The CWB Association Welding Podcast

Episode 242: Breaking Barriers with Jaslyn Hugli

• Kevin Roy • Season 1 • Episode 242

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The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects welding professionals around the world and unrepresented communities as we continue to strive for a more diverse workforce. Join us as we celebrate Women Empowerment Month to learn about the incredible contributions of Women in the welding industry and our communities.

Today's guest is Jaslyn Hugli, an Outside Sales Representative from WeldCor Supplies from Regina, SK. From her first high school welding booth to fabrication bays, she shares how to stay sharp when budgets are tight and doors do not always open. We dive into bias in the trades, the importance of mentorship, and volunteering with your local CWB Association Chapter.

If you care about welding education, workforce growth, and smarter process choices, this one delivers practical insight you can use tomorrow.

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Meet Jaslyn And Early Sparks

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Wat. Let's flip up the lid and spark some conversation. Attention welders in Canada. Looking for top quality welding supplies? Look no further than Canada Welding Supply. With a vast selection of premium equipment, safety gear, and consumables, CWS has got you covered. They offer fast and reliable shipping across the country. And here's the best part. Podcast listeners get 10% off any pair of welding gloves. Use code CWV10 at checkout when placing your next order. Visit Canada Weldingsupply.ca now. Canada Welding Supply, your trusted welding supplier. Happy welding. Welcome to another episode of the Canadian Welding Bureau Association Welding Podcast. I gotta shorten that up. It just takes forever. But anyway, CWB Association Welding Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin, and I have with me a good friend of mine, Jaslin Hughley. Hello, Jaslin.

SPEAKER_03

Hello.

SPEAKER_02

So Jasmine, tell me what uh what do you do for work?

SPEAKER_03

I work at Weldcore as a outside salesperson right now.

SPEAKER_02

So where did your your welding journey begin? Where did your love for welding come from?

SPEAKER_03

Uh basically started in high school. I didn't take welding as an elective in grade nine. I took construction. And then one day the teacher told us to go make garbage sticks, and we had to go sharpen nail heads in the welding shop. And I went in there, I was like, that's kind of cool. And then I immediately switched my elective for the next semester over to the welding elective, and that's kind of where it just started.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, good plan. Good plan. So grade 10, you started out welding courses at high school. So which high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_03

I went to Miller.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, yeah. Miller's is one of the only schools that still has a welding program.

SPEAKER_03

They have the best welding program. And it's kind of funny because both high schools that have the welding program right now are Belfur and Miller. They're right beside each other, and Belfur's really sucks compared to Miller's. But it's it's a welding shop. Kids are still learning, but it's kind of like a night and day difference.

High School Programs Shrink

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I guess since we're on it, like we've got, I think, what, 13 high schools in Regina, and only two have welding programs. What do you what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_03

I think it's really unfortunate. I know why most of the high schools shut down their programs, and I I don't like their reasoning, but that's above me and above everyone else. Um we we do have the other CRP, the Regina campus, that other like high schools that don't have welding programs can go into, but they can only handle, I don't know, 20 kids in the morning and then 20 kids in the afternoon. So it's not a lot. Um, but I know kids and teachers, like ex-teachers that used to run the welding programs, they're upset about it, and they have every right to be upset about it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So what is the reason that you're encountering what's the reason why we don't have welding programs anymore?

SPEAKER_03

Budgeting. Budgeting seems to be the biggest one. Uh two of the high schools here shut down because of the foundation cracking, because of the infrastructure just being way too old. Um, and then just budgets for the rest. Welding has become so expensive over the past five years, let's say, like right before COVID. And then COVID just really ruined a lot of things for the high schools here.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sucks that there's not enough money to keep these programs going. Because I I remember speaking to the instructor at CRP, and it's like, oh, he gets five thousand bucks at the beginning of the year. Well, you go buy materials and you go buy filler metals, and your budget's blowing. Now you have, you know, equipment that needs repair. You don't have the budget to fix the machines.

