The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Skills Canada Series -Season 2- Episode 18 with James Bartel
The CWB Association has had the honor of working with Skills/Compétences Canada on a special Podcast Series interviewing WorldSkills Team Canada 2024 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.
Meet James Bartel, a rising star representing WorldSkills Team Canada 2024 in the autobody repair competition. James dives into how his family’s car repair activities ignited his passion and led him to pursue specialized education. He sheds light on the intricate world of collision repair, offering a peek into tasks like frame pulling and structural work, while distinguishing it from mechanical repairs. Listen as he recounts his path from high school graduation to preparing for an international skills competition in Lyon, France.
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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 edition of the CWB Association podcast. This special series is in conjunction and cooperation with Skills Canada Competencies. These wonderful podcasts that we've been recording for the last few months have been all centered around Team Canada and all the amazing Canadian competitors going over to Lyon, france, to compete in their respective trades. Today we have James Bartel coming to us from Steinbeck, manitoba, who is competing in the Collision Repair Program. James, how are you doing? I'm great Thanks for asking. So you're in Manitoba, steinbeck, manitoba. Let people know where is Steinbeck, manitoba.
Speaker 2:So Steinbeck is about an hour southeast of Winnipeg, which is the capital city of.
Speaker 1:Manitoba, so you're pretty close to the American border there, yeah yeah, fairly close. Cool, cool. So were you born and raised in that area in southern manitoba I was yeah, so do you love it uh it's uh, not, not comparable to some places, but then again it makes traveling more interesting. Yeah, yeah, I know that's a tricky question when you're I'm in Saskatchewan, so you know it's you kind of have this desire to leave your rural area, but in another way it's home still right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell me, james, you know you're the collision uh repair program um which I think most people would consider. You know auto body. It's kind of how, uh, they know about it. Is that, is that the right term? If I say you're an auto body, is that kind of the same thing or is that a different thing altogether?
Speaker 2:yeah, no, I think that's the same thing. It's just I don't know. I've heard so many different names. Everyone uses it differently, so it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 2:Now in the collision repair program. What are some of the things that you do? What do you? What did you learn in the program? So I guess there's mainly there's two sides to it. There's the paint side and then there's the body side. Paint is a completely different, separate competition. So I'm the body side and I mean I've done pretty much, I think everything at this point, whether it's pulling frames, whether it's replacing structural parts or non-structural parts, welded parts like smaller repair on dents and scratches and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:Does it include, like the glass and the glass, work on a vehicle?
Speaker 2:I have worked with glass, but as far as I know, that is not a requirement for this competition okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:I need a new windshield on my mustang and I thought maybe you could do me a solid uh, it's gonna be a far ride to get there. Now you know you get into collision or auto body. You're working on body panels now. You don't do mechanic work, though like mechanics is different. They're. They're more into like the engine transmissions, but you're doing all the, all the framework, aren't you around those parts that they connect to?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, sometimes, yeah, yeah, I think it's usually by the time it gets like deep into the frame. It's a write-off at that point.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I guess from an insurance point of view. Right yeah but what about from like the collector part of of you, the, the, the james that likes building old cars? Nothing's ever a write-off.
Speaker 2:No, no, but I haven't got my hands on vehicles that were too badly damaged.
Speaker 1:No, no. So do you like cars? Is that how you got into this? What made James get into this field of study?
Speaker 2:A coincidence, to be honest, probably the most. I was just joining high school. I didn't know exactly where to go, like what major to take, but because of my background, the way I guess my family was always working on cars, my dad was always fixing his own cars and that was always interesting for me to see, so I thought that would be a an interesting, uh major to take.
Speaker 1:yeah, and when you, when you started taking it you know because you said your dad and your family had worked with on cars around you did you find that it, it was easy, like did you. Did you like it right off the top when you started taking the classes?
Speaker 2:uh, it was uh, because I guess the way that the program works, you start off the first two years you don't touch cars at all, you just do like theory and then working with just metal and stuff like that it's just not the same as working on an actual vehicle. But I still actually enjoyed it. It was still a good time.
Speaker 1:Well, usually when people learn all the theory and stuff it seems boring at the time, but as you move up in the industry you realize how important it is. Right, yeah, absolutely so. How long is the program that you took in in steinbeck regional college? So um sorry, it's a secondary school, yeah so I guess four years in total.
Speaker 2:Wow, first year is a lot shorter and then the other years is a little more, but yeah, four years in total and uh, how far into it are you now? I uh just graduated high school like a few months ago.
