The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Skills Canada Series -Season 2- Episode 2 with Ben Rainforth
The CWB Association has had the honor of working with Skills/Compétences Canada on a special Podcast Series interviewing Team Canada World Skills competitors and experts from across Canada to share their skills journey. Join us as we learn about their skills, celebrate their success, and cheer for our Team Canada as they compete on the world stage in Lyon, France on September 10-15, 2024.
What if you could turn a high school passion into a world-class skill? Join us as we chat with Ben Rainforth, a Welder from Team Canada, who went from a grain farm in Lacombe, Alberta, to earning his Red Seal certification and representing his country at prestigious competitions. Ben’s journey is a testament to the power of early influences—especially his father’s trade skills—and high school programs that ignite lifelong passions.
Follow Skills/Compétences Canada:
Website: https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com/en/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkillsCanadaOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillscompetencescanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skills_canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skillscanada
There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved, and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry. https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member
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All right, I can check, check, I'm good. So I'm Max Duran. I'm Max Duran, I'm the CWB Association Welding Podcast, pod, pod podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin. Hello and welcome to another special edition of the CWB Association podcast. This special collaboration with Skills Canada Competencies here in beautiful Quebec City is what we've been doing all week. Part of our mission this week is to interview Team Canada, and we've been interviewing wonderful people all week from all the different trades. But now we are at our favorite trade of all, which is welding. Today I have ben rainforth, who is the team canada welding. Uh, guy, you're the guy, you're the guy, you're the man that's gonna go there welcome ben.
Speaker 1:How are you doing? I'm doing good, you good good are you. Uh, has it been a busy week for you.
Speaker 3:So far. Yeah, this is my first time to Quebec City, so we've been out touring around. Yeah, and first time for me to actually walk around and see the competition. First time I'm not competing at a competition, so it's been nice to actually see the other trades work and get a kind of better idea of how this all works.
Speaker 1:Well, one of the things that we've heard all week from the other Teamada members is the difference between being in the competition at provincials, even nationals, and then being on this side of it as team canada, where many of them are helping judge they're helping with the mentorship. How much of a difference has that been for you?
Speaker 3:it's been uh pretty crazy. Like definitely going when, when you compete, it's kind of you know you're focused on your own work yourself, you're you're kind of prepared for a competition. You go in only thinking of that. So to come here and uh just be able to see everything from from a distance and and uh, yeah, help out and judge and and and give advice to people that were in your shoes, is uh it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:It's pretty cool. Yeah, now you come from alberta, you. You said you grew up in lacombe or you live in lacombe, yep, and that's kind of in between edmonton and calgary, right in the middle, yeah, kind of a rural setting there, yep. So what was welding on the radar? Since you were a kid or or did you kind of fall into it?
Speaker 3:I grew up on a grain farm, Okay, and my dad he kind of before my time he installed dairy barn equipment. So he was TIG welding all the milk lines and all that sort of stuff, okay, yeah. And then, growing up on the farm, anything that broke he was fixing. You know electrical plumbing welding mechanics. He did it all, so I kind of fell into the trades that way. A lot of my relatives are carpenters, so trades were always a big thing in our family.
Speaker 1:And when I hit high school then I started welding in the shop class and just grew from there, were you pretty good at it right from the start.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't say that, but I did catch on faster, it seemed, than the other students. So I kind of got extra time in the shop and I'd work through my lunch breaks and stuff like that, and it just kind of took off.
Speaker 1:Now, to be a world competitor, you know, for team canada you have to be under a certain age, right? So first, how old are you? I'm 22, so you're 22 years old. You've done a lot for being 22 because, like, people need to remember that, even though you're team canada and you're this accomplished welder which you are, you're still very young and you're not even a red seal yet you would. You know, you're still just on your way to do these things right, I actually am a red seal.