SPEAKER_03

Right. And when I went when James and I went around to all the high schools, he he kind of got his eyes opened to the whole budget thing with high schools and CRP. You would think that CRP taking in as many schools as they do would have a higher budget than the high schools. They don't. They they have about a grand more than the high schools do. And operating costs, you you have nothing. Most of the, or sorry, all of the high schools here, they get var steel scrap cutoffs for free, donated by varsteel. But that's not great material. But you can weld on it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Should tell the listeners that Jazlin is from Regina. She's uh on the CWB board with me here, the CWE Regina chapter. Um, so the people she's mentioning, James, he's our chair, and you're vice chair, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Congratulations. We'll get into that, we'll get into that later. So so you fell in love with welding in high school. Did you pursue that all the way through high school and then and then go into another school after that?

COVID Disrupts Welding Training

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So basically from the start, actually it was middle of grade nine when I switched into the welding. Um, and then all throughout high school. Even though you could really only take it one semester, I always took a spare, and my teacher there, Mr. Blair Batchlew, awesome guy. Um, he let me use my spare in there all the time. So I was basically in the welding shop as much as I physically could be. Um and then I went to Polytech after. Unfortunately, that was the year of COVID, so we did the first full semester uh with every single teacher under the sun, because that was also the year that Adam Sebastian made it to uh Russia, and our old teacher broke his ribs, and so we kind of got tossed around a bit between every single teacher, mainly Max, Max and Joe, and then second semester Derek took took over until March, and then we all got kicked out and then had to learn how to weld online.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, um, how how was welding online? How was that?

SPEAKER_03

It really sucked. Um, we we were just gonna get into TIG when we got kicked out, so it it could have been worse, I think, but learning like all the components and all the consumables and like all the the written stuff that you have to learn. Um, and then we also learned metallurgy. And then in July we got invited back for two weeks to finish off, and those two weeks were spent learning Tig as fast as possible. It was it was really cutthroat a little bit. You you weren't allowed to adventure in the school. Every class had to go in a very specific door, you couldn't adventure around the shop to go talk to your friends, you couldn't even talk to your friends in your little group, you had to stay in your booth and wearing a mask while welding when it was new, that sucked.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that sucked really bad. I mean, to this day, there's guys and girls that will not wear a mask underneath their their welding lid, but uh yeah, when you're forced to and when it's new to you, it's not really comfortable, right?

SPEAKER_03

You're trying to learn a new trade and you're hyper-focusing and like mouth breathing trying to learn, and then you're just you can't mouth breathe when you're wearing a mask.

SPEAKER_02

That's like literally me when I wear a mask, like any type of mask. I open my mouth and I start to mouth breathe, which is super weird, right? But it happens. You can't really learn how to weld online for the most part. You need that hands-on aspect, and then they try to jam it all into two weeks. Yeah. Was it a level one course? Was it pre-employment? Uh, it was the one that you get year one and two out of. Okay, yeah. I don't know what they call it now, but I think that's pre-employment.

SPEAKER_03

I don't know. I I we would have been there from September to May if we yeah, so it was the it was the full course.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you graduated, you got out of there. What happened next?

Finding Work And Fair Pay

SPEAKER_03

So I was selling furniture at Ashley Home Store just during COVID because Best Buy kicked us out and furloughed a bunch of us, and so got a job at Ashley's. That was weird being 19 and selling furniture. People don't trust you. People do not trust you to t to sell you a eight grand mattress. So yeah, that was fun. Um, and then actually, my high school welding teacher he reached out to me and said, Hey, Praxair is looking to hire. And I was like, Oh, well, I really want to get a welding job. Like, I'm applying everywhere, like every single shop a million times over. Um, and he was like, Oh, well, Praxair's hiring, and that could be good to make connections. Like, that's a good idea. I went in for the interview, I basically got the job immediately, and I was like, Okay, well, I'm just gonna be here for six months. And I told the manager that I'm gonna be here for six months, and I'm just gonna use this job to help me make contacts to get to in a in a shop, and they were like, Okay. I was I ended up being there for almost three years because no nowhere was hiring, and everywhere that would hire me was gonna be pay me less than what I was making at Lindy or Praxair at the time, what before it switched to Lindy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's a that's a really tough call, and I think some people have to deal with that depending on the industry and your area, right? But you know, you got a you got a welding job, technically, a job in a welding field, you know, get your feet wet, whatever, but then you were getting paid well. So why would you leave it for, you know?

