Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Elevator Trade: A World of Opportunity | Warren Tweer

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Elevator Trade: A World of Opportunity | Warren Tweer · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: If you like working with your hands, if you like if you're if you're a problem solver, do you like puzzles?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do you like to do you want to see things and do things, not everybody does.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: The elevator industry will take you to places that you'll you'll never dream of.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: One job I was, yeah, you might be uh a few feet away from a ballistic missile, you know, and working on an elevator for for that system.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: Next thing you know, you could be, like I said, a few hundred feet on the ground.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: If you have an adventurous soul and you can you pretty well with tools and you can do your math, definitely give the elevator business a try.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's a lot of fun.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna see a lot of things, and you're gonna have to get meet some really interesting people.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry, to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before, to inspire the next generation of elevator careers with talent is mission critical.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Call the Allred Group.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: With industry expertise, top talent, and exceptional customer service.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: You need the All Red Group on your side.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your priority is their priority.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Call now 404-890-0445.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: In this conversation, Warren Tweer shares his unique journey into the elevator trade, detailing his early life, challenges faced during his apprenticeship, and the adventures he experienced while working in various international locations, including conflict zones.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Warren reflects on the evolution of elevator technology, the importance of mentorship, and the personal growth he achieved throughout his career.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Warren, welcome to the show.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's good to be here.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I appreciate your time.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's always good to to chat, but I I love these conversations because we get to you know dig in a little bit deeper, kind of find out what it is that that really inspires and motivates you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh let's let's start at the beginning.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how did you get into the elevator trade?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Especially, you know, you told me a little bit about marine biology and working in the bar, and you know, what was it that happened that it got to you?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it when I was younger, I I really didn't have much direction.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um I thought I was gonna be playing football and I broke my back at a tournament in high school and it took away any scholarship opportunities I had.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um then uh afterwards I fell in love with lifeguarding for a while.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and you know, I was doing trade work most of the most of the time.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: I was I was a carpenter and electrician.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um then um I came across I came upon my future wife and I was like, man, I really gotta get pull my head out of the sand and and actually like you know find myself a real career.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: So I tried college.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh wasn't cut out for college.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I really would love to be the main a marine biologist, but uh just wasn't in the cards and it was just too expensive.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I didn't come from uh you know any means you know so um a friend of my father's comes to me one night when I'm working at this bar and says, he says, I heard you're looking to get married.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Yeah.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: He goes, Well, a married man needs a job with stability and that will take him places.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: He goes, Yeah, we think about elevators.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, I didn't even know that was a possibility.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, you know, yeah, I've ridden in elevators, but you know, I never thought about the people who actually I didn't know that was a specific trade.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, just got kind of ignorant and just like aloof about it.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: So um he told me they had a position open, they were able to get, you know, they were able to hire without having to go through the uh union hall because they're a small, they're a small po uh mom and pop shop.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: Next thing I know, I'm an apprentice working with this great guy.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I ended up uh sticking it out for my four years of apprenticeship.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: For those who are like considering the trade, what what did you have to learn?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously you didn't know anything about elevators.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like you didn't know anything maybe about the union or or you know the dues, the benefits, the structure.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: What what was kind of uh eye-opening for you?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, it it was it was quite eye open.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: I I was fortunate enough.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: I came from a blue-collar family, so I've always I've always I always worked with my hands.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I knew my way around the toolbox.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: So um I was very good at math.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: The working with my hands part wasn't the hard part.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was learning um mainly how things got assembled.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: That was tough.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the control systems then is the hardest part.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I mean, some people it's the other way around.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: Mechanically, I'm sound.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: I I I can look at something and figure it out and know how to make put it together.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: But when it comes, when it came to like troubleshooting and circuit tracing and everything like that, that I had to really do my homework and study on.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: And now that I'm very, you know, after 25 years, I've become very proficient at it, and I'm a pretty not saying I'm the best, but I'm a I'm I I like to think that I'm I'm up there when it comes to troubleshooting circuitry.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sure there was a lot, probably like drinking out of a fire hose for a while, just so much stuff.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and the best part about it, even though you in the union you go to class one night a week for five hours.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but the where I learned everything was one, I was fortunate enough I had some really incredible mechanics.