Speaker 3:You got your red seal. I did get my red seal so uh, for our national level. You cannot be a journeyman um so I competed I, I got I earned my world spot last year in 2023, at winnipeg. Yeah, and nationals I earned my world spot last year in 2023 at Winnipeg at Nationals. So for that competition, I just didn't sign off on my blue book.
Speaker 1:Right, so you were kind of in middle land still.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I am done all my theory and I did pass my red seal. I just can't sign off on my blue book. Until you got the hours.
Speaker 1:No, I have all my hours Just just to compete.
Speaker 3:You can be a journeyman, so you can. You can be done everything and still compete, as long as you don't go sign off on your blue book, all right.
Speaker 1:So that's a bit of a cheat code there. Yeah, and the age right because yeah, and you have to be younger than younger than 22.
Speaker 3:22 is the the cutoff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for my trade yeah and that's so interesting because you know, for many people that start in the trades, they go to school. Let's say you go to a trade school right after high school. It's three years. However, you swing it to try to get to your red seal. You know, once you got that journey person, that puts you at 21, 22 and that's like giving her. So obviously you've given her.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir yeah, um, I was actually pretty fortunate because my high school, uh, partnered with red deer polytech, um, so red deer's just south of lacoa, almost half hour. So what they do is they offer a.
Speaker 3:At the time it was a school within a college program okay so I finished grade 12 in my first semester and then I got accepted into the SWAC program. So in my second semester, grade 12, I actually took my first year welding theory at red deer polytech. So I'll give you a good head up. So I was, uh, I came out of grade 12 with my first year theory completed. Yeah, um, I was 17 at the time. Yeah, so that's pretty good. Yeah, definitely an early start.
Speaker 1:I started welding when I was 17 too, so, yep, you know, that's uh kind of once it bites you, you're kind of stuck right, you get the bug, you get the itch for it yeah yeah, now you said your family, you know, was involved in many trades. You know, your dad was kind of a jack-of-all-trades and you have lots of trades in the family. Why welding? What was it about welding specifically that attracted you to it?
Speaker 3:I think it was every time you pick up a welder or you go to do a welder. It's never. It is repetition, but you can still make a mistake, even if you've been doing it for forever, long right? So every day you walk up into a welding booth, you're challenging yourself. Every day, you're just trying to be better than you were yesterday. Yeah, and there's no guarantees in this job.
Speaker 1:No, and even the machines. Yeah, machines don't run the same from one day to the next Nope. From the humidity in the air, things change. Yeah. The next no, uh. From the humidity in the air, things change.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a constant, uh like adjustment curve every day right and that, uh yeah, that adjustment curve and that the drive to to be successful in this trade is just. It caught me and and, uh, yeah, I just got the itch for it and and kept going.
Speaker 1:So you came out of high school with your level one already. You slide into a welding program. Where did you go for your level two or your?
Speaker 3:second block I took all three years at Red Deer Polytech.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're at Red Deer Polytech, which I heard has a fantastic program. I've never been there. We're actually going to hopefully visit there soon, because I got some deals going on with Red Deer that we're trying to work out, cause I got some uh, some, some deals going on with Red Deer that we're trying to work out. Yep, but I've heard it's great. You know what was the college like for you.
Speaker 3:Uh, amazing Now cause I'm training there for worlds. That's where I train.
Speaker 3:They have, uh, one of their second year instructors is a dedicated skills trainer. I've been going there attending the college for the last, um, well, since 2019, so the last five years so I've had the opportunity to be in a classroom with every single welding instructor they employ there, yeah, and every single one has helped me. They all bring something different to the table, so it's definitely it's a very well set up course, good, good, and all the teachers and instructors are motivated to help, good.
Speaker 1:So it's, uh, they keep a positive attitude around the class, which is which is very important, yep and for for you getting into the welding program and starting that journey. When did the word skills come up? When did someone say hey ben, have you heard of skills?