SPEAKER_03

Well, it wasn't it wasn't like well, but I like I I as soon as COVID hit, I moved out of my parents' house. So I had I I I I was learning how to pay all my bills and do all that. So it's like, oh, I couldn't really take less than 22 an hour, and everyone wanted to start off a year or two at 18. I was like, that's that's a jump. But luckily, I did like I've made a lot of contacts there. Um, but the one guy that I ended up getting a lot of my hours from, he's about 20 minutes south of the city. He runs a scrapyard and he repairs trailers. Um, he offered me a job to go out there in the middle of uh winter in negative 35 and stand out there and cut six-inch drag line cable. I took it because it was because it was a job in the industry, right? Um so I actually ran both jobs for a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was gonna ask you where, yeah, if you if you continued with like because you're you're in sales now, right? Uh have you worked in other shops or was it just the place that you worked at that scrapyard?

Inside Sales And Career Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_03

Uh it was basically just a scrapyard. Um, and that was mainly just a part-time. He he wouldn't commit me to full-time because there was it was a scrapyard. He you there's highs and lows in it, and the trailer repair, he liked being in control, but I did get to do a little bit of it. I just had to do it really good. Yeah, you know. Um, so it was fun, it was all under the table. Um, but I got to claim some hours from it. And then after Lindy, I got a job at Everas that offered me an unbelievable amount of money for as a 22-year-old.

SPEAKER_02

Wow. What were they what were they paying you?

SPEAKER_03

Uh they offered me 72. What? Yeah, so going going from 50 to 72 a year from Lindy to Everas, I was like, oh my god. Buy.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So what would you what were you doing at Everest?

SPEAKER_03

Uh so I was inside sales at Everas. Actually, sorry, the actual title was an inside sales analyst, which makes it sound super fancy. But I'm gonna be honest, it was one of the most boring jobs I've ever had.

SPEAKER_02

No, that's fair. I mean, there there's gonna be those places when you're out there. It's some people are there for the money, right?

SPEAKER_03

Right, and I'm gonna be honest, that was me for for the year and a half that I was there, because I was like, oh my god, that's an absurd amount of money. I'd be I I would be stupid to turn that down. But I did fight with myself a lot over I don't want an office job. I've never wanted an office job, I need to be moving, but I was like, oh, that's a lot of money, and so I took the office job, hated the office job, but the benefits were good.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. And you learned something, right? Where you didn't want to be.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think I think I learned how to talk to people a little bit more professionally there and kind of just suck it up and figure out what to do when you're bored.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You know, like you you can only scroll Facebook so many times.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my god. So what uh what made you leave Everas? What happened?

Barriers For Women In Welding

SPEAKER_03

So Brandon, you know Brandon. Br Brandon works at Wildcore as an outside sales as well. He invited me over to be at Weldcore because he like we stayed in contact because he used to work at Lindy as well. Uh we stayed in contact over when I was at Everas and when he started at Weldcore. Um, he knew that he wanted to hire me straight out straight out of the gate, but I wanted to give Weldcore some time to be open and get ready and get set up because I knew what position I wanted at Weldcore, and I wasn't willing to take any less because of some weird drama at Lindy and me not being able to move up, mainly because I'm a girl and because I was young. Um, so when when Brandon told me that Weldcore was is seriously looking at me, I basically told him if you if you gotta give me this or I'm not, I'm not coming. And they gave me it.

SPEAKER_02

Well, good for you. So so you you touched on something pretty important there is that you you were stopped from moving up because you were young and you were female.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, and it it kind of it that one really sucked because it was coming from another woman in the industry.

SPEAKER_02

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so that really hurt some feelings. Um and that and that's also why I left uh why I left Lindy to Ever as was one, I got a really good contract, and I didn't feel like I was going to be get be moving up anytime soon. And that was my fourth time applying for outside sales there, and I just got the same same excuse and same reason every time. So I moved on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you gotta you gotta make your way in life, right? So if it's not working for you, you gotta move somewhere else. But good for you for sticking to your guns, going into your new position. So what is it, what does your day-to-day look like at Wildcore?