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: To me, probably some in the definitely top five percent in the in the business.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, these guys can build their own controllers if they wanted to.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: I've seen them do it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I was very fortunate to have them as my mentors, and it was really, really eye-opening when I was like, man, I did not know what all was involved.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: And especially like you're going from one day I'll be working on like an old pie plate selector, and the next day it's like, oh, solid state, what's this?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like so.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm going from mechanical switches to now I'm doing okay, I got a circuit board.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: What what's a verrister?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: What what's a capacitor?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: What does this do?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: So it was definitely an interesting learning experience, but it was so much fun on top of that.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because if you're curious and you like puzzles, you like to you you latch on to something that you want to understand, you just can't yell at go of it.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: This is a job for you because it's to me, that's the exciting part.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, damn, I'm it's a machine, I can fix it, I can make it work.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's gonna challenge you.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all of those 25 years, obviously, you know, from solid state to to you know, electronics was was one thing, but it it doesn't slow down, right?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: It just keeps changing, keeps evolving, just keep the technologies constantly different.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, most very different.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, going from relay logic to so then PLCs came out, and now they're you know, they're off of that now.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: Now they're just going back to like um, and there's so many different controllers.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh now I went from and some of them are really interesting, you know, but you go from like motion controls to Virginia.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: I started off on Virginia controllers, okay.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I knew those by heart.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then next yeah no, I'm like motion control.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um all right, and then everybody doesn't, you know, all electrical prints don't look the same.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: So now you're like, okay, I got hieroglyphics now.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well how do I especially if you look at like the uh the old O like you look at Otis prints, you're like, what are you guys trying to say here?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a lot of fun now.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you said you you stuck it out through that four four years, uh, and then you you mentioned at one point, you know, feeling disgruntled and and deciding to to put your resume out there.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: What what happened, if I may?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't I didn't have a problem with the union at all.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: It was uh it was a company.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um we were going through slow time, so there was lots of layoffs.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: I had two rough years where because I was a brand new mechanic.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: No one wants an inexperienced mechanic, someone they want someone seasoned.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: So anybody who was, you know, just took the test or whatever, you're going back to the bench because we only want the guys that they can do the job well and do it fast.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: I eventually got hired back with the company I originally started with.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: And it was pretty much a personal issue with a certain certain other individual working in the company, and he was making my life pretty much a living hell.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: Happened, right?
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then the the problem was I was very critical of myself.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: I took criticism very harshly.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I always thought I was never good enough.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Never good enough.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: I I couldn't do I I couldn't do it well enough to make anybody happy.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like you were your worst critic, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: I am my own worst critic, yes.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: I if I I'll I'll I'll tear myself up worse than anybody else could.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so uh with that compounded with this other person in the company, I pretty much re hit my breaking point, and I was like, you know, I'm done.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, it it got to the point where it was affecting my home life, you know.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I had two years of which I might have worked maybe eight months because of layoffs.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'd worked like a couple months here, then get laid off, the job's finished or whatever.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: So we were struggling at home.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: So I decided to uh, you know, a little desperate desperation.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: I said, put my resume out there.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what's you know what I'm gonna come across.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Next thing no, this company comes across my email saying, Hey, uh you would be perfect for this position.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, what's the position?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: And they said, would you be interested in working outside the country?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: So I go to my wife and I was like, you know, they wanna, you know, there's this opportunity.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: And at first it was like, all right, you're gonna do it for one year.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, okay, we agree, one year.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I took this job and I ended up uh in Baghdad.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, of all the places, right?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: Of all the places.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: I was I never thought.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: 2008, I'm in Baghdad.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh, and we're still being shot at, and we're still being bombed.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I can't even imagine.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So you were what in the embassy or something?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, we were the uh operations and maintenance um company to open up the new embassy in Baghdad.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, okay yeah, a six billion dollar piece of property.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, and it was our job to make sure it was running it tiptop shape.