Replay with Morgan King and Max Ceron

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Canada Welding Supply , your trusted welding supplier . Happy welding . Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast . My name is Max Suran and , as always , I'm looking for the best talents and stories around the world . Today , I have the privilege of having Morgan King here from Ontario talking to us about her life in the welding spectre .

So , morgan , how are you doing today ?

So probably like the biggest industry would be like uh , nanocoque , so uh , stelco steel , that's probably the biggest , like the biggest within this area . But other than that , you're going like Brantford , hamilton , london if you're really looking for somewhere like big , big to work .

So at the beginning I was like , oh , this sucks a lot , like there's nothing to do here .

It's like as soon as you are a certain size of town , like just when you get over the size of village yeah , you get a subwayway .

Was it a bigger high school ? Small ? What was it like ? Or was it like ?

But even like going into high school , like the high school here is the size of an elementary school in like the city . So I think there was only maybe , maybe 500 . That might even be more than I think , but yeah , so that was definitely like a holy well .

I mean , mean I guess I was kind of used to it because I was always used to having bigger class sizes , but then I was like , oh , this is a grade 9 to 12 and we're like the same size as , say , like my , my elementary school .

So yeah , and I especially going into like grade 8 , not knowing anybody and you know a lot of people had formed relationships from when they were younger I was like , oh , oh , like this , this sucks .

up too right . I loved animals and I was like , oh , wouldn't it be cool to you know what I mean Work with animals . But unfortunately science and biology weren't my strong suits in high school . So that kind of that ship kind of sailed a little bit throughout high school anyway .

So , yeah , so , other than vet , and honestly , like in high school , I really didn't know what I wanted to do , like I didn't . I didn't have a certain career path . I've always been really athletic and competitive in sports , so I knew that , you know , sitting at a desk job definitely wasn't for me .

Healthcare , like nursing , was pushed on me a lot in high school , but I knew I wasn't . I didn't want to work in a you know what . I mean I didn't want to work in a hospital . I didn't really honestly , really want to work with like people every day . Um , so , not like that anyways . No , yeah , not like , not like that .

Yeah , yeah , yeah , so , um , yeah , so I honestly , even throughout high school , even honestly coming out of high school , I really kind of felt lost , like I didn't , I didn't know what I wanted to do . I mean I took , like I took the cosmetology , I took the family studies , I kind of took the ones that my friends were taking .

In hindsight , if I look back now , I probably should have , you know , gone with the shop class , but yeah , those were the , those were the boys classes , I guess , like not they were and they weren't . I guess I was just a little bit nervous to be the only girl or to kind of venture off from , I guess , what my friends were doing .

My stepdad for a bit was actually an iron worker . So but I mean , even if I think back now , at the time I wasn't overly even really interested on like what you know what I mean , what he did for work . I just was kind of like , oh , like that's cool . Like you go up on high buildings all day long , you know what I mean .

Like , yeah , like I really didn't know what an iron worker did . So I mean , in hindsight , kind of wish I would have poked at that a little bit more , but I mean I I was still 14 , 15 , 16 , right , yeah , you don't know . Yeah , I didn't know .

It was never really talked about Like , and I think I graduated high school in like 2013 . So it wasn't overly something that was like talked about as near not nearly as much as it is now .

So if both like if both your parents are accountants and they have had like a an okay life with their careers , they're not going to be like hey , you should look at welding . Like it's not like yeah , why would they bring ? that up like where would that come from , right , even if it was more paying or more money or whatever ?

So it's kind of up to the schools to put that in front of the kids , but but they don't , right , yeah no , for sure so you're , you're graduating high school . Now you're like a rudderless ship floating out into the waters , into the seas of life . Right , where were you working ?

I mean , even like everyone has a job coming out of high school , like , where were you working ?

So I did that for about a year I think , and then after that I actually got a job at a small filter factory and this is kind of where , like my welding kind of started , or at least it started going in my mind . So I was working at a filter factory in Delhi and then I had kind of mentioned that I was looking on going back to school , like I was .