Speaker 3:so it's actually my grandpa, really. He back in the late 90s he was a carpentry or a construction high school teacher and he took, he trained people for skills in carpentry all right yeah 2009 was world skills was in calgary. Okay, yeah, so my grandpa took all all us grandkids up there oh, the calgary, you had a flavor for it early on and, uh, that's actually the first time I ever welded was tri-trade awesome at world skills in calgary yeah, so I, yeah, I knew of it from a young age.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and uh, I actually competed in carpentry in 2018 at the high school level. Yeah, that was that was my first competition, and then, in 2019, I moved to welding any regrets?
Speaker 1:no, moving from carpentry to welding no I, uh and this is well documented I I'm not good at working with wood, it just makes me mad yeah, I uh, at least with metal. If you cut it too short, you can just fill the gap, yeah, and if it's not in the right spot I can hit it. You know what I mean like wood. You can't just hit it and then it's a ruined and oh, my'm like getting mad just thinking about working with wood right now.
Speaker 3:And so on my yeah, the one side of my family they're all carpenters and cabin makers, so that's a big part of my family is the woodworking and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So once you got the conversation from Grandpa, he's like hey, you know, like you know about it already, now you're back at the college, did you bring it up to an instructor? Or did an instructor be like hey, anyone thinking about doing skills, we're gonna do an in-house competition, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 3:So in 2018, when I went for carpentry, I brought it up to my my uh teacher at the time and I asked him if he, if he ever took anyone to regionals. And, uh, he did. He was actually uh, good good friends with my grandpa, so he, he knew who I was and who my grandpa was and so, uh, he was very excited to to take me to regionals. And then after that, when I switched to welding, uh, they kind of they knew I had already competed. So then they kind of were like hey, are you going for welding? I said yes and uh, so it was uh, yeah, they were pretty happy, yeah. And then they're like oh, we got.
Speaker 1:We better get our stuff together here to support this kid. Yep, but they've had other people like they're not new to skills there either. Right, the welding program, like they're in it alberta in general is in it for welding pretty heavy every year, like there's expectations to to produce good welders. You know, I'm from saskatchewan. I feel like every year it's kind of a battle between alberta and saskatchewan for who the best welder is. Uh, I went to worlds with adam sebastian. Yep, you know, for in 2019 with and with the mentor, with ken, which you now work with with ken. You know, what are you thinking about for leon? What's on the mind for that? What have you thought about it much yet, or?
Speaker 3:uh, really, the only thing I thought about is how fast it's coming up september yeah yeah it's coming up quick. I wish I had more time to train. Uh. A lot of it is just, uh, trusting your training, so right now, the focus is just making sure I'm competent in anything they could throw at me. Yeah, so, um, we, we don't really have much information yet about travel times and all that, so I haven't been thinking about that at all.
Speaker 1:It's and they pretty much take care of all of it for you skills, canada will yeah yeah, because I like. I mean, I've seen how it works and you land there, there's a bus waiting for you, you're off to the village and yeah there's not a lot of messing around.
Speaker 3:It's pretty structured so I haven't bothered thinking about any of that. It's for me, it's just training.
Speaker 1:And how much training is there now, like your past year? Well, basically you have to be like a two-time gold medalist in Canada, pretty much depending on your age and the selection year. But now you're Team Canada. You're going to hit the Worlds. Yeah, are you training every day? Is this a seven-day-a-week thing? What's it look like in your world?
Speaker 3:I train five days a week Okay, Full days. And then I usually work nights after. Yeah yeah, money's kind of hard to come by, so it doesn't go on trees. But yeah, we train five days a week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and where do you work?
Speaker 3:It's called Arrow Arc Welding, okay, it's by Gull Lake, so it's just northwest of Red Deer. Okay, and what do they do? What do you do there? A little bit of everything. Yeah, a big thing is we manufacture McKee manure spreaders, okay, and then otherwise it's anything that comes through the door handrails, staircases, fixing semi-trailers, a lot of dairy barns agriculture a little bit everything.