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: So before we could move on to the embassy grounds, we lived behind one of Saddam's palaces.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, uh on a place called Al Kindi Street.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: So did you take your whole family over there?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, no, no, no, no.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: It was still a war zone.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, what do you what do you do?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: I guess you just I lived I lived in a tin can with no windows with sandbags around it for the first year and a half, two years.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: How often did you get home?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I would get home like every three to four months.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: I I get like three weeks, two, three weeks.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: They would buy your ticket home or oh yeah, it was paid for.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: It was part of the package.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: Part of my I mean they paid well.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: I had a little little adjustment coming back from that one because they don't prepare you for what you see.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: I bless our military, because those guys, I I got to stay inside the walls.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: They had to go outside those walls.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I seen some of them come back, and I made some really good friends over there, and I've lost some good friends over there, and uh they really opened my eyes to the world, what really is what's really going on.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can't even imagine.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been there, but but yeah, that's gotta be a tough place.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you also talked about going to Africa and uh some area, other areas in the Middle East.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: What was that journey like?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Baghdad opened the door to other things.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I spent uh almost six years in Baghdad total.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um I spent uh I spent a very short period, but I spent just just uh just a little bit over a month in Harat in Afghanistan.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I have to say that was where I feared my fur of my life the most, but it was the most also the most adrenaline-pumping thing I've ever done in my life.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me tell me more.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Was that because you were fearing for your life?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, or yeah, it was a little bit like that, but it was the excitement as that I was making stuff happen happen in a like such an insanely hostile, heightened sense environment where it's like I'm trying to focus on this, but there's like a million other things around me going on.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about concentration power, like, oh, you're getting shot at.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, let me let me finish adjusting.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we weren't getting shot at, but I mean, not all the time, but uh I have to say Afghanistan was definitely interesting.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: I got to see some places, some things there that no one else.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: I saw a Alexandra's uh built a fortified city there for the Silka Road.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, interesting.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I I got to see some really cool ancient stuff.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: So just like old, yeah, like like historical stuff that wow, that's great.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: Then uh, you know, fast forward, I jump over, I get a position uh to go to Africa for a while.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: We're opening up a new embassy there.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I spent uh spent a short time there, uh only about nine months.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, but it was a beautiful nine months.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'd have to say uh the country was called Swaziland when I was there, now it's called Inswante.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it's beautiful.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely recommend it.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: From there, I hopped to Moscow.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, okay.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: And uh Moscow was my second to last stop in my tour of elevators around the world.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And still getting home, what, every three, four months?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of kind of the same.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretty much.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, but that was uh Moscow was fun.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: I enjoyed Moscow.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: I felt I felt fine.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: It was not like working in New York City.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um did you learn any of the languages?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you probably didn't have to.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I learned a little bit.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: I I I since I don't use it a lot anymore.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I I used to be able to speak some Romanian.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I used to be like, uh, you know, Dimenatsa.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: Good morning.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Naptabuna, good night.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: Chef Fach, how are you?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, some some Swahili, uh Tunani Keishu, Lala Sulama, this is good night, and may God bless you.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I used to know a little Arabic.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I can remember Makumai, it was like, do you have any water?
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: Sadiq, my friend, Habib, he's like my dear friend, you know, stuff like that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: Shukran, thank you.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh little Italian, my Russian.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't study as hard as I should have, but uh I knew I wasn't gonna be there that long.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I was mostly with a bunch of Americans.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't get to actually interact with the Russian locals as much.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: What was it that finally brought you home?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's uh it sounded like a long tour.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, pretty much what really brought me home was uh my family.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: I was way too long.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a long time.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: But the the great thing about it though is that the company afforded me the chance that, you know, when I went on vacation, I just fly my wife to wherever and we we met in Europe several times.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Nice, yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: So we had some wonderful vacations because of that job.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we saw a lot of the world.