Honestly at the time I think I was like , oh , I'm sick of working all day long , like I want to go , you know , go to school for something . So I mentioned to them that I was looking at welding and they actually had one guy doing TIG welding in the back .

So once I mentioned it to like the owner , he was like , well , you know , you might as well try it out before you go to school for it . So might as well try it out before you go to school for it . So he's like , oh , I will , you know , stay an hour later after work .

I think I did , and they kind of let me like do a little bit , run some like some beads on some test plate or some scrap pieces anyway , and I was like , hey , I was like this is kind of cool , you know , talking to the guy , like seeing what they do every day , I was like you know I might give this a shot . So that was kind of my first like huh .

Like you know , this might be something you know I'm going to be up moving every day . You know what I mean ? Learning but , yeah , working with my hands , yeah . So that was kind of , I guess , after high school , and then obviously I had to do my little bit of research on you know where or what kind of schooling you know what I mean .

And it's weird to think back now like I wish it would have been 100 , because I feel like it definitely could have changed the trajectory of you know how far long I would be now um yeah but , yeah , you're young , young , you got lots of time . Sometimes I don't feel like it . I'm like oh God , 30 is creeping up on me .

So like when we look at the world now and we're like , oh my God , why don't we have enough welders ? This has been going on for a long time .

They're like oh , we need five to seven years experience , so all these people that were just coming out of college for welding or even had a little bit of experience couldn't find a job .

And I thought that that was really dumb , because I remember being in a company working as a welder and we're like we need seven more welders and these like young people to come and apply and like , oh , not them , yeah , yeah , but then next year it's like okay , well , we need them even worse now .

Now , um , right , like I , I had just done a 30-hour program , um , through the same college that I had took my like eight-month pre-apprenticeship program at , and the amount of kids that had taken the eight-month program and were still coming back to like take the night courses because they couldn't find jobs . You know what I mean .

It's like it almost feels like you have to a lot of places , don't want to hire unless you do have that you know a couple of years of experience . But if nobody takes in anybody , that you know what I mean . It's fresh out of school , you're never you know what I mean , you're never gonna , you're never gonna get ahead .

Yeah , which is interesting to me because I'm trying to envision what a filter company is , and I'm just thinking coffee filters , but it's not coffee filters no , it's like automotive filters or like engine filters or what is this .

I'm like for big machines yeah , yeah , so , and the guy in the back did like self-contained ones , so they were obviously like really big , stainless , um , like continuous filter systems , I believe so cool so that was your first taste .

I was like no , like yeah , I do want to do it . I mean , looking back , I think I maybe should have done a little bit more research on what I was getting myself into . But I mean , in hindsight , I mean everything kind of worked out .

So what did you do ? Did you just look google local colleges ? How did you figure that out ?

You know what I mean , try to have to work around school , so I should stay close to home . So there was a yeah , like I had mentioned earlier , there was an eight month pre-apprenticeship program that was within Norfolk County at a local community college .

So I was like , and they , I believe , when I applied , I was like , and they , I believe , when I applied , they had a they do a January and September start date . So I was like , okay , this is perfect , I can apply , hopefully get in for January so I don't have to wait that whole you know what I mean Year to go to school .

So , yeah , so that's kind of why I had picked the school . That I did just because it was close . Um , and I , yeah , from where I live now to where the school is , there's a lot more in that town , so it would have been easier for me to try to find some part-time work as well to work around um , like my , my school schedule .

So , yeah , so that's the reason why I picked where I , uh , where I chose to be , and so what ?

I believe there was like 12 , there's 12 of us when we started anyway , um , but yeah , so we kind of did a rundown of like all like we did stick mig tag , we did math , we did a little bit of blueprint reading , um , but I mean , even like looking back now , now we shoved a lot into eight months .

