Currently I draw up the prints of things actual Engineers design. Working on my degree in Engineering so I can be one of the cool kids, too.

Working at Kato has been not only interesting, but- to be blunt- fun. I have grown a lot in the short time I have been there, having learned skills that I otherwise may have missed had I not taken the leap and applied. Running machines is only part of the experience, and the bigger lessons I feel are yet to come. Everything from lifting heavy awkward loads, to computing offsets to account for skew in the machines is only icing on the cake when factored against the potential learning opportunities.

Working at 3M was an interesting and rewarding experience. During my tenure with 3M via Volt, I learned a lot about the importance of tolerance and component quality with regards to manufacturing. Even though my duties were limited to running assemblers and molding machines, I found out very quickly how sloppiness in one step in a line of processes can cause hangups and inefficiency further down the line. In addition, I learned a lot about customer satisfaction, and quality control at the lowest level. 3M runs on the lean principle, and working there, while attending school for Machining, I was able to witness first hand the methods I was studying in the real world. During this time, lean manufacturing made sense, and I began to understand the methodology behind it. No longer was this some strange Japanese system, but a comprehensive and capable model that could work effectively only when applied at the lowest level.

Even though my job was simple, the lessons I learned were numerous. I jokingly say that the biggest lesson I learned was that I hate working in kitchens, and while that is important, I learned more about customer care and satisfaction and relational marketing than anything else. I would deal with many regular customers during my overnights there, and it became apparent to me that treating the customers as friends caused two things to happen. First- they actually became friends. Second, customer loyalty was established. There were a few patrons who would only come to my store while I was working, because they liked dealing with me. Granted, I can only go off what they told me, but if they were being honest, then I can only assume that my manner and friendly attitude paved the way for repeat sales. Kwik Trip has a model that insists upon "suggestive sales," and while that may seem like a smart system, there are problems that I ran into. First, I found that one off customers were less likely than repeat customers to agree to the suggestive sell. Repeat customers, whom I had established relationships with, were much morel likely to purchase an offered item. Sometimes, I would simply be honest, and tell them that I had a goal of selling "X" of a certain item, and they would buy one or two in an effort to help me attain my goal. It was the relational aspect of marketing, not the suggestive aspect of marketing, that made additional sales. And to be honest, the relational aspect was far easier to manage and attain success with than the suggestive aspect. Make a friend, and they trust you and are willing to help- even if that means buying day old doughnuts.

Quality trumps quantity- especially in the world of handmade goods. Working at Wood n' Windows was an education in and of itself. I got the job directly after completing my degree in creative writing, and during my time, really enjoyed the work. I learned a lot about wood working and building quality products in the process. What a customer wants is what they want, and delivering that desire is the goal of any manufacturer. There were times when we had to run our brains on overdrive to attain the goal of customer satisfaction, but in the end, there wasn't a single project that we failed to deliver on during my year there. Attention to detail was paramount in delivering the customers vision, and even though I was a simple cabinet maker, I was an integral part in that process. Working at Wood n' Windows was an eye opening experience that gave me a healthy understanding of customer care. Watching my boss and coworker (both twenty plus year veterans in the trade) interact and work with customers at the sight and in the office, was a good lesson for me in relational marketing. It was made even more impactful when I learned that many of the customers I interacted with were in fact repeat customers themselves. Treat a customer right, and they will buy multiple $20,000 kitchens from you. Treat them wrong, and they won't give you $20 for a window repair.

I was an infantry rifleman from 2001-2005 with 1st Battalion 8th Marines, and an anti-tank assault guided missile man with 2nd Battalion 6th Marines from 2006-2010. I attained the rank of Sergeant, E-5. I received an honorable discharge. As a Marine, I was responsible for many different roles. I lead Marines during deployments and back in the United States, helping them grow and become leaders themselves. As a leader of Marines, I not only helped my Marines grow professionally, but personally through a comprehensive mentorship program that included monthly counselings wherein I would rate (and be rated) according to job performance, as well as daily leadership challenges ranging from knowing where my subordinates were and what they were doing to upcoming appointments and personal issues. All this aided me in not only accomplishing my mission as a leader, but allowed me to attend to the needs of those under my charge. Leadership, in my eyes, was formed with the Marine Corps' leadership definition of "Mission accomplishment and troop welfare." During my tenure as a Marine, I earned awards for calm in the face of danger, as well as accolades for constructing and maintaining a database that had all the relevant information for my platoon from emergency contact information, to general issue of equipment, to vaccination and class participation. Every facet of a platoon must be documented and recorded accurately, and I was very good at that task.The Marines taught me many soft skills that I carry with me today such as followhip, leadership, attention to detail, focus in adversity, team working and problem solving, and the ability to communicate between levels of leadership in a tactful manner. As a Marine, I gained confidence and the ability and desire to instruct other in what I knew, and the humility and ability to ask questions even and admit when I didn't know something, even when doing so might make me look stupid.