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: I saw the Great Pyramids, I saw you know the Pantheon.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we just traveled a lot.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: But the job made it happen.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's hard to find someone who's willing to do that job in certain environments.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: If you're not afraid, or if you're I mean, everybody's gonna be afraid.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: If you're willing to uh to go, yeah, you know, it's it's intense, it's a little scary, but if you have that adventurous spirit and you think you can, you know, handle it, I'd definitely say it's well worth it.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hey everyone, thank you for listening.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is Matt with a brief message from our sponsor.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: The All Red Group has been recruiting elevator industry talent for over 14 years.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you are looking to grow your business and hire great people, contact the all-red group at allredgroup.com.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's a l-l-r-ed, g-ro-up.com, and talk with Matt and his team about how they can assist you.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And now, back to the show.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, looking back, would you ever have imagined a life like that, especially you know, coming in from where you did?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: I had my little my little bubble in New Jersey.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I might go to Philly, I might go to New York.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: Other than that, it was like family vacations to Maine, and that was it.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I really didn't like change.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I liked status quo.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Your comfort zone, right?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know where you're safe, you know what you know.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_03: And like I say, again, you know, my my wife, she's the one that got me a little bit.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: She got me that that she gave me the bug, the adventure bug.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: But uh it's it's amazing.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: I said I cannot believe how far the elevator trade has taken me.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: If if I if I didn't I didn't get to acquire this skill through the fortunate incident of my dad just happened to have a friend who was in the trade and was willing to help help a nobody like me, man, it just opened up a door to so much.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it's they made me more of a worldly person.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I got to see so many cultures and meet so many different people from everywhere, and it's all because the elevators that's awesome.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Simple, simple trade.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Simple simple in some way, so yeah, simple in some way.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: But the majority of people think, you know, if you talk to the average person, uh plumber, carpenter, elevator guy, whatever, you're all the same.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, it's it's amazing what and if you're good at your job, you you get a reputation and people seek you out.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: You you you mentioned the other trades, and and you know, obviously there are great great trades out there.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: You you told me one time some sometimes other trades will ask you, like, hey, you're just an elevator mechanic, why why are you paid more than me?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: How do you answer that?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: It comes off as an arrogant response, but it's not in the elevator trade.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: No one no one really looks at, they just see the finished product.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: They really don't actually see what goes into it.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: With elevators, you have so many different types.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: You have rack and pinion, you have hydraulic, you have traction, uh, there's winding drum.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: Now they're talking about magma lift elevators.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: So these are all technologies we gotta understand.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: We gotta learn.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: We gotta, I mean, it's not just, oh, it's just a simple, it's like, you know, you're working on a V8 engine and that's all you're working on all day.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, no.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um there is a lot to it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I you have the pipe fitness union.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we can thread and we can thread pipe, do vitalic fittings, we can weld pipe in our trade.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: Not saying all of us are certified for welding, but a lot of us are.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_03: So there, okay, I could be a pipe fitter.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: Hydraulics.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: I understand hydraulics.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: I take hydraulic valves apart.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: I know how they work.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I can work on hydraulic systems with tractors, lift other lifting systems and whatnot.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: Then there's the electronics end of it, the electrical end of it, control systems.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: Most control systems translate to a lot of other equipment.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: So you can do uh HVAC, security systems, anything that requires some kind of timing system, control system, a reaction, automatic doors.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: We deal with voltage up to 480 volts.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: We can work on electric motors.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: Our trade translates into a lot of other trades.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: We're like the the jack of all.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, well, especially with, you know, you've also got obviously high risk, and you know, there's there's safety concerns.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Now you're getting to the other part.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: We have a very hazardous job too.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um every guy, I get a safety report probably at least two, three times a month.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: Someone losing a finger, someone crushing their foot, falling.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's a very dangerous trade.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, a lot of I I know a lot of that's why I tattooed my ring on.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: I know a lot of guys missing their ring finger because of their their wedding ring.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's it's it's dangerous, but yeah, exciting at the same time.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if you're you're an adrenaline junkie, man, you're you'll love the heights.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me one of the what what's one of the coolest projects you've ever worked on that's just so memorable for you?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: So memorable.