It's a lot to take in and it's a lot to learn in eight months and yeah , so yeah , I mean it's cool . I , I and honestly this is my personal experience . I didn't have the best experience in school . Um , I didn't have a , I didn't have a teacher I want to say this in a nice way .

I think I had a teacher who was more or less there for the paycheck versus actually trying to better the students . So I , honestly , really didn't have that good of experience in school . It was hard . I was the only girl , so that was definitely a kind of a shock not a shock for me , like I kind of anticipated it but I didn't realize .

How did the you know , aside from you being the only girl which is already going to put you in a position where you're sort of defensive , yeah , kind of a you know leery of comments , or you're hoping that they don't come , but you're , you're . You have to be kind of hyper aware , right ?

Man , I hate throwing teachers on the bus , but when there's weaker teachers , you'll sometimes see the students kind of rally with each other being like , okay , well , we all paid money . Let's figure this out , cause so-and-so is like whatever . Right , yeah .

But I remember that and they none of them really kind of knew . So they all kind of like got together and they were all trying to figure it out and the teacher kind of wasn't I mean , he was just kind of sitting in his office the whole time , unfortunately .

So , yeah , they definitely rallied together , but like it was either 12 or 15 students that started the program . There was only four of us that graduated . That made it through the whole thing , so that kind of even just kind of gives you an idea of , I mean , just after months .

After months , you know , some guys wouldn't come back , or there were some kids at the end of the course that were trying to bribe the teacher teacher to give them credits and stuff like that .

I mean , as much as I had gotten frustrated with my teacher and , honestly , with the welding thing and not really feeling like I had the support that maybe I should have through this kind of process , my mom was always like you know what ? Just you know you're in it . Now do your best , graduate , get the ticket . I mean , get the certificate .

Even if it's not something that you do for the rest of your life , you'll always have it underneath your belt . So that was definitely a driving force , because there definitely were days where I was like , oh my god , like I'm the only one in here you know what I mean like there's nobody else here on a Thursday afternoon .

You know , that was like a . It's kind of like a legacy that you get to leave as a teacher your students and I love to this day when I see my students still kicking ass and succeeding . It fills me with joy to see them doing good . Right , yeah , now , when you have a class where it's not feel you're not feeling it , the vibe's not there .

Yeah , I find that that immediately translate and translates into the work life , that those students then aren't that confident at looking for work . Those students are not that confident in their skills . So even if they get a job , they're like second-guessing themselves and they're more afraid than they need . To be right , am I on track or am I off ?

I didn't have the confidence and I was like , well , if this is how you know what I mean , if this is how my schooling is going to be , from , like from my teacher , how is the workforce going to be ? You know what I mean ? Like I yeah , it definitely it it on .

In all honesty , it really turned me off of trying to um get back into welding , because I I mean just definitely lack the confidence so so what , what , how did you approach ? that did you just walk away and say you know , I'm done with this for a while , for my life , for about five years after , uh , after graduating school ?

Because I mean I , yeah , I was like this welding thing just it wasn't that , I don't think it was for me , because I knew

that . Like I mean I walked out of there with tickets too right , like I just was like I don't have the confidence in myself to be able to , yeah , I guess , honestly , not be scared , like I was just scared . I was scared , I didn't have confidence .

Like I was like how the heck am I going to walk into a weld shop of , say , potentially like 50 to a hundred mostly men you know what I mean and not , you know , be shaking in my boots . So yeah . Yeah .

Right Now , the good thing about it , in my experience , is that most workplaces are better than what your experience at school , yeah , um , I would say that very few companies . There are some and I've worked for some that are terrible with ownership and management , but they also tend to go under or fall apart because no one wants to work for them .

Usually , good companies have good people , because that's important .

I was working at wineries , like I've done , forklift parts picking , like I have done so many different like jobs within those four years . And I think a big thing was too is I would you know what I mean I would work somewhere and I would get bored and then I'd be like , all right , what's next ? You know what I mean .