Speaker 1:So for the people, listening like you're 17 years old, right like you're, you're young I did just turn 18 years recently okay, so you're 18 years old. Welcome to voting. So that's good we need. We need people to vote um now with, uh, with the, the competition and skills. How far in high school? Or what grade were you in high school when, when an instructor came up to you and said hey, james, like are you? Have you ever heard about skills? Have you thought about competing? When did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I believe that was grade 11. So I guess I was 16 at the time and then I was asked to compete first in the provincial level, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I was really unsure of it. I didn't really know what it was, I didn't know the potential and all that stuff, but that went well, kept going from there.
Speaker 1:When you went to that first provincial competition in Manitoba. You know they're pretty big. What were your thoughts when you saw all these kids? You know secondary, post-secondary schools, all they're ready to compete their own trades and then, of course, your own competition. What did you think when you, when you walked into that?
Speaker 2:well, the thing is like when I was, when I did my provincial competition. It was during COVID.
Speaker 1:Oh right.
Speaker 2:So I was simply with my skill area right. There was no others. It was just the bodyguides that were there. So there's a lot less, but there's still enough people to where it was a little A little nerve-wracking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a little nerve-wracking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a little nerve-wracking.
Speaker 1:And then, what about when you did your first Nationals for qualifying for Lyon? You know that was last year. It was in Winnipeg. Was that the one you were at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was the one in Winnipeg. That's when I got the invite and that's the big one right. Yeah.
Speaker 1:How'd you feel about walking into that huge thing?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. I wouldn't say it was too bad. I was doing fine the first day, probably before you actually start the competition. It's just like the orientation and stuff. That was a little nerve-wracking, but when the day got started half an hour in it was all good.
Speaker 1:Just get to work. Right, just get to work. Yeah, now, what's your favorite part of what you do, like in all the pieces of work that you got to do when you look at a vehicle and all the different types of repairs? What is it that you love? Work that you got to do when you look at a vehicle and all different types of repairs, what, what is it that you love that you look forward to that you're like, oh, that's, that's my favorite part or what I do best.
Speaker 2:uh, what I always look forward to is the finished product yeah so it's always fun to see it just develop and then come together and at the end it's, it's fixed, whatever it was right and now, as you, as you go down this journey and you know, do you, do you when you're in your normal life?
Speaker 1:do you see mistakes on cars? Everywhere you go, like I'm a weld, a welder, I'll tell you, everywhere I go, I see bad welds.
Speaker 2:Now, everywhere you go do you see crooked cars. Yeah, probably always like the panel gaps that I always see, or like mismatched paint.
Speaker 1:Oh, that kills you. Yeah, so now you're done high school. You qualified for Worlds. You leave in a few weeks here. Here it's like we're recording this third week of august. You're going to be in lyon, france, in september. Here, um, are you ready for it? Are you afraid? Are you nervous? What? What's your thoughts? Getting ready for the big competition?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I feel like I should have more, I should be more worried or something, but I, I don't know, I just I know it's coming. I'm kind of, I know I've done what I could, I guess. So I'm just going to go compete and see what happens. So I'm not really nervous or anything. I won't say.
Speaker 1:Good, good, and have you been practicing lots these last couple months, you know, trying to get ready for it.
Speaker 2:Should have probably been more, but there's still quite a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you feel confident.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing I just have heard so many people say that these other countries are just absolutely unbeatable, so confidence is definitely a little lower than it was in the beginning.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, that's the beautiful thing about a competition Everyone's got their day right. The best can have a bad day and the worst can have their best day Makes all the difference in the world, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Now when you get there, you know there, you know you're gonna. It's huge. I've been to worlds uh before and the the level is nuts. I was trying to get into france but I wasn't able to get there. But I was in kazan with my welding competitor and it was such an amazing experience and I can't imagine, as 18 years old, you know this amazing experience you're heading out on to go to france. What's your family? Think about this.
Speaker 2:You know the people around you in your hometown um, some people are, I guess, a little surprised, and I think I know I myself don't talk about it much at all.
Speaker 1:I would be bragging about it all the time.
Speaker 2:Why don't you tell anybody? I don't know, that's just not what I do. I just do my thing on my own and then, if someone finds out about it, we'll chat about it for a few minutes and then sit.
Speaker 1:What about your high school?
Speaker 2:teacher. What do they feel about you going to france? Uh well, one of my main high school teacher I guess he was there the whole time through my uh collision repair program. He's now my trainer oh awesome. So we still work together all the time, right.
Speaker 1:So do you know yet what the project is in france? We still work together all the time, right.
Speaker 2:Do you know yet what the project is in?
Speaker 1:France. We don't know. It's a blind project this year, oh really. So you don't know what kind of mess you're walking into?
Speaker 2:Not really. I mean, there's only so many things that could be on the table, but we don't know for sure.
