going to be really, really easy and it's going to be just like the other ones. And oh boy, it just wasn't. And that to me was exciting because while it was frustrating and it took longer than it should have. And we also little bit of money on that stuff. I learned a lot.
00:46:54
Speaker
that to me is exciting it was a new challenge and I'm not doing roles every day there's days where I do something new that to me is new and exciting and a challenge that for me is what keeps me here I like I like feeling like I'm progressing kind of kind of like a video game how you go up in levels and the machinist world as you go up in levels through complexity of parts difficulty of machine and trust among your peers awesome that's really cool to hear
00:47:24
Speaker
Last thing I got, and then if you have anything else to add, I'll let you do that as well. Can you give a shout out to someone at HFW that you think is doing great work or has helped you a lot and deserves some recognition?
00:47:38
Speaker
I mean, there's a lot of people here doing great work. One person I've been paying attention to since I started here is Brandon, the guy who runs shipping under Jacob. He busts his butt every day. I've seen him come in looking sick and he still runs rampant. He stresses himself out a lot and still he is just busting his booty. He works really hard. It's something I've admired.
00:48:07
Speaker
Another one is Zelco. Obviously, everyone knows he's worked like a donkey here and a lot by his own choice. But something I really appreciate is I think he's I think he likes me because oftentimes he would just come up to look at what I'm working on and ask me questions or give his suggestions on how he would recommend to do it. And he doesn't get bothered by me going up to him while he's working on something and just asking questions or just watching him or having to explain to me what's going on.
00:48:37
Speaker
and if I need help finding something a lot of times I'll go and ask Zelco if it's to do with the lades and he's always very happy to help me find something. There was one day I was on 196 for a long time because Pete was gone and Fred and Mike didn't have anything for me so I made a three-quarter standard wooden wrench
00:49:00
Speaker
and he went out of his way to help me find a sanding wheel for it because I didn't know how to find it stuff like that it means a lot to me he doesn't have to take his time but he goes out of his way to help me there's a lot of people like that here that's awesome I mean just to touch on those two guys zelco I mean he's why we're
00:49:21
Speaker
He's one of the reasons we first got into going to the BOCES program is because trying to replace that knowledge, you know, ZELCO, you got guys like ZELCO and Fred. I mean, those two guys have almost 100 years. Yeah, Mark Zach. I mean, we could go down to Rich Hender. We could keep going. Bob Luns. I'm just going to like all those guys that are
00:49:47
Speaker
you know senior machinists or grinders or thermal sprayers have so much knowledge and you know a guy like zelco has been doing this since probably before he was 18 even
00:50:03
Speaker
When that knowledge, when he, you know, trust me, he has earned his retirement, but trying to like, trying to replace that knowledge is, I mean, you're not going to be able to do it, but it's how, you know, it's how much can you, you know, we have someone like you learn from him before he retires. That was one of the big, that's why we're trying to get so many young guys in here now. And it's, you know, upfront, when we have a lot of young guys that aren't necessarily being super productive right up front, it's tough. You kind of just have to swallow it and keep going. But, um,
00:50:32
Speaker
the whole reason for doing that is to have to get you guys some exposure to a guy like him who just I mean talk about just an expert and just a craftsman I mean that's
00:50:48
Speaker
That's what he is and trying to, I guess, replace that. I mean, like I said, you're not going to be able to do it, but if we can at least have young guys like yourself and like Anthony and like Connor and like Andrew and a bunch of others learn from a guy like him, it's going to be helpful to everyone in the long run.
00:51:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And then Brandon, I got Brandon's a hustler, man. And, you know, obviously, we're where, where we sit with machining and grinding and even thermal spray where, you know, it's a very
00:51:21
Speaker
There's so much skill and precision needed. I think it's very easy to overlook something like shipping right because it's not necessarily like you don't go to school for shipping normally right you go to school for machining or grinding or thermal spray, obviously engineering.
00:51:37
Speaker
But shipping, like, those guys touch 100% of the things that come in and go out of here. Well, let's put it this way. Without Brandon, none of us would get our paychecks. Exactly. Because everything relies on, on Brandon, on Ronnie, and Jacob, obviously, running the department there.
00:51:55
Speaker
I just yeah I'm really appreciative that you brought him up because Brandon is a hustler too and Ronnie too learning obviously he's newer so he's learning the ropes a little bit but I think it's again very easy to overlook something that's maybe not necessarily a core operation right we're usually not getting paid to make a box but
00:52:15
Speaker
Not only do they touch every part, but if something goes wrong, man, that can screw up the whole job. So it's a very important role. And yeah, I appreciate you bringing him up. And I would concur he's doing a great job. There are certain parts that if Brandon made a really, really small mistake on, we could lose 20 grand.
00:52:35
Speaker
Yeah, at least at least like that. That's a big deal. That's an important job and most people go. He's a low life for that job. If if somebody. Was to see him outside of work and all he told them the only thing he told them is I make boxes for shipping.
00:52:52
Speaker
They wouldn't say it, but they would think lowly of him Well, they knew that every day he touches hundreds of thousands of dollars of parts. Yeah profit They'd be like wow, that's a big deal No, it's because when you say, you know There's a lot of different boxes a pizza box is a lot different than the boxes that we're making here, right? So these are all custom well for the most part are custom boxes that yeah are holding parts that are anywhere from you know, a couple thousand dollars to
00:53:19
Speaker
Yeah, a couple hundred thousand dollars. That's a big responsibility, especially as a younger guy. And, you know, in Brandon's been here, you know, less than a year and already he's just shown so much promise and a hardworking guy.
00:53:37
Speaker
Yeah, he has that right can do attitude. Like, yeah, like, I think you mentioned this too, you you rarely ever see him sitting still. And we really appreciate the hard work. So I'm glad you brought brought two great guys up. So thank you. Obviously, they're not the only people. But I think between the two of them, they do a really good job of encompassing what makes the kind of person that should be shouted out here. And there's plenty of people in the company that fit that.
00:54:06
Speaker
Well, they're both great representations of HFW. And I appreciate both of them. So thanks for that. Of course. All right. So we've gone on for a little bit of time here, almost an hour. I'm going to let you get back to work because I'm distracting you. But before we do that, anything else you'd like to close with?
00:54:24
Speaker
I think we've had enough information inside this podcast. I'm kind of a talker. That's all right. I think this is it. This is a great conversation. I went down some avenues I wasn't expecting to go down, but I think that was great and really impactful conversation. I really appreciate it. That happens a lot with me. Well, hey, Jane, I appreciate this. I appreciate you. You're a tremendous addition to our team, and we love having you here. So thank you. Of course, all the same.