So , yeah , I did , I did a lot , but in between that time I actually was able to get a job and this is kind of where I started getting back into the welding . An auto company , a local one , was looking for people who had meg welding experience , primarily just to like take the parts off the robot that were bad and to fix them .

So I looked at that and I was like , huh , you know what , I'm going to jump on this , I'm going to try . I mean , I still have that you know what I mean Certificate in my back pocket . So I applied for that and I got the job there . So that was , I guess you could say , kind of my first little step getting back into the welding .

I mean it wasn't like it's not like working in a fab shop or anything like that , but I mean I was still holding a gun . No , welding man yeah , yeah , so I did that . I did that . So that was kind of my first little step , um , and then I had worked there up until , uh , COVID . And then after COVID a lot of things changed .

Obviously , people had gone , laid off , my seniority had gone way down , so then I kind of just got bumped down to working on like spot welding robots and that's kind of boring pretty much much . You know , you just put the part in , send it and it just goes around and comes out . So after that I actually so the biggest , I guess the biggest thing .

So with that job we do a like we were doing a welding like just kind of like a test or like a qualification , like you just get a little card . So they brought in an instructor who a gentleman , he was older but he said that he worked down in like the US and worked on like military vehicles .

So he was doing my test with me and I go to run the first pass . I think it was like a first pass , like kind of stop and start , and then they would go and they would x-ray it . But I did my first pass and he looked at me and he's like , he's like I don't , don't tell anybody that I told you this . But he's like you're too good to be here .

He's like you , shouldn't ? You know what I mean . He's like there's something . You know what I mean . Like you you you've got this . You know what I mean . Like you're you're better than just unfortunately like just putting parts in a roll . You know what I mean . He's like you've got something . Actually thinks that I'm , you know , like good at this .

Or you know what I mean , I'm not , I'm not terrible . So that was definitely . It was a , yeah ego boost for sure and I was like , oh great . So that was kind of my another little , I guess you could say , gateway into applying more for , say , like a welding fitting job .

So so then when I like , when he said that , then yeah , I was like I started applying you know what I mean that literally probably anywhere within norfolk county for a welded job . I was like resumes were flying out left , right and center um , you know , that's amazing , that little piece of information .

Yeah , one random person , one random person says one thing yeah , and that's enough to be like back yeah , that's all , that's all you need , right , you just need that , that moment where you're like yes , yes , yeah , yeah , no , definitely especially from somebody that I don't you know .

I don't think that's anything I'm ever going to forget , just that one , because I mean , I don't know , maybe if he never would have said that , you know , I might still be working at the same place . I'm not too sure .

And I mean , I guess the the gap between when I actually did graduate till I probably like 2020 , 2021 , it was I mean it's a five-year gap , right . So , yeah , I did have , I did . I mean , I got a lot of calls and it like first interviews , but not nothing . That was like like concrete until I guess where I'm at now . But that wasn't even that .

That was the same thing too . I actually . So where I'm employed now , it's about 10 minutes from where I live , which is , which is awesome . But I applied there , I went in for the interview and then unfortunately , like same thing that I had always gone through was unfortunately you know what I mean you don't have .

You know , we've just kind of looking for somebody with a little bit more experience . So I had done something that I've never done before and I sent a follow-up email just simply stating like hey , you know , thanks for your time . I appreciate you showing me around your shop .

You know , while I'm a little bit disappointed , you know , please keep me in mind for any future um availabilities . Um that shop , that the place I work now . Actually I just there was something about it like I had a good feeling . It's a small , family-run business .

So I mean , just for it being small , you know what I mean not too many people I was kind of hoping for um that one .

But yeah , so I had sent the follow-up email and I kind of left it at that and honestly , it was like four to five days later I got an email and it was like nine o'clock at night on a friday and my current boss now was like you know what the only way for us to get ahead is to uh get some more products out .