Speaker 1:You got mild steel, you got some stainless steel, a little aluminum yeah, yeah yeah, and and in their hierarchy of this company as a you know, 21, 22 year old kid, if I may call you a kid um, you know what? 21, 22 year old kid, if I may call you a kid um, you know what's your street cred like? They're like oh, here comes the skills winner. You get razzed a lot for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but uh, no, it's, it's a good, good group of guys and we get along well. Uh, they know I like welding, so uh, they've been pretty good about you know, they'll have stuff tacked up in the corner and I'll come in at night and just blaze away for three, four hours. Yeah, they're good that way, and I know my foreman can outwell me any day, so so I I was gonna ask he's me humble and and uh yeah, we, we all get along and uh, that's one of the things you know as a skills competitor.
Speaker 1:You've been training. This is, you know, from your regional to provincials, to nationals, to worlds. It's a lot of competitions, it's a lot of practice time, it's a lot of work. And then you go off to private industry and you're working in a shop. How different is the real work life versus the competition life, or is there a lot of overlap?
Speaker 3:no, it's totally different it is totally different uh, a lot of what we do in skills. It borders more on the artwork side. Yeah, um, how it looks. Yeah, how it looks, how you weld it the the temperatures. You use, the techniques you use. It's more, it's more an artwork than uh, than say like a manufacturing based. So yeah, when you, when you go to work, it's, it's hot, fast, get it done yeah, it's all random when you come here it's, it's slow, steady, make it look perfect so.
Speaker 1:So walk us through for the listeners. You know what, what they have to do here today. What are the skills well welders here at the national level? What projects do they have to do here today? What are the skills welders here at the national level? What projects do they have to do? What are they looking for? What's expected from them?
Speaker 3:So at the national level, in the college level, so the post-secondary side they will start day one with the pressure vessel, a mild steel pressure vessel which has MIG, stick and TIG on it, so all the parts are cut. It's basically a gingerbread house. They just walk in, pack it all up together and then weld all the joints, Make sure that it's the right weld in the right place at the right time.
Speaker 3:They release the prints, usually a couple months beforehand, and then they can change them up to 30% competition day. So they get the competition day prints, like the morning of um, they have a couple minutes, go through them, check all the weld prints, make sure they're all good, and then so they'll. They'll weld that out on the first day. Then it gets visually judged. Um, so all the fill welds have specific sizes. They have to be within 2 millimeters of that size. They have to be the right place, right place, right process, right progression of the weld.
Speaker 3:So they get visually judged and then the pressure vessels will get hydro tested to 1,000 PSI and check for leaks yeah, and how long does it got to hold,000 PSI and check for leaks? Yeah, and how long does it got to hold? For? They step it up in stages. So they start with city pressure, okay, and then they'll step up to like 250, 5, 750. And they have full points at each spot, okay, so I believe it's a full minute at each hold point, okay, until you get to 1,000 and they hold it, and 1,000 is a lot.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 3:Like most industry.
Speaker 1:Pressure testing is done at six PSI, and six can be a lot, and we're talking 1,000. So it's got to hold, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So there's definitely an art to making it hold, especially with the joints and the shape of the structure they throw at you.
Speaker 1:And then, after they're done that, this is day one Day two they come in. What do they?
Speaker 3:got to do so day two is TIG day for the post-secondary side. So today they started with a stainless TIG project. So same thing all the pieces are cut, they come in, tack it up, they get it stamped, get it checked and then they start welding For their stainless project. It's all back purged, so it's an enclosed vessel, and then they have a purge plate tacked on so they're trying to get full pen, full radius on their corners. So same thing once they're done, they'll cut the purge plate off. It comes out, gets visually inspected inside a note.
Speaker 1:That one's not pressure tested. No, no, no, the TIG projects aren't, they're just visually checked yeah. And you're looking like I mean stainless. You're looking for color, you're looking for penetration.
