Hello and welcome to my page about my professional career. I started my career working at a motocross track. I was a part of the safety crew helping to maintain the health and safety of all riders on the track. This included rendering first aid and assisting EMTs with injured riders as well as maintaining control of the area to prevent further injury. This was my first job while I finished my high school education. Upon graduating high school in 2009, I transitioned to working in the grocery store industry at Ralph’s as a Ripper on the graveyard team. I would clean up all the aisles after the stocking team restocked items to the shelves. I would then take all boxes and trash and load them into a compactor to crush them all down into bails to be sent to recycling. When I didn’t have aisles to clear, I would then assist the stocking team in stocking shelves and managing items. Most of my year working at Ralph’s consisted of that, but on occasions, I would take on other responsibilities that primarily consisted of assisting others with their tasks as I always worked quickly and efficiently leading to free time. From there I acquired a new job closer to home delivering newspapers. Not as glamorous but time management was key. I was responsible for the delivery of multiple different issues of newspapers to houses within a 4 sq mile area. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but with roughly 1000 homes and businesses, Sunday’s papers were long nights. I continued at this for about a year, creating and optimizing my routes to make delivery as efficient as possible. After about a year, it was time for my first step to a full career position.
In 2011 I had my first interview at ITT Aerospace in Valencia, CA to which I was offered my first of many positions I would have there. The first position was listed as a General Helper and I was hired as a temporary employee. As a General Helper, I worked in the machine shop using a drill press as well as grinding wheels to assist in the manufacturing and deburring of parts used in both the commercial and defense aerospace industries. After some time, I continually trained on more advanced machinery from lathes to 3-axis Bridgeport mills. I also received training on punch presses before I was finally brought to the 1st CNC I would operate, a simple 2-axis lathe that was at least double my age, with a controller that had to be one of the first computers ever made. By August 2012, just over a year from when I was hired as a temp, I was finally offered a permanent position of Machinist 1, an entry-level machinist position. I continued to work hard and learn all I could as I was moved from machine to machine, mastering each one.
5 years later in June of 2017, I was finally rewarded for my hard work and promoted to Machinist 2, but that did not last long as by this time, I was overqualified for that position and was then promoted to Machinist 3 by April of 2018. My time at ITT was spent learning as much as I could, no matter how hard some people made it to do so. I programmed, set up, and ran a wide array of machines in my time at ITT. These machines ranged from many different types to brands. Miyano, Nakamura, Mazak, Mitsubishi, Fidal, and Mori Seiki, all Fanuc-controlled CNCs, 4-axis mills to “12”-axis multi turret mill-turns. The variety there was immense. I took classes in programming, both with trigonometry and with CAD software, which was primarily MasterCAM with the smallest amount of Solidworks, and I took classes in PC-DMIS for CMM programming and operation, but alas my time at ITT Aerospace was coming to an end. Between all the roadblocks placed in front of me that I had overcome from both, long-time senior machinists to management, where smart “young” individuals were almost always held back, I was ready for my next big jump. In October 2019, I gave ITT 3 weeks’ notice that I was planning on leaving as I had a better opportunity and offer from another company. I was however open for them to try and offer me a competing offer to stay, but they thought otherwise, and a week and a half after I gave notice, they accepted my resignation on October 30th. From a business standpoint, it made sense. They were not going to give me a counteroffer to stay, so they let me go before November where I would collect another 10 hours of vacation and therefore be required to be paid out.
In November of 2019, I started my new and now current career at Lockheed Martin in Palmdale, CA as a machinist. Here I have had to learn new ways of doing things and work with materials I hadn’t before. I was excited and have continued to push and succeed in my career. After being promoted to the lead of 2nd shift for my department, I continued to work hard and look for more ways to grow and progress in my career. In November of 2021 I was promoted to a new position and as of November 1st, I became a Machined Parts Planner. This position presented new challenges that I was eager to tackle. From learning process specifications to coming up with creative ways to achieve quality parts, this was the next big step I was happy to make.
Another opportunity that came from becoming a Planner was the ability to gain a greater understanding of the Union I was a part of, The IAM727P. I quickly learned what it was we really stood for and soon volunteered to become a Senior Steward. From this position, it would allow me to help others as I was helped. In April of 2022 after presenting my case, I was appointed as the lead communicator for the Union’s Local Lodge, and I am now the manager of our website. I remade the entire site to make it modern and to try and bring inclusion, involvement, and interaction to the membership. To provide information about the Union to the membership. You can view my work on that website by clicking the link below.
I will continue to work hard and strive for excellence.
Thank you very much for your time in reading about my professional career. Feel free to continue to my pages about my skills if you wish to learn more or visit my education page to learn about that.