So he's like I'd like to have you in for a small weld test , see how you do and what kind of go from there and in your heart's like yeah , oh yeah , I was like when I saw that email , I was was like there's no way . I said I mean , this guy , my boss , works long , long hours . So now , now that I see him , now it makes a little bit sense .

But I was like nine o'clock on a Friday night Like , but yeah , but yeah , I mean it was , it was , it was true , it was an email , so yeah , heard someone say once , like applying for a job and getting turned down is the first step in negotiations .

but yeah , yeah , so that's good , no no yeah to pound those doors right like definitely so this is a great time because now we can take the break , okay , and when we get back we'll talk about the job . You know the welding job that you got , and then the trajectory that's going on now , so so don't go anywhere .

Uh , here I'm it , max , with Morgan on the CWB Association podcast . We'll be back . After these quick words from our sponsors .

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. My name is Max Theron . I'm here with Morgan King coming to us from beautiful Norfolk County in southwestern Ontario . Now , right before before the break , we were talking about sort of the difficult path you had to get actually into welding . It was easy to get into school , but then school was kind of blah . Then it was tough to get a job .

Kind of blah , rolled around , lots of blah . Now , now you're in the . Now you got a job . You had to pound on the door a couple times . Yeah , you're walking in the door . Tell me about that initial experience of getting this job and what it started like .

So I started out just by being the helper to make those wood chippers . So I mean my first , my first couple I think weeks were just on really small parts . I mean they didn't really give me like you know what I mean , not too , um , just kind of seeing how I was doing , um , very , very lucky and grateful for the supervisors that I do have .

They were always , you know , willing to help out and really take the time to um . But yeah , so I just kind of started doing some small stuff . I mean I was still , I was still so , so nervous going in that first day was like oh , no , like what was there any any other women at this company ?

no , no , I mean , except for one girl that was in the office . But yeah , no , I was the . I believe I was the first full-time female welder that they had . I do believe that there was a girl that they had for a summer . Um , I believe it might have been a friend of the , friend of the families , but yeah , I was the first full-time welder in the shop .

So it was definitely , I think , adjustment for the guys too , but I mean they all , I mean they all took it really well and I mean now , oh yeah they're all , they're good and if anything , I mean even , I think , a couple of months down the road they were like , honestly , we're really glad that we brought you in because it changes the dynamic of the shop .

I guess a little bit before the better . You know what I mean . All the guys are kind of , you know , they're just having a little bit more . I don't want to say respect , but like just a little bit um .

Or did you immediately find that you know this is not a real weld shop , real welding job , that you know they were more supportive ?

They might just kind of throw me in the court , you know what I mean , throw me in the corner and be like all right , wait for you to fail . Yeah , yeah , exactly so .

So I mean , because that's kind of what it felt like in school to like to be honest , but yeah , no , they were 100% supportive , like always making sure that you know I'm okay , you know everybody's respecting me , and like just me being a woman and stuff like that . So , yeah , it was definitely a night and day difference For sure .

Like I almost feel like the last two years of me working there have almost been like school pretty much . You know what I mean . So , um , yeah , I learned . I've learned so much , so much more than I learned , unfortunately , in school um , just about welding , honestly , in general , you know ?

But yeah , like my long-term goal is something whether it's pipe , whether it's structural I mean in school I really like stick welding and those are the only tickets that I actually came out of school with . So , yeah , that's definitely my goal .

I mean I would love to be Red Seal and to be certified , but I mean , just for me starting out right now , this is definitely a good spot , but I am getting to that kind of two-year mark where I'm , you know , thinking about , you know what kind of are my next steps and what do I want to see myself really in , you know , five to ten years down the road .

So you know it'll be things that you hopefully encounter at work in terms of fitting or fabbing or putting things together , but when you see it on paper written down , it feels different . Yeah , it feels , different than just doing it .