Speaker 3:You're looking for some of the tough things to do with the stainless, because ripping stainless in isn't hard, making it look nice is hard. Yes and uh. So it's two. Two millimeter stainless, 14 gauge. Uh, they cannot weld it autogenously, they have to add filler well with uh full pen and full color wow without any burn through or or uh spots like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And what about sugaring? What if it sugars? On you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, they get docked. Bad deal, yep.
Speaker 1:And they're done the stainless, and then they go to the one I would suck at the most it's the aluminum, which is the aluminum.
Speaker 3:Yep. So module one they get six hours to do the pressure vessel. The stainless is three hours, and then the aluminum is three hours as well. So, uh, same thing. The aluminum, all pieces are cut. They tack it up, stamp it, go back, weld it out. Uh, it's, it's three mil aluminum. Uh, no, autogenous welds. They go full pen on all the butts and open corners, yeah. And then it is visually graded for weld size and contour and yeah, stop, starts all that fun stuff for you.
Speaker 1:Which one is the one that was the hardest depends on the day. Which is the. Which is the one?
Speaker 3:that's giving you more bad days uh, tig was definitely a hard spot for me. We don't really touch that at work. It's uh.
Speaker 1:Stick and wire yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's TIG's a little slow for most for most production. So so that one was definitely a big step up to learn, uh, tig, especially at this level. Yeah, uh, for me at Worlds we have flux core, yeah, um, so that that one's's been a been a hard one, probably one of the hard ones for me to to get through just because it's hard to make flux core look nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah and uh, I I come from the mining industry. I spent years burning flux core. I can make flux core look beautiful in any position, but because I was in mining, I never touched tig. Yeah, the tig was always something that I was weaker in. I was pretty good at stainless TIG because I would have to do that for piping, but like carbon TIG, really, if you're going to carbon TIG, you might as well make yeah.
Speaker 1:Like you said in production world in real life, you don't got time. Who's going to pay for a carbon TIG weld? Hammer it in there, let's move on right. Hammer it in there, let's move on right. How was?
Speaker 3:your aluminum tigging when you first started. Pretty bad, yeah, it was, it was. Uh, there was some rough days, for sure. I I kept my first projects from skills, so whenever remind yourself yep, yeah I. I see them almost every day and and it's a good reminder to where I, where I started, where I came from and what's the stuff like?
Speaker 1:how do you key in on what you need to learn? Like, I know that the mini competitions are really important. You just said you were down in Huntsville, Alabama, right? How many of those like mini competitions have you attended and how do you? Do, do you do well.
Speaker 3:So in Huntsville they were still selecting the American competitor. So they they actually had two separate competitions. They had an international competition which was me, um Australia and Ireland, and then they had the three Americans uh getting for the their number one spot, yeah, and they kept us separate, judged us separately, so that competition I won the international side but I would have lost to the Americans.
Speaker 3:To the Americans yeah, if they judged us the same, yeah. And then the start of May at Provincials in Edmonton, the Alberta Provincial Competition. We invited the top american guy and germany to that competition, and how they do, uh, the american beat me again.
Speaker 1:so I got second there. Yeah well, are you gonna beat the american in in uh in leon? Oh, I don't have a choice, I have to.
Speaker 2:You have to yeah because you know what?
Speaker 1:now you're going generations, because adam also really struggled beating the american, and when we were in kazan, russia, we were one or point one or point two points behind american, basically just below again, and it worlds is that tight it's? Just every year.
Speaker 3:It's like decimals yeah, yeah, they are. I mean, last year in cleveland they had two golds, yep they tied. So it's crazy, it's at this level it's everyone's good, yep, everyone's good.
Speaker 1:What? What's your strongest of the three weldments, which is the one that you walk into being like? I don't have to worry about this one.
Speaker 3:I can nail it every time right now I would say probably the MIG on the vessel. Yeah, that's how.