• 22:51
  unknown: Wow.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: I would have to say one one of the most uh installing uh we did Alan we installed Alamax for the uh aqueduct system in New York City, the new aqueduct.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it uh says the Alamax would take you approximately you know a few from a little a little bit over oh just under 200 feet underground to these systems.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was really it's like working in a cave.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: I get I mean you're way below water level, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Which which makes me nervous just thinking about it.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it and it it's it's it can be if the when the power goes out, you're you're in complete pitch black darkness.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, absolutely.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we actually had a problem where I wound up having to climb uh about 120 feet up a ladder because we got stuck down at the very bottom.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I was so so fortunate enough that we did have we did have a um a ladder system to climb.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: But it was it took me a while to get up that it's gotta be a little disorienting, right?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like I say, if it's if it's pitch black and it's like you can feel around, but it's it's gotta be, yeah.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, it's maybe made the one mistake where I went down there because at the time it was after 9-11 and everything, so you couldn't have any we weren't allowed cameras or phones or nothing.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, for sure, yeah.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: For security reasons, because you know it's the city's water supply.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_03: So we're down there and uh forgot my headlamp.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and um someone blew a circuit and and we had no lights and we're like 160 feet underground.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, wow.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it was it was interesting.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but yeah, that that I have to say, that's probably one of my more interesting stories.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um the other one was is uh so I went from being 180, 60 feet underground to being over 1200 feet above the ground uh in a radio tower for the military.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a there's an elevator in the in the radio tower?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there is.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, it's not your convention it's not your conventional elevator, it's the wonkiest thing I've ever seen in my life.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: My first time there I was uh ground safety.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm on the radio and I'm talking to the guy heading up in the elevator, and there's this big tension weight, these tension weights, they're huge, and they're sitting on the ropes to hold the tension on the ropes because the elevator doesn't work on a counterweight system.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: It has two ropes and two ropes, they just one continuous loop.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: So one pulls up, one pulls down.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: And uh my goodness, I just started watching the ropes start bouncing like crazy.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: These weights, these like three-ton weights just bouncing.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, whoa, what's going on?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm on the radio, and I'm not getting a response.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh turns out one of the ropes must have got some slack and it got hung up in the superstructure, and when he was going up, it pulled loose and he went for a ride.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Sounds like it.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Ouch.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, but it that was uh that's another job.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: I wish I could have taken a camera on.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: They wouldn't let us do that.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: But man, that I had some beautiful views.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: I could I was I was probably about 60 miles inland and I could still see the ocean from there.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to say 60, but you know what I mean.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: That was pretty far away.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: So no, thank you.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: So this, you know, we're we're getting towards the end of our time, but I got a couple more questions for you.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: One is, you know, you you mentioned you've got still got offers coming in from Dubai to Israel.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say is next for your career?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of drives you at this point?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um next big job, the next next adventure, uh, something new.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: I love big projects.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: I love I even the small projects.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever, whatever I can get my hands on, pretty much.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's been my wife and I have been talking about me going back over.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm getting close to my retirement age, so we started thinking about retirement.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I used some of the money I saved up work in the yellow veto business, and uh, we bought ourselves a place in Italy.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: So um wouldn't mind getting a job somewhere close to there.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Beautiful, yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: I could just travel back and forth.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so yeah, um, I I had some talks.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: There were some interesting jobs again, um mostly Middle Eastern.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: But uh some of them are not in a high hostile area, you know.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I've been offered uh Saudi Arabia and Dubai some positions, but um yeah, I mean I'm I'm just looking for that that one job that comes across and it's like hmm, that looks good.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: But also right now I'm I'm in the union and I'm doing very well, and the pension and the benefits are phenomenal.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: So that that's hard to give up.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you've not not many businesses have pensions anymore.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: So it's very helpful to have that that pattern, you know, for when you retire.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, absolutely, especially if you're moving to Italy or wherever you go.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: I work for some great non-union companies.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, the only thing I would say that would knock them on is their benefit systems are not that well given medical and everything.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Probably depends on the company because I do see some variance between the company.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there it varies greatly from company to company.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, if you can find it, you know, any company that's worth its salt will give you good benefits, they'll be competitive, and that's what you're looking for.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh last question I got for you, Warren.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you said, you know, the the trade hasn't been easy all the time, but it's been good to you.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: What message would you give to younger people who are maybe they're brand new or maybe they're just thinking about heading this direction?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: I would say if you like working with your hands, uh if you like, if you're if you're a problem solver, do you like puzzles?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: Do you like do you want to see things and do things not everybody does?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: The elevator industry will take you to places that you'll you'll never dream of.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: You could be one job I was, yeah, you might be uh a few feet away from a ballistic missile, you know, and working on an elevator for for that system.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: The next thing you know, you could be, like I said, a few hundred feet on the ground.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: If you have an adventurous soul and you can you pretty well with tools and you can do your math, you know, definitely give the elevator business a try.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's a lot of fun.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna see a lot of things, and you're gonna have to get meet some really interesting people.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, some of these guys uh I look at down, it's like, man, you're like an Einstein.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know why you're doing this.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: You you you you you can do whatever you want, but they're doing what they love, which is what I like.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's great advice.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I love it.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Warren, thank you for being with me this evening.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: I it's been great to talk to you and be able to record this and um wish you much luck and success as you uh continue to build your career.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you very much, and I appreciate you having me on.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: Also, thank you very much for uh getting us out there, letting other people know that you know there's more things out there than just your mundane jobs.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks again.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Please like and subscribe.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay safe.