Yeah , it's not like make sure that the 7018 rod was in the rod oven at 150 degrees fahrenheit , because blah , blah , blah even though you know these things , because there's a sticker on the door that tells you , make sure it's all right but like these things like that now is your workplace .

It sounds like an awesome place to work honestly , oh yeah I want to go make work with chippers . It sounds fun yeah , um

do . Would they support you during your school process , have they said ? Have you ever had these conversations with them being like , hey , I wouldn't mind getting back to school . Can I still work here while I do that ?

So yeah , actually just a couple of weeks ago I had gone up to um . There's a private pipe school in Guelph that I've been kind of looking at too , cause I think I'm trying to get more into maybe like a private school versus like um , the school that I had gone to before .

So I had a meeting with him , which went really , really well , and I actually had a meeting with my boss to potentially talk about once this robot's up and running and you know what I mean . I don't really want to leave them high and dry .

They've been really really good to me over the past two years so if I can , kind of , you know , stick around to help at least get this set up and running , just because I am the only one that does know all how to make all of the parts that you know , sometime in the fall , if there might be , we might be able to work something out where I can still

work and go back to school . So yeah , that was just maybe two weeks ago .

I had that conversation with my boss and he's like , you know , I'm glad that you brought this up to me , you know now , because because he's like I , you know what I mean , and then you know when that time comes and you do want to go to school , because the reason the school stood out to me so much is it is only five hours a day , so I can do the

school and I can work . So he's like he was talking to me . He's like , yeah , he's like honestly , we'd probably just , you know , bring somebody else .

You're still working and still being able to work , and then when you're done your course , you know what I mean we have your spot , kind of you know what I mean filled and you know you're on to your next phase of your life .

So , yeah , he's really really good about working with us um to be able to kind of do or achieve our goals yeah , advance yourselves yeah yeah , exactly , yeah , for sure and now you know you're looking at pipe welding .

You know what I mean . So , um , I guess I was kind of between structural and pipe . I've always really liked stick welding . Um , I like that , it's challenging . And um , I like being outdoors , I mean , so I thought that would be a good fit too . But I mean , I really just like a challenge . I like a challenge .

You know I might want to take some time and you know I've never really traveled , I've never been on a plane . So , yeah , no , I know , I know I got to get , I got to get on one , but I'm I'm , I'm scared . But you know , I always think to myself anything that I've ever done that scares me has always been worth it .

So I just kind of got to like book that ticket and I got to go somewhere no-transcript and train them how to weld than it is to get a welder to go scuba diving .

about joining one of the halls ? I know they're all hiring right now ?

I mean , I'm not too , really , really too sure this , this uh pipe welding course that I was hoping to take , you do get your all position . Stick with that too um .

And then I thought maybe they usually run them like , I think , four times a year , so I might try back in the fall . I was going to do the one in the summer , but I already well , 10 hours a day in the middle of summer and then usually I was going .

I was going right from work to the school to weld , for another like three to four hours , and I'm like I don't know if I can , I might just take a , you know , a couple couple weeks off and maybe we'll we'll do it again in the fall so well you get 90 , no 30 days between tickets to get all four positions .

Probably in under two and a half hours all four plates cut and ready to bend ?

You just wanted to pass honestly , like unless you put a big stupid piece of slag in there , it's gonna bend yeah , well , yeah , that was like when I was in school .

You know there is jobs that are in-house pipe work , but is that what you're kind of thinking about ? Are you thinking about more hitting the road and and sowing your seeds across this great nation ?

Yeah , exactly that's what I thought I mean I get paid to . I got paid to learn the last two years . You know what I mean . So , yeah , so I mean eventually , eventually , I would like to you know what I mean .

Um , maybe do more shop or do something a little bit more local , but while I'm young , while I haven't traveled much , you know , I might as well , you know , hit the road and see what's out there .

But but you know , if you want to be comfortable at home for supper every night and the weekends off , that job is going to pay less and that's okay . That's okay Because you're . If that's what makes you happy , fine . If you've got two or three young kids man , you want to be home for your kids . I get it Right .