SPEAKER_03

Depends on the day, depends how panicky people are. Right now, you basically just go in, read 10 emails that you got from somebody overnight, enter in orders, go pick some orders, help out the front counter, help out Brandon, and then go visit people and do deliveries and visit people some more, do some more deliveries and go home. And then it's basically repeat.

SPEAKER_02

So is it is it hard for you to go into shops and like do demos or or try to make sales?

SPEAKER_03

When I first started, yes. Just because I didn't go into this outside sales job with outside experience. All I had was inside experience. Like, I asked some people for some like insight of like, oh, how do I just walk into a shop and just start talking to people? They're like, oh, just do it. Okay. Well, that's not the answer I wanted at all. But now that I've been here for over a year and doing it for a little bit over a year, it's pretty easy. Uh doing demos is the best way to get into a shop, I think. It it it gives it gives you guys something to talk about right out of the gate. But as walking into like a random shop in the middle of nowhere where nobody knows that you're coming, it can either go one of two ways. They don't want anything to do with you, or they're very happy to see you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And in my territory, which is like the southwest, a lot of those guys are really old and really cranky.

SPEAKER_02

That was my next question. So going into shops, like you're young, you're a female. Um, is it do you feel like the old guard is still there? Like it's the old boys' club still out there.

Getting More Women Into Shops

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. Being a woman in this industry, you have an advantage, but you also have a disadvantage. You you you will you will get looked at like a woman. That that's just how it is. Um, blending in isn't really a thing that you can do. But I'm gonna say like 80% of men will be like, oh, she's a welder, and the best welder I've ever seen, but they've never seen me weld. But just because I'm a girl, they have that thought and how women are better welders than men. So that kind of helps. But you still do get those guys that just complain the entire time, oh you're a girl, you don't know anything, but it's it it's changing, but it's honestly just the older generation.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, that's that's fair. So out when you're going on these trips and and doing demos and stuff, do you see more women out there either welders or in the office, you know, than when you started?

SPEAKER_03

In the office. In the office, absolutely. Um, most of the shops that I go to don't have a lot of women. Um, but that's also small town stuff. Anyone that anyone that wants to weld and that is a woman, and she is a welder, they usually don't live in small towns.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You know, like one of my one of my friends, Raina, you met her at Max's birthday party. Um so she she's she's one of those welders that's in a small in the middle of nowhere, uh, in Masonod, if you know where that is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Okay. So yeah, weird enough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so out there, there's nothing there. Um, but she but she works at a shop, uh, and then that at that shop specifically hires women in the area that come back for the season, but that's really about it. All the other guys out there don't have any women welders. It's mainly shops in Regina or very close to Regina.

SPEAKER_02

So what you know, obviously there's many reasons of why people think that is, but like how do we how do we change that?

SPEAKER_03

Well, just putting welding back in high schools would be what a good start. Yeah, there's one welding shop in Gravelberg. Yep, that's it. And then all the way in Swift Current, nothing in between. Because the prairie the prairie district school divisions they don't have a big budget. To be fair, their schools consist of maybe 30 people each, but having like a generic shop class where kids can get a hands-on hands-on a welder, that would be enough. Like Moss Bank High School, there's a uh rig welder out there, and he did like a demo day for the kids at that school, and that high school is now opening a welding shop because that guy did that. Whoa. So that's really cool, actually. That only happened like two weeks ago, so very exciting.

Community Fixes: Demos And Local Programs

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's crazy. And and also what uh Rob Young is doing up in uh Hudson Bay. Yeah, you know, like he's he lives right across the street from a school. The school doesn't have a welding program, so he opened one up, you know?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, right, and it's like I'm not gonna say that we need like we we do need way more Rob Youngs in this world, yeah. But the people that should be doing it aren't doing it, like the high schools and stuff. Yeah, you know, for sure. Like like what what Rob's doing is such an amazing thing, but he didn't have to.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he's yeah, he definitely didn't have to, and it you know, it takes a lot to to run a course. It takes, you know, it takes money, it takes time, it takes everything. And like he's a full-time artist, right? It's tough. So I know that you've uh volunteered for the Women of Steel program that's done through the CWB Foundation. Is that is that one of the reasons then you wanted to see more women in the trades or wanted to help out?