Speaker 1:Now, with the auto body or the collision repair program, the competition. Do you work by yourself or do you ever have to work as a team with other people?
Speaker 2:No, it's solo, Solo by yourself.
Speaker 1:Now you're going to go off to this competition, you're going to hopefully win first place and come home with the gold medal. You know, I'm hoping for you, buddy, and when you get back, are you gonna, are you gonna be, uh, following this career for college? Are you gonna go back and go get your red seal and start the whole, the whole spiel? And you know, is this your goal?
Speaker 2:uh, that that's kind of the plan. I mean, right as of now I am actually going to college for a business degree kind of thing, but it's only a year, and after that I would most definitely try and go get a Red Seal. I just didn't see a good opportunity until now for a shop, a place to start my Red Seal. I just didn't have that opportunity yet. So I thought I would go a little bit of a different direction for a year, try something new.
Speaker 1:Well it's good, it's good, it's good, and and learning business is always very good for you like. I took a one-year business course too, and it was very helpful in my life, um in the well, even in the welding world just in terms of organizing myself and and getting you know understanding the way people get made money and stuff like that right yeah, exactly, exactly that.
Speaker 1:That's kind of my, uh, my, thought process here yeah, and then you know if, for your red seal you like, I mean as many of us have to do, have you thought about maybe having to leave the area? Are you okay with, you know, moving away from home for a while to chase your dream?
Speaker 2:well, I actually had a chat with a man, a guy I met in in toronto two weeks last week, and he was saying that he runs 30 shops or something.
Speaker 1:He works for auto canada and he said maybe we can make some work in winnipeg, so I wouldn't have to really move anywhere oh, that'd be perfect right well, and that's one of the things like I don't know if you've noticed, james, but how much networking you do, like I can tell right now in this short little interview that we've done that you're a pretty quiet guy, you're pretty reserved, you don't? You don't? You don't talk much, right? No, not often, but skills has probably made you talk way more than you probably thought you ever would, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, most definitely.
Speaker 1:Did you ever think you'd be on a podcast?
Speaker 2:No, that wasn't the plan at any point.
Speaker 1:And see, look, this is what you're doing. And you know, in your skills journey in the last, you know, a couple years, what are some of the things you had to really learn outside of body work. You know, like what did james have to learn to be better at?
Speaker 2:you know getting out there competing and and doing all the things that are expected of you now uh, I would say one big thing that I learned regarding like the learning process was I feel like I came from this background with cars and stuff and my dad would show me how to do this, how to do that. So when I went into this program, this collision repair program, I would often try and do things my own way because I thought that's better, that's how it works and it took me a while to realize that it's better to just at least listen to the advice that's being given and not just stick to what you know, what you think is better.
Speaker 2:So that's helped me a lot. Just open up and just learn whatever I can learn.
Speaker 1:And that's a huge lesson to learn at a young age. When you're young, you always feel that the way you figured it out and it works is the only way you're ever going to want to do it. But then, as soon as you get a little bit smarter, a little bit older, a little bit more wise, you realize that there's a lot of different ways to do things. And then you got to figure out when's the right time to use the right trick.
Speaker 1:You know yeah now, what was some of the hardest things you had to learn in your, in your studies or even with the skills journey?
Speaker 2:Oh, you mean like specific tasks?
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's start with auto body. Like what's the hardest things in auto body you've had to do?
Speaker 2:Probably sectioning like a quarter panel, let's say Right. So welding it like cutting it out first and then welding in a new one so that it fits perfectly Like at first. That was quite a daunting task. At this point it's pretty easy, but it was a hard thing to learn to, to get good at and make it blend perfectly, so it looks like one panel well, I don't do the painting right, I just do the welding and then just grind it down.
Speaker 1:So, and then it's somebody else's problem, yeah pretty much what about with your own personal life? What's been some of the hardest things you've had to do to get ready for skills?
Speaker 2:uh, I would say making time for practice, to be honest I just have always. I've always had so many things going on and then I didn't realize how much time would have to go into practicing, and then having to leave for a week to go train and this and that, and it's uh, just finding the time. Honestly it's been tough.
Speaker 1:Well, what are some of the other things you like to do in your time?
Speaker 2:I, uh, I work a lot and then I use that money to have a lot of fun. So I travel, I travel a lot, I go camping a lot. I, you know, buy boats, flip them by jet skis, flip them whatever, have a good time with them and just go fishing, hunting, all the sports. I just do everything, honestly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you don't get bored.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not Good Good the sports.
Speaker 1:I just do everything honestly. Yeah, you don't get bored absolutely not. Good. Good, do you see yourself in the auto body industry a long time? Like what's your long-term dream here?