So , like you take the cut and pay to be happy . But if you're an adventurous or crazy and you want to do wild things , then yeah , then do them . You'll make way more money , but you'll also be a lot more lonely .

You'll also have a lot of days where you're by yourself , crying at Christmas , because you're by yourself in some hotel room in the middle of nowhere . You get those days that are really down .

They're very depressing days when you're on the road , but then you get your paycheck and you're like this is why I do this yeah exactly , yeah , and then , and then you get home and you go to mexico with your friends for two weeks .

You can do that stuff right yeah , for sure so , like I mean , it's just a matter of the lifestyle , the lifestyle you choose to live , and I didn't figure that out for a long time .

I was always chasing like dollar signs , and then I it took me to like my mid-30s till I realized , no , what's the lifestyle that I want and I'll work for that lifestyle , yeah , and , and then I'll , and that's what I'm going to aim for . And your lifestyle can change , it will change as you . Things happen .

You get married , get divorced , have kids , kids away , whatever . Get divorced . You get married , get divorced , have kids , kids go away , whatever . Get divorced again , get married , get divorced again , whatever however , it plays out , you know .

You know what I mean out in the , out in the , the oil fields , or you know what I mean stuff like that . So , really , and like just having a plan , I think it's a good , good idea . It's welding .

Holy yeah , holy yeah . I was like , yeah , to start for Red Seal . Well , red Seal with all position stick and flux core , which is gravy , and I was thinking 105 overtime after 40 hours , double . So you're looking at 200 bucks an hour after 40 hours and they're doing 12 hour shifts .

So you're blowing past 40 hours after three days , like I mean holy dollar signs yeah , no , I was . This company was telling me about this job being like , hey , can you help us find welders ? And I'm like I'm going to apply .

Probably three to , probably three to five years of work , yeah , and then that's it . But hey , if you're like 25 30 years old yeah , perfect , you go live in the interior , you're skiing and you know snowboarding water , yeah like I mean so they told me that they're gonna let us know when , uh when , they're gonna be posting these jobs ?

But I mean , up in like all the west , like northern bc , alberta and saskatchewan , there's huge mining jobs coming up with crazy money . And it's like what a perfect time to be a young welder right now .

Like , yeah , you have to move and yeah , you got to chase the money a little bit and those jobs are hard and they're tiring and you're living on camp in a trailer with gross people sometimes and that's it is what it is . Yeah , you got you . Just , I mean , at least now we have cell phones .

I remember being young and being out in camp and like you don't even know . You like you're reading books and it's like I I've read this book nine times . Like I mean I'm done . At least now you can like watch YouTube every night . Like , at least you know .

I was sitting out there on the back pad reading it and then all of a sudden I hear a beep , beep and it's my boyfriend . He's waving my phone out the window . He's like I got your phone . I was like , oh , thank the Lord .

I was like I don't want to have to read these this reading thing is for chumps I know I was like in hindsight , I mean I probably should have read them , like two years ago when I first started , because I mean I learned a little bit .

You know , it's like I've always thought that would be pretty rad to go build giant . Oh yeah like . I mean , I was at the c-span shipyard in vancouver . I got a tour and they're showing me this giant boat that they're building this ship , and I was like so how many of these do you make ?

Oh , we got a contract for 15 of them and I'm thinking in my head 15 , that's not going to be . They're like well , it takes six years to build one .

So , you know , go get your , go to school , yeah , your your thing , and uh , and then man , look at the what's out there and you know if you want to get outside of Ontario , you know , just start looking around . There's so much to do and , like I said , don't think so much about the dollars , think about the type of work you want to do right .

What's the adventure I want to have , Like the one I missed out on . I wish I would have worked up north . I've never been to the Northwest Territories or Yukon . I would have loved to have done that as a young person .