SPEAKER_03

I wanted to help out. Um, a lot of the women in that program. Um, actually, there was a pretty good split between women who have welded before, but women who just they they've never touched it and they're nervous. And so I I did that program with Max at Polytech. Luckily, Max is a very nice guy and he's very approachable. I feel like if he had any other teacher, it might have been a little bit different. Yeah. Um, but just just have having another woman there can make people a little bit more comfortable or make other women a little bit more comfortable because women are proud. We don't if if we don't have to ask a man for help, we're not going to. But we'll ask another woman.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know? Bit of a different dynamic there for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so that that's part of the reason. And I just wanted to help women get an understanding of what you could really do with this, you know, and just get a good foot forward to succeed.

SPEAKER_02

So I guess like what's what's one thing that you wish you would have heard uh going through your welding journey? Like if you if there was another woman there, what's something you wish you would have heard?

SPEAKER_03

Just stay with it. Don't let the men get you down. Um, unfortunately the saying boys will be boys is still a very is it's it's a very big term that plays in my head constantly because they just are, you know? And it's it's not an excuse to for how some men act, but it makes sense. And so that's probably what I would have liked to hear. Just to keep going and just don't let it bother you.

Break And Association Plug

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, drown out the drama. Right. Do you feel like there is like an outlet? What did you have a mentor or someone to talk to while this stuff was going on?

SPEAKER_03

Um my high school teacher has always been a pretty good outlet for me. We we text all the time, but never let it get to me too bad. Uh like the the the jokes about you being in the kitchen they're always gonna be there unfortunately um eve e even in school but you just gotta think like no one or at least in in in my experience no one has fully meant it it's always been a joke and it's been a joke to see if you can handle the joke or if you're gonna go run and tell a teacher or a higher up or something you know which is too bad.

SPEAKER_02

And I get it too like and it's the guys do it to the guys as well. Like I I see it in my shop all day every day.

SPEAKER_03

So you're right you do have to have some kind of filter there some kind of you know I I don't want to call it a a a you know a defense system or whatever but understand some of it is joking but the when it's not joking what do you do with it right right and you can you can kind of tell just from like and every single woman's experienced this especially if like any type of tradeswoman has always experienced it. You you can tell when someone's being serious and when they're making a joke. And when someone's being serious they don't matter yeah you know like the person making the joke is a is a closed minded asshole.

Why Laser Welding Turns Heads

SPEAKER_02

Yep that's fair yeah it's more than fair I you know like I'm lucky enough that I we were born at this time or I was born at this time is like I don't care what's in your pants is can you do the job you know and and you're right like women do make better welders you know the the hands on the the attention to detail it's all better so yeah it's I'm hoping that that going forward um that that that mindset changes that perception changes you know there's also the fact that people are afraid of of sharing their knowledge and that person getting better than them right right so now now okay like oh this girl's gonna be better than me if I share some knowledge like that that needs to go away I absolutely agree with that and it's it's mainly the the older generation everything has to do with the older generation you know I think they all just need to retire yeah yeah it was a different time back then sunny KL jazz we're gonna take a small break here and listen to our podcast sponsors so hang tight the CWB Association is new and improved and focused on you we offer a free membership with lots of benefits to anyone interested in joining an association that is passionate about welding.

SPEAKER_00

We are committed to educating informing and connecting our workforce gain access to your free digital publication of the Weld magazine free online training conferences and lots of giveaways reach out to your local CWB Association chapter today to connect with other welding professionals and share welding as a trade in your community build your career stay informed and support the Canadian welding industry join today and learn more at CWBassociation.org Welcome back I'm Kevin and I'm joined I guess this evening this morning whenever you're listening to this episode by Jaslyn Hughley outside sales rep for weldcore welcome back hello again so what's new and exciting uh in the world of welding right now like what are some of the cool technology that you get to to touch you know the answer to this well I do the listeners don't laser laser laser welding is is the coolest thing right now uh cobots are pretty up there but I think laser has takes the cake right now yeah like what makes you excited about it it's new it's different people get to see it for the first time and I just I honestly just like seeing people's faces when they