Speaker 1:I work. You can just wear them in beautiful yeah.
Speaker 3:That's just what I'm used to. I brand it the most. Yeah, they always seem to be consistent. So I would say the MIG right now, but it's got to work on the flux core. But, yeah, flux core is a big one.
Speaker 1:Don't turn it up too high. Quick little, quick little beads, dude, don't let them get big. That's when they get chunky and stupid. Yeah, and you can get worm tracks. You don't want that? No, yeah, it's.
Speaker 3:It's definitely finicky and an angle, your travel speed, inclination is, you're off a couple degrees and it changes the look of the world entirely. So it's it's, uh, definitely a learning curve on that one what about your support net?
Speaker 1:you know, like we talked about your parents earlier in their trades background, what do they think about this journey for you, like, how do they feel about about what you're doing?
Speaker 3:they're pretty excited. Yeah, everyone's super excited. They I got quite a few people coming to leon, france to watch me, so they're all, they're all gearing up for that and it's, yeah, they got.
Speaker 1:They're all happy and and uh do they brag about you to their friends. I'm yeah yes, I'm going to france.
Speaker 3:I I'm pretty quiet, so I I usually uh try not to tell people too much. Yeah, usually just say, oh, it's a welding competition, so they're always behind me like, oh, screw that, it's world skills. Yeah, that's huge.
Speaker 1:Now, what about in terms of your like? We're here at Skills Canada right, this is the promotion of skills, the trades, all the skilled trades in Canada. For yourself, coming off the farm, getting into the welding program, growing into the position you are now, what are the skills that you really found you needed to lean on these?
Speaker 3:skills were important for you to get to where you are. That's a hard one, because there's definitely a lot, there's a lot of hard work that goes in behind this. So I think the dedication, but just the drive never to give up and realizing that failure is a part of it, it happens every day and it makes you grow, so it's easy to get discouraged, but I think, yeah, a lot of it's just that, the passion behind it, the uh, staying positive.
Speaker 1:Um, staying open to change.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah all the, all those little things is is what makes the difference in the big picture and if you had to talk to another.
Speaker 1:You know there's kids coming through here. We got a bunch of kids here right now watching the show and and you know they all are looking at the trades. You know, in four or five years they may be looking to get into these same positions, to get somewhere with the skills right. What could you give them as a device to say, hey, you're about to start this path. It's gonna be crazy, but this is a couple things that I can help you with that you should know yeah, it's, it's, I did I definitely don't have any, don't do it, it's too much no
Speaker 3:I got no regrets this has been the best experience. Yeah, uh, with the amount of training I've gotten, I've grown so much in welding but also, um, as an individual, like I was, I still am kind of quiet and reserved and and, uh, well, you're on a podcast, well, yeah, and that's that's what's changed, like the, the amount of social growth, and and uh exposure yeah it has, like that side of my life has has changed completely in the last.
Speaker 3:Even the last year, wow, um, totally switched from being, you know, just quiet and I was always in the background to now this right. So it's a big switch that way.
Speaker 1:Definitely no regrets. You must still miss the background sometimes, though right.
Speaker 3:Oh, I still hide in the background. I can still find ways to sneak away and go unnoticed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. And then you know leading up to Worlds. You know for your fellow teammates, for yourselves, you know what are the things you guys talk about when you meet, about getting ready, like mentally, I think it's definitely different for different trades.
Speaker 3:Like, my prints were released in January, so I have my prints. What I'm going to be doing, I've been training to them to the judging criteria. A lot of trades don't get their prints Until they land. Until they land until the day of. Some of them are two days before. That's scary. So it's kind of different for each trade, but a lot of us is Shout out to Ken here.
Speaker 1:Ken Heather, the world's trainer, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think all of us we know the time and dedication. World's trainer. Yeah, I think all of us we know that, the time and dedication that's needed. So everyone's putting in long hours. Even if they don't have, even if they don't know what they're training on, they can still. They still got to practice. They can still practice on old projects, on old judging criterias.