Speaker 2:well, I think, uh, I've talked to a couple guys and and I, I don't want to be on the shop floor when I'm 40, 50, you know, but know, but I don't, I wouldn't mind doing it for a couple of years and then, if the company is big enough and there's potential to get more like a office type of job, of managing position like that would kind of be the end goal here.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good goal. That's what I did. You know, I started off as a laborer, got into welding and worked my way up into the office and kind of never looked back. Um, but if I wouldn't have had that time on the floor, I wouldn't have been as good in the office right because because you want to. You want people to know that you know what you're talking about. Like you want to have that street cred. Still, you know yeah, yeah now with the skills journey.
Speaker 1:You know this is going to open up a lot of windows for you. You already talked about how. You know you had conversations with a person in toronto about possible work. Well, you know, if you, if you get a medal of excellence or or even medal on the podium at skills at the age of 18, you know, trust me, you're going to get a lot of opportunities. You know, are you willing to move away for like a crazy opportunity if someone offers it to you?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a good question. I would. I would say not within the next year.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no it's. I'd like to stay here a little bit longer. If there's some opportunity, we can work some out. You know, a year from now. I think there's a possibility for sure. But I wouldn't pack my bags a month from now and leave Like that's not really an option.
Speaker 1:What if they said come to Hollywood and build cars for movies? No, Really.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Really Wow. You got some important stuff going on at home then.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I just I don't need, don't need so much Like, I'm happy with what I got, you know, and then with the plans I have, I think it'll all be fine.
Speaker 1:It'll all be fine. Yeah, well, that's awesome. Once you get back and you're going to be working on your business certificate and then you're going to figure out the long-term plan, what other things would you like to do? What are the things outside of auto body that maybe tie into it that you would like to do? You know, like, what are the things outside of auto body that maybe tie into it that you would like to do? Like, would you like to get into mechanics, or even the painting side, or or what other skills do you think you'd like to pick up?
Speaker 2:Well, I was uh definitely having a few thoughts about opening my own shop at some point oh, awesome.
Speaker 1:And then at that point I would I would need to know how to do everything right from the business side to the painting side, to the body side, right. Well, and that's a big dream, that'd be fun in your area is there? Is there room for a new business, like you in steinbeck?
Speaker 2:uh, I believe so. As far as I know, shops are fairly booked out. So good. I think there's there's some room for it.
Speaker 1:Well, and we always got winter, where everyone's crashes their cars, right. So, yeah, absolutely Awesome, buddy. Well, what are some of the things you know? Just to wrap up the interview what, what are? What's one of the things that you think you're going to be better at than other people at skills, and then what's one of the things that you think you're going to be better at than other people at skills, and then what's one of the things that you got to really work on over the next couple weeks?
Speaker 2:That is a very good question. I think speed, I think I'm fairly quick with what I do, I can keep up speed and still be fairly accurate. I think speed, I think I'm fairly quick with what I do, I can keep up speed and still be fairly accurate.
Speaker 1:I think that's a strong point I have that's very strong for skills. Timing is a big deal, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then what's something?
Speaker 1:you've got to work on that. You're like, when you're there, you've got to remind yourself hey, james, make sure you do this.
Speaker 2:Maybe not rush too much, also speed.
Speaker 1:Might be too fast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, literally, because if I go a little too quick I can get it done fast. But I think I would compromise a lot in that quality.
Speaker 1:Right. So you've got to walk that fine line between speed and quality, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Awesome man. Well, I hope you do super well in france. Uh, I hope you represent canada well and you're only 18 man. You got lots you can up. You can go through the whole skills journey again, as in post-secondary that's true or you might be done with it after this. Maybe you'll be done.
Speaker 2:I mean, let's see, I appreciate it. Yeah, any shout, maybe you'll be done. Yeah, I mean, let's see, awesome, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, any shout-outs you want to send out or hellos to anybody in your crew or family, oh no.
Speaker 2:Couldn't think of anything right now.
Speaker 1:All right, cool. Well, thank you so much, james, for being on our show today. Like I said, best of luck over in lyon, france, and anybody that wants to follow along. Make sure that you follow it online. All the skills competitions are going to be posted online with the times and the winners and the podiums and the standings.
Speaker 1:And, james, I'm sure you'll do well, buddy thank you awesome and for the people that have been following along these podcasts, make sure you listen to all of them. We've recorded over 15 podcasts with the world skills team and also people from skills canada and uh and the board and the and the execs. There's lots of great stuff. It's all being shared through our network at the cwb association and also the skills canada network, so check them all out. They're all wonderful and make sure you follow along. Comment and tag us. Have a great day. Catch you at the next one. We hope you enjoy the show.
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