Well , you know , we've blown through an hour here like , yeah , I know it's been fantastic so let's get to the end of the the episode here where it's about your future state . You know we talked about possibly pipe fitting , getting your your red seal definitely in the books .

You know what are some of the other kind of pipe dreams , pardon the pun , you know that you have in terms of your future , like , do you see yourself as a business owner , possibly someday . Do you see yourself , maybe , as an advocate for women because of the negative experiences you had ?

Or maybe a teacher , even someday , because of the you you had , or maybe a teacher even someday to to because of the you know ? Usually when you have bad experiences , you want to fix them for others . What do you see yourself

doing ?

So I did a whole bunch of flowers and butterflies . I did it all for Mother's Day . So I mean , yeah , like I would love to . A business might be more like way , way , way down the road . I think I still have obviously a lot to learn more like way , way , way down the road .

I think I still have obviously a lot to learn and there's a lot to learn within the welding industry before I maybe take those kinds of steps .

But yeah , I mean , like I , from being able to build something on my own you know what I mean From start to finish , and seeing that final product , like after it was painted and everything , and I was like , huh , I was like you know , this is pretty cool . Like I was like you know , this is pretty cool .

Like I would love to you know what I mean Do something like that one day . I mean , I think in the big , I would love to be able to like open up , say , my own school or something like something small within this area , just something different .

I think , something maybe for you know welders who are looking to just specifically get , um , you know one , one process , not like a you know what .

And they get funding , they get money , they get help set up running the school oh , really . And now it's almost like they're full-time jobs and Mackenzie and Joe they run it . They're amazing women . They're both young , very ambitious .

They work like other full-time jobs , but they started like a collective where they actually have other women come in and teach classes and do stuff . Oh , that's awesome , yeah , and it's a really , really awesome like formula for a business that's like new . So it's like owned but owned by , like the people that go there .

So like you buy like a membership and then you actually help the school run and it's really neat . So it's all just like women supporting women and people in other communities and like the association we've helped them with funding . Because I love the program , I was like , hey , how can we help you ? Canada needs more of this , the world needs more of this .

So if you're interested in something like that , I would definitely look them up and maybe shoot them an email someday and say you know like I'm thinking about doing something like this in my part of the world . I bet you they'd give you great advice . You're really wonderful ladies .

I'm definitely very passionate about helping women try to get into this industry , so that would that would be awesome , actually , if I could do something like that .

You don't even know , You're just scared . You're the only girl . You're looking around . There's 12 , 11 guys and one girl . Yeah , what piece of advice would you give yourself now , Like if you could go back in time to to yourself ?

Coming out of school , I think that you go through this eight month program and you learn all of these different things and it's overwhelming and if you have a , if you have a plan to you know what I mean , what kind of your end goal is . I think it's easier to even go through school because then you kind of know . You know what you know .

What do I really want to do ? What do I really want to hone into ? Do I want to get into the MIG , the TIG , the flux core , the like you know what I mean the stick . So then when you're out of school , you don I mean now , now , what am I going to do ? You know . So I think that just you know . Always have confidence in yourself .

Really reach out to the welding community too . I didn't realize how big the welding community is , just honestly , just over Instagram , until like a couple months ago , and I wish that . I mean , I don't know if it was as big , say , five years ago , but you know , really , just reach out and reach out to people who are already in this industry .

I think they're the best people to you know not only just get advice from , but to be able to help you along your way .

I mean , that's that's like everything in life Nothing if if it was easy , it wouldn't be called life Right .

Like it's a new world now , and we've got to be ready to change . So thank you , morgan . This has been an awesome interview and I really appreciate you taking the time with me today .

So make sure you're following along , make sure you sign up for your free membership on our association page and keep downloading and sharing these and commenting . Let us know what's going on in the comment sections of wherever you are listening to this podcast . So thank you very much and stay tuned for the next episode .

Produced by the c the CWB Group and presented by Max Horn , this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community . Please subscribe and thank you for listening .