Speaker 1:So we kind of just all do our own thing, but in, in the end it's all just dedication to the trade, awesome. And to wrap up the interview, let's talk about just these last couple days. What's been the biggest you know, uh, happy moment or positive moment you've had during these, this skills week?
Speaker 3:uh, getting to see quebec was. Yeah, there's a lot of history here, it's beautiful out here and I haven't, and the food has been. Yeah, the poutine. Poutine is great here.
Speaker 1:If I could bring some home to my friends in Saskatchewan, I won't. Yeah. No.
Speaker 3:Getting to see the city and getting to see the competition here, like, uh, I know, I've know, I've been to so many competitions and I've talked to so many different trades people. But to actually see what they're doing and see what their competition is is totally different than just hearing them talk about it. And so getting to see that, getting to see the projects start coming out and the high school kids competing and the college kids competing, and knowing you were there just a year ago, yeah, yeah, it's, it's pretty cool to see you know talking to people and do they look like babies to?
Speaker 3:you and you were there just a year ago. Yeah, yeah, uh, it's, it's pretty cool to see you know, talking to people and do they look like babies to you and you're only like a year older sometimes?
Speaker 1:yeah, it's funny how that works.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah yeah, it's uh, uh, but no, it's good to see it. It keeps you grounded yeah yeah, no, you remember where he came from just that short time ago so that's right.
Speaker 1:And what about the Canadian Welding Bureau and yourself? You know like, as a welder, you're going to need qualifications. Do you have any CWB tickets already? I do have a couple.
Speaker 3:I have my flux core all position Good and my flat stick, your flat stick. You got to get the rest of those ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I haven't been too worried but yeah, yeah, I haven't been too worried but yeah, eventually, yeah, I will Awesome. So last question you know for your future, where do you see yourself? You know you got your Red Seal already. Journey person, you're going to go to Worlds, you're going to hammer it out, get first place, come back carrying the big flag being super proud. And you know, do you see yourself as a business owner someday, or working in a big fab shop? What's kind of the end game that you envision right now?
Speaker 3:Right now I'm kind of leaving it open because I don't want to shut any doors before they even open. So I am kind of interested in specializing in TIG after this. I would kind of like to get into that field a bit more. Right now I'm kind of hoping that I just meet some interesting people at Worlds yeah, and some opportunities open, make some friends, yeah.
Speaker 3:I have gotten opportunities in different countries already that have kind of been interesting. That might be something I look into. I did that stuff, man, and that might be something I look into.
Speaker 1:I did that stuff, man, and I would definitely recommend that type of work. I've had a lot of fun working in other countries. And if you're down to travel and you're not a picky eater, go for it. Can't be a picky eater. Might have to work on that? Yeah, because it's like sometimes you find yourself in a very strange place and there's no choice. Yeah. All right, man. Well, thank you very much for coming on the show. Is there any shout outs you'd like to send out to anybody, or thank yous.
Speaker 3:Oh, there's so many people that I should be thanking and I'll forget all of them if. I try, thank you all.
Speaker 2:Thank you all, yeah.
Speaker 3:The college has been great, lincoln's been great. Yeah, cwb is helping me. So it's Skills Canada, skills Alberta. The list goes on and on and on. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you've been doing a great job. All I hear is fantastic things about you. I mean, ken talk all the time and he raves about you and we think you got a real good chance there. So best of luck and good luck in your competition there. Thank you, and open. Best of luck and good luck in your competition there. Thank you, and for all the people, make sure you check out all the shows. We are recording about 15 or 16 podcasts here in french and english during this week at skills and it's going to be a fantastic.
Speaker 2:So if you caught this one, catch them all learn the stories and we'll see you at the next episode. We hope you enjoyed the future. Produced by the CWB Group and presented by Max Holm, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.