Episode 46

GenZ in manufacturing with Eric Thompson

We are excited to Welcome our first GenZ guest Eric Thompson.

Eric walks us through how he got into the Blue Collar industry. How he always had an interest in taking things apart and seeing how things worked. He worked in machining and designing in his high school robotics program. This is what created his interest in engineering which led him to get his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering.

He is now an Application Engineer at Furey Filter & Pump, Inc. He talks about his perspective as being one of the younger employees in his company. How he has been embraced by his coworkers, what his goals are for the future and he gives some advice for the younger generation thinking of getting into manufacturing.

Episode Highlights:

03:00 - Eric's story of getting into manufacturing.

9:20 - How Eric has dealt with being the youngest in his company and how the seasoned employees have helped and guided him.

15:28 - How past experience can really help you and gain respect from your team even as being one of the youngest employees in the building.

20:19 - Eric's advice for the younger generation and how everyone should have basic knowledge of how to work with their hands.

Contact your hosts:

Steve Doyle:

Website

LinkedIn

Email

Brad Herda:

Website

LinkedIn

Email

Eric Thompson:

LinkedIn



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
doyle]:

my friend brad heard how are you doing today

herda]:

and wonderful m stephen doyle and how is your friday afternoon here in mid to

herda]:

late october

doyle]:

it is excellent it is cool it is crisp it is raining perfect mid west

doyle]:

weather

herda]:

no

doyle]:

perfect

herda]:

rain no rain here partly cloudy but it's going to get really find cold tonight

herda]:

so winter is

doyle]:

perfect

herda]:

rearing its ugly heads

doyle]:

perfect it is perfect so well today on the show brad

herda]:

yep

doyle]:

who do we have today on the show

herda]:

today on this show we are honored

doyle]:

ah

herda]:

and pleased to have our first gen z guest who happened to go back aways

herda]:

he's part of the robotics team that i was so fortunate to mentor great young

herda]:

gentleman who has completed his education and is now a productive member of society m

herda]:

erick thompson

thompson]:

thanks for having me

herda]:

well

doyle]:

welcome

herda]:

thanks for letting us twist your arm

thompson]:

yeah

herda]:

and

doyle]:

uh

herda]:

baiting the showing up

doyle]:

uh yeah

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

so before we get started eric we always ask everybody the same question which generation

doyle]:

do you best fit in with

thompson]:

um technically by year the first year gens i'm not really sure if i fit

thompson]:

in there but i also don't think i fit in with millennials that well i'm

thompson]:

kind of in a gray one i'm sure that everyone right on the edge of

thompson]:

two generations fields

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

yes you're in that you're in that yes you're in the circle of the friend

herda]:

zone so to speak shall we say

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

but

doyle]:

friend zone

thompson]:

by

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

year i am the first year gens

herda]:

that's right

doyle]:

excellent while we

herda]:

right

doyle]:

get to welcome our first gen zero on the show so welcome

thompson]:

thank

doyle]:

welcome

thompson]:

you

doyle]:

welcome

herda]:

so eric obviously we've known each other for a few years now right good or

herda]:

bad for me maybe not so good for you

thompson]:

it's been good

doyle]:

okay

herda]:

thank you

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

walk us through kind of your your exposure to trade skills things what your journey

herda]:

was like through robotics and then how you decided maybe to get down that down

herda]:

your educational path post high school

thompson]:

starting out when i was young i've always wanted to know how stuff worked love

thompson]:

taking stuff apart pretty much the story of any engineer i'm not always going to

thompson]:

say i was the best putting it back together

herda]:

there's

thompson]:

but

herda]:

the key

doyle]:

m

herda]:

there's the key

thompson]:

great at take and stuff apart

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

so

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

enjoyed that and then got to high school found out they had a robotic program

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

decided to join and went into the machining and design role there so got to

thompson]:

learn how to use mills lays anything you see in the any mechanical thing you

thompson]:

see in the machine shop i didn't do any of the c and c type

thompson]:

stuff but that got me real interested in engineering through talking through a couple of

thompson]:

the mentors in robotics i figured out i wanted to do engineering i did a

thompson]:

couple different schools ended up going to w stout for mechanical engineering there for four

thompson]:

years got graduated twenty nineteen in mechanical engineering their first year so i'm the first

thompson]:

year of stout's mechanical engineering program and then i

herda]:

just a ton

thompson]:

got

herda]:

of

thompson]:

a cup

herda]:

first going on here eric

thompson]:

ton of first

doyle]:

way

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

so got a job right out of college

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

got laid off during all the fun covid stuff and now i'm currently at my

thompson]:

second job over at fury filtering pump and i'm technically an application engineer there so

thompson]:

part mechanical engineering part in side sales

herda]:

awesome do you does

doyle]:

very cool

herda]:

is fury do they have their own shop do they produce their own goods and

herda]:

services or is it all outside

doyle]:

m

thompson]:

we do almost everything in shop so

herda]:

okay

thompson]:

we are a large scale pump supply or so we do anything from just supplying

thompson]:

like all the c n c pumps at harley davidson we also do a lot

thompson]:

of oil and gas a lot of dairy things like that so we'll build out

thompson]:

full pump skids any of the pumping needs that you may have we can help

thompson]:

with so we got projects in the bahamas we got projects across the us

herda]:

ye

thompson]:

anywhere and everywhere in between that involves a pump

herda]:

okay so does your robotics experience and the exposure that you had to making things

herda]:

creating things working from a working from a print and making chips has that helped

herda]:

you at all your communications or environment at your current role going back and forth

herda]:

from the floor from a design and application perspective

thompson]:

so i still do sometimes design up my job more often than now but i'm

thompson]:

creating quotes

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

and things like that but i still do use solid works at work and drop

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

all my own designs if i need to if the other side is busy so

thompson]:

having that knowledge i actually learned how to cad model in high school and then

thompson]:

learned clearly a little bit more in college but

herda]:

just

thompson]:

that's what

herda]:

a little

thompson]:

started

herda]:

bit

thompson]:

my interest in

herda]:

yes

thompson]:

time

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

yes

thompson]:

any bit

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

but that's what started it but i would say the thing that's helped me more

thompson]:

than knowing how to machine knowing how to design

herda]:

my

thompson]:

is what i learned in robotics was how we use the bill of materials how

thompson]:

to track the stages of progression through

herda]:

m

thompson]:

build and just the documentation side is what i use i would say a lot

thompson]:

more because while i am inside sales i do project manage my own projects so

thompson]:

making sure everything is ordered everything on time can through it like that

herda]:

sweet

doyle]:

so take me back because obviously you and brad have a have a history like

doyle]:

in robotic so

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

yes

doyle]:

take our listeners

herda]:

and who

doyle]:

back

herda]:

do i look like

doyle]:

whatever

thompson]:

no idea

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

just

herda]:

okay eric

doyle]:

shut

thompson]:

not me

doyle]:

up

doyle]:

so take us

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

back take our listeners back to when you were in the robotics

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

the high school robotics you know working on things with your hands what was the

doyle]:

moment that kind of clicked for you that said this is what i want to

doyle]:

be doing

thompson]:

i would just say it was day and day out of working on the lathe

thompson]:

that's mostly what i did and i was just building parts and it got repetitive

thompson]:

tiring you're like really kind of what's the point of this

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

and then once the parts were made

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

and you got to start assembling the robot itself seeing that all the work you

thompson]:

put in beforehand it's finally coming together you're building a whole machine and then after

thompson]:

you're done you look at it and you're like we built that that was just

thompson]:

a pile of raw stock beforehand we designed all the parts we machine all the

thompson]:

parts ourselves and then we assembled it all and now we got a full working

thompson]:

robot that we get to go compete with it was that scene going from thoughts

thompson]:

in our heads and brain stormings to getting raw stock to you need all of

thompson]:

that the whole process of being able to watch it all come together as i

thompson]:

think what inspired me to the mechanical engineering route

doyle]:

cool and so how is that expertise and knowledge that you learn there how is

doyle]:

that transpired into kind of lie where you are today and the second part is

doyle]:

where you want to be tomorrow

thompson]:

so i would just say the basic knowledge is learn machining laren to be more

thompson]:

organized i'm still not going to say i am the most organized person

herda]:

uh

thompson]:

but

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

learned how

herda]:

uh

thompson]:

to be organized

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

ye

thompson]:

and i have my own system that works haven't dropped anything yet bad so we're

thompson]:

still doing good

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

but the organization everything like that i kind of just set me up for my

thompson]:

job now i have to follow through well in high school it was just one

thompson]:

project you had now i'm running multiple projects working on different things every day i

thompson]:

mean just being able to keep everything straight and being able to have that basic

thompson]:

knowledge beforehand that was you can handle one project eventually you'll learn to step up

thompson]:

through a couple of more so i would

doyle]:

right

thompson]:

say it was just that base level learn the basics get that all down and

thompson]:

then you can build on top of that add more and add more so i

thompson]:

mean when i started my job here i was only working on one two projects

thompson]:

at a time and now i can be working on it where eight nine keep

thompson]:

them all flowing pretty well so like anything else you get that base level in

thompson]:

and you'll be are set up for the future and where i want to be

thompson]:

i mean right now i'm still only a year and a half in at this

thompson]:

job so i can't really say that i'm even beginning to scratch the surface of

thompson]:

everything i can do

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

but i'm just going to try to keep keeping my head down get the work

thompson]:

done make sure nothing falls through the cracks and i think that's really the most

thompson]:

important thing for me right now

herda]:

okay

doyle]:

right

herda]:

so i

doyle]:

so with with the current employment that you have obviously you're one of the younger

doyle]:

in the work force

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

how is that experience going being

herda]:

m

doyle]:

younger than the work force like from a let's just

herda]:

m

doyle]:

talk from a like a communication

herda]:

m

doyle]:

standpoint with

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

piers

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

m

thompson]:

um so i am the youngest of my company right now but over all it's

thompson]:

not

herda]:

m

thompson]:

really been that big of an issue clearly you're going to have

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

some of the stuff it's really the biggest thing that i found is it's whether

thompson]:

or not the older generation is willing to teach i have been lucky that i've

thompson]:

had really good people at my work that have been willing to take me under

thompson]:

their wing like clearly they have a lot of the knowledge that i do not

thompson]:

have yet they've been in the industry thirty forty years and i came in no

thompson]:

knowledge of the pumping applications industry

herda]:

kay

thompson]:

so then well to take the time in introduce me to it has been the

thompson]:

biggest thing i mean clearly you're always going to have some small issues whether it's

thompson]:

zoom calls and you're trying to get everyone on it you fifteen people on the

thompson]:

zoom call and seven people can't be heard and

herda]:

yes

thompson]:

two people are

herda]:

so

thompson]:

they just got random static in the background but i mean like all that's able

thompson]:

to be worked through that's not an issue so

herda]:

that's hilarious

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

yeah m

herda]:

technology is sometimes

doyle]:

it

herda]:

not your friend i get it it's it's

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

it is different as you are as you've entered the work for us even previous

herda]:

employments and through your intern ships and different things did you always have a cent

herda]:

was there a sense of hey you belong here you are you're wanted or was

herda]:

it a some of the places

doyle]:

yah

herda]:

more of a yeah you're just the kid that just came in the

doyle]:

yah

herda]:

door you don't know shit so just leave me alone and go file that paper

herda]:

make that drawing was there any of that at all

thompson]:

there's been some of h i mean it is hard to get really into the

thompson]:

work flow while you're on an intern ship you're on i did two three months

thompson]:

ensurnships in college so it's really hard to integrate yourself into a working environment when

thompson]:

you're only there for three months you know you're going to be gone and they

thompson]:

know you're going to be gone so it's like how much time are you

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

really going invest in someone when it's not really going to pay off in three

thompson]:

months because working now i've been working for a year and a half three months

thompson]:

doesn't seem like anything and i've only been in it for a little bit so

thompson]:

i can only imagine people that are in it twenty thirty years every summer you

thompson]:

get a new kate coming in i mean how much time are you really going

thompson]:

to spend with each kid but since i've been at fury fury filtering pump everybody

thompson]:

s been willing i mean the hardest part was when i was hired on we

thompson]:

had a lack of people and just at that time the higher ups couldn't spend

thompson]:

three hours teaching me how to do something so it was kind of thrown into

thompson]:

the deep end and i mean i learned through it but now that we're more

thompson]:

we have more people there were able to spend more time with each people so

thompson]:

i've had i think i am there's nine or ten people hired since me in

thompson]:

the last year and a half

herda]:

o

thompson]:

and as we get more each person is getting better because we're able to spend

thompson]:

more time we're not so pushed for time on each thing we're able to spend

thompson]:

more time building up their skills before kind of throwing them into everything

herda]:

okay how how much time do you get to go out on the floor and

herda]:

and learn and end see um or talk to the gentlemen on the floor about

herda]:

can we make this application work we make it more efficient can we find a

herda]:

way to do it maybe for less to create more margin opportunities um some of

herda]:

those things back from the rock we didn't we had a budget but we didn't

herda]:

actually care i mean i believe you worked on one of the material cost sheet

herda]:

one year um wasn't a big deal but now that you're in real life an

herda]:

adult i let those things

doyle]:

uh

herda]:

now matter

doyle]:

uh

herda]:

how

doyle]:

uh uh

herda]:

how has that interaction

thompson]:

yes

herda]:

been in um in the organization and has it been open open arms or or

herda]:

not

thompson]:

so my first couple of weeks that i spent the entire time on the floor

thompson]:

learning basically how to assemble pumps assemble pump skids motor assemblies things like that so

thompson]:

i just got a

herda]:

m

thompson]:

base of like this is everything

herda]:

m

thompson]:

you're going to need when you start quoting i meag every pumps got to have

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

obviously the pump the motor the coupling guard the couplings the base played and all

thompson]:

the bolts and everything you need on that aspect so learning everything i needed beforehand

thompson]:

was good so when i was eventually building up my p m u

herda]:

m

thompson]:

it wouldn't be that i was forgetting major components

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

but

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

as of making stuff more efficient in margin i build up a quote got everything

thompson]:

in there and it kind of doesn't really change that often for me a lot

thompson]:

of our stuff is speck based so

herda]:

okay

thompson]:

it's not like hey i can switch out this for a different thing i mean

thompson]:

i work a lot in oil and gas right now and oil and gas it's

thompson]:

explosion proof like you don't get a just substitute out i can't substitute a random

thompson]:

motor in like

herda]:

it

thompson]:

they're willing to pay for making it right but it's not like i can be

thompson]:

like hey there's this new experimental

herda]:

okay

thompson]:

thing that one of our vendors has and let's just try it in this application

herda]:

there's

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

i

herda]:

this

thompson]:

mean

herda]:

new rocket we're

thompson]:

most

herda]:

gonna

thompson]:

of

herda]:

send

thompson]:

the

herda]:

up

thompson]:

time

herda]:

to space it

thompson]:

yeah

herda]:

just needs fuel no big deal

doyle]:

right

thompson]:

it's fine it's fine

herda]:

it'll be

thompson]:

we'll

herda]:

okay

thompson]:

just have all this jet fuel spilling on the ground don't worry about it

herda]:

uh

thompson]:

but

herda]:

uh

thompson]:

most of the time when i do have to go

doyle]:

m

thompson]:

on to the floor it's just following up with projects or it's that something went

thompson]:

wrong i mean we get base plates in from one of our vendors something is

thompson]:

a machine core l it's going in trying to figure out different solutions to still

thompson]:

get it out on time so whether that's putting in threaded inserts and changing our

thompson]:

bolts from one size down to another so we can still get everything out that's

thompson]:

more so when i'm out on the floor fixing the problems

herda]:

but when you walk on the floor are you you received on the floor as

herda]:

a hey you're a member of this team or is it more of the i

herda]:

guess i'm trying to get to has your experience in robotics and being able to

herda]:

know what the equipment is doing and how works and all the things you were

herda]:

able to experience have you been able to leverage that to be received on the

herda]:

floor and not just well i don't know what a screw driver is so therefore

herda]:

the guys aren't even gonna talk to you right potentially

thompson]:

so i'm not sure if i consciously m like putting off something that knows that

thompson]:

i know how to work on tooling but i feel like people that are out

thompson]:

in the shop they're very able are very quickly able to tell whether you have

thompson]:

a base line knowledge of easy mechanics how stuff works whether you can look at

thompson]:

something and figure out what's missing i mean they're they've been doing it how long

thompson]:

some guy comes in and they look at something you're standing there have no idea

thompson]:

they can quickly tell when you don't know anything about it verse when you go

thompson]:

in and have

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

some base line knowledge of how stuff gets

doyle]:

my

thompson]:

put together if you see something taken apart like that was my first couple of

thompson]:

weeks can you put it back together so

herda]:

your

thompson]:

i

herda]:

strength

thompson]:

helped

herda]:

putting

thompson]:

take a

herda]:

back

thompson]:

part

herda]:

together

thompson]:

of an entire pump

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

putting it back together learn

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

that

herda]:

this is

thompson]:

but i would say they are very quickly able to tell and that does give

thompson]:

you some credibility

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

so when i go out on the floor i mean they're able to talk to

thompson]:

me any more high level than some people i would say i go out there

thompson]:

they explain what the problem is and i'm able to work through with them rather

thompson]:

than them just more so telling me hey this is what's wrong this is exactly

thompson]:

what we need i can go out and help a little bit with it and

thompson]:

then work together on a better solution

doyle]:

oh

herda]:

okay

doyle]:

they never sent you running off to go get the filter bearings

thompson]:

no board stretchers

doyle]:

ah

thompson]:

no filter bearings none of

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

none of that stuff now

herda]:

no apple

thompson]:

no

herda]:

grease

thompson]:

left handed screw drivers now

doyle]:

it

herda]:

no no the metric

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

flathead don't forget the metric flathead

thompson]:

the good old

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

metric one

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

exactly his

herda]:

yes

doyle]:

exactly those are those were such good times

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

sorry i'm reminiscing though

herda]:

he

thompson]:

no

doyle]:

all the hazing

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

good stuff

thompson]:

luckily they've been very helpful so i haven't been sent on any random quests

doyle]:

uh

herda]:

careful what you ask for

doyle]:

uh

herda]:

once they hear this you never

doyle]:

that's

herda]:

know

doyle]:

right you never know

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

so what is like one thing i'm always interested to hear what is the one

doyle]:

thing that you found to be the most interesting things since joining like a corporate

doyle]:

style or business style company coming in right out of right out of school

thompson]:

um m i didn't realize how much background stuff goes into everything whether it's accounting

thompson]:

whether it's uh following up like in robotics i needed something we would buy from

thompson]:

mc master would show up three days later and you wouldn't have to worry about

thompson]:

it amount of time and planning that goes behind everything how especially how long speck

thompson]:

sheets can be a speck sheet the other day was like a thousand pages long

thompson]:

i'm like what is this and clearly it's especially for the whole project and i

thompson]:

only have to worry about some of the pages

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

but i didn't realize how much

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

red tape was tied up all the way around once the volume of scale so

thompson]:

my company is owned by a larger company ohio transmission corporation just how much has

thompson]:

to go in on the back end of just cutting pos making sure everything gets

thompson]:

out making sure you're not on hold making sure the customers are paying you is

thompson]:

that all the background that like i didn't really think about when i was in

thompson]:

high school it was hey we got a credit card for the group you type

thompson]:

and what you need it comes through but all that back and stuff that i

thompson]:

never release a

doyle]:

okay

herda]:

yes

thompson]:

exhausting

herda]:

this is why this is why my head looks like this eric oh

thompson]:

fair enough

herda]:

kay

doyle]:

oh that's awesome

thompson]:

i tried

herda]:

let's

thompson]:

to

herda]:

get

thompson]:

stay

herda]:

up

thompson]:

out of the county and i tried to let him know hey this is what's

thompson]:

going on but like we got purchasing we got all of that and i am

thompson]:

very thankful for them and i kind of just i'm like this is what i

thompson]:

need you just you do your stuff i'll keep taking care of my stuff and

thompson]:

they're very good about it

doyle]:

m

thompson]:

when they do have an issue they come to me but overall i am not

thompson]:

trying to dive into that realm

herda]:

yeah that's good i don't want to see you in the

doyle]:

yes

herda]:

counting i don't think that would be good for any boy

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

so

doyle]:

yeah

herda]:

so what would

doyle]:

i

herda]:

so for the you know there's a generation behind you right the gen alfa they're

herda]:

the six to leven they're like the eleven year old and younger crowd right now

herda]:

twelve soon to be in high school um and even maybe some of the younger

herda]:

kids that are in high school today to the tail end of your generation um

herda]:

what would you tell them what advice would you give them about being open to

herda]:

working with their hands or being involved in making things versus the technology side of

herda]:

things what would you tell them that as the good things about it to propel

herda]:

or help you in your daily life

doyle]:

ah

thompson]:

um m i mean i think every one should just learn how to do basic

thompson]:

work with their hands i'm not saying you got to know how to disassemble an

thompson]:

engine but know how to use drills know what tools are called now how to

thompson]:

do basic stuff i mean there's so much stuff

doyle]:

m

thompson]:

even around the house that i end up doing putting up shelves whether it's

herda]:

m

thompson]:

that or fixing the sink if you need to something just having a base knowledge

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

of how tools work and what how stuff can go together how to take it

thompson]:

apart it's not just helping you in your job it will help you all the

thompson]:

way through so i think everyone should have minimum a basic tool kit and a

thompson]:

good drill

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

i know a lot of people i went and helped my sister hang pictures i

thompson]:

go there in the she has a little wolmar carrying pouch that has

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

the purple tools and i'm like

herda]:

this

thompson]:

come

herda]:

is cute

thompson]:

on

herda]:

this is cute

thompson]:

just get decent like i'm not even go on amazon by a random cheap tool

thompson]:

box fill it with some cheap harbor freight tools i'm not saying you need to

thompson]:

spend a lot of money i feel like everyone should have a couple of decent

thompson]:

tools and then know how to work with your hands a little bit it's so

thompson]:

applicable in everything you do whether it's change in attire whether it's putting up shelves

thompson]:

or fixing higher and stuff once you get on get future on in life but

thompson]:

just learn a little bit how to work with your hands i mean clearly my

thompson]:

generation is great at computers and why is that because we're surrounded by computers all

thompson]:

day every day

herda]:

right

thompson]:

so you'll see two year olds on e pads so it's not surprising that we're

thompson]:

better at computers than a lot of other generations but like anything

herda]:

hey

thompson]:

else it's

herda]:

y

thompson]:

a skill

herda]:

hey

thompson]:

you need to

herda]:

come

thompson]:

work

herda]:

on

thompson]:

on

herda]:

come on eric

thompson]:

in general

herda]:

oh

thompson]:

we have a better baseline

doyle]:

it's all

thompson]:

knowledge

doyle]:

right it's all right we expect we expect these

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

you know these young whipper snappers to pick on you the boomer brad

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

o

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

but like anything else it's a skill

doyle]:

oh

thompson]:

so

herda]:

right

thompson]:

you got to work on it

herda]:

and skills are learned

doyle]:

ah

herda]:

right

thompson]:

yeah

herda]:

so that's awesome

thompson]:

you're not going to be good at it at the beginning just like how the

thompson]:

older generation once they started learning computers they weren't great at it right away

herda]:

correct

thompson]:

it's a skill you gotta gotta get there

herda]:

correct

doyle]:

hm

herda]:

as you have gone through and and looked at you went through school made those

herda]:

connections um got out into the work force how

thompson]:

oh

herda]:

how much planning or thought went into your you know when you got to fury

herda]:

filter and pump how much of the hey this company does these things they make

herda]:

really cool things really things that keep america in the world running how much of

herda]:

that played into your decision making to join their versus other organizations or that may

herda]:

not have been as clear in their messaging or direction

thompson]:

for me my first job was at m g s tooling which is just down

thompson]:

the road from where i am now and there was all the cool stuff you

thompson]:

dreamed about while you were in

herda]:

m

thompson]:

college they were i would be working on robotic end of arm tools is what

thompson]:

i was designing there so you always wanted to do automation you wanted to do

thompson]:

robotics you wanted to do the new high end stuff but coming with that there's

thompson]:

a lot of challenges not everything is already laid out oil and gas pumping it's

thompson]:

a decades old business and it's very well established so after i was let go

thompson]:

from there i realize that while the new interesting thing is cool is fun to

thompson]:

work on it also comes with a lot of headaches you have to figure out

thompson]:

new solutions you're kind of first going into that application and just coming out of

thompson]:

college i didn't feel like i had a good enough base to really accell at

thompson]:

that i didn't know enough about the industry in general going in for my second

thompson]:

job it really wasn't as much about what they were doing for me especially i

thompson]:

was looking for ah what benefits came with it clearly i was getting off my

thompson]:

parents health care so

herda]:

ah

thompson]:

i needed good for

herda]:

thank

thompson]:

one

herda]:

god

thompson]:

good insurance

herda]:

the

thompson]:

good

doyle]:

uh

thompson]:

that it was more so looking for

doyle]:

uh

thompson]:

a good job where i coul support myself and make plans for my future so

thompson]:

i'm on to buy a house at some point i'm going to want to buy

thompson]:

a truck at some point so for me it really wasn't as much about what

thompson]:

they were doing as well as how i could improve my situation in life but

thompson]:

i got lucky i really enjoy what i'm doing i've had some great people helping

thompson]:

me along the way at the company and while oil and gas and pumping applications

thompson]:

have been there for how long i mean you're still every once in a while

thompson]:

going to get a new application you're going to have something that's going wrong you

thompson]:

still get to scratch that engineering itch there is of solving problems and everything else

thompson]:

it's not like

herda]:

yeah

thompson]:

just because it's an older industry nothing is going to need to fix nothing is

thompson]:

going o ever happen that's going to need solutions i thought going in it's just

thompson]:

gonna be like well here's the same cookie cutter thing we're selling you for every

thompson]:

time but that's not how it is at all

herda]:

okay so if

doyle]:

the

herda]:

if if some of your contemporaries and others in the in the you know podcast

herda]:

listening world would want to reach out to you to either learn more about your

herda]:

journey or opportunities that might exist um at fury as what life is like would

herda]:

be a good fit for them how do people find you or get a hold

herda]:

of you or what be a good

doyle]:

m

herda]:

good place for them to connect with you

thompson]:

um i have linked in that i gave you the website too

herda]:

right

thompson]:

i never go on facebook i'm rarely on instagram i don't have any of really

thompson]:

that's well i have that social media but i am not often on that social

thompson]:

media you will will not

doyle]:

ye

thompson]:

see me posting any of

doyle]:

yeah

thompson]:

there but if you get the linked in i'm not going to say i check

thompson]:

it religiously as brand knows

herda]:

yes that is correct

thompson]:

but

herda]:

it's getting better it's

doyle]:

oh

herda]:

getting better

thompson]:

it's getting better i'm learning that when i was back in high school i started

thompson]:

my linked in and i didn't really realize how powerful it was i'm slowly figuring

thompson]:

that out so

herda]:

okay

doyle]:

hm

thompson]:

kind of lie like facebook for another generation you're learning but it's all professional it's

thompson]:

a professional facebook

herda]:

yet wow all right

doyle]:

i don't

herda]:

well

doyle]:

know again

herda]:

awesome

doyle]:

i love you

thompson]:

oh

herda]:

oh

doyle]:

that's funny it's funny

herda]:

yeah

doyle]:

o stuff well thank you eric very much for your insights today

thompson]:

thank

doyle]:

definitely

thompson]:

you for having

doyle]:

appreciate

thompson]:

me

doyle]:

you on the show

herda]:

yeah i appreciate the fact that you are we're baited into this and we're willing

herda]:

to do

thompson]:

yeah

herda]:

it and i do appreciate it i do appreciate our relationship i'm very excited for

herda]:

what your career has to offer i think you're in a fantastic role to feel

herda]:

your needs and opportunities going forward and i would agree with you that taking it

herda]:

apart is better than putting it back together for you and m but that

thompson]:

yea

herda]:

problem solving piece that you work on right now today in that current role is

herda]:

one of the things that you were really good at and i think you got

herda]:

a really good fit right now and they're really lucky to have you so congratulations

thompson]:

thank you i appreciate and thank you for having me on to day

herda]:

all right man have a good day thanks

thompson]:

you guys

herda]:

yeah

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About the Podcast

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Blue-Collar BS
Disrupting the "Old Guard" while solving Today's "People Problem"

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Brad Herda

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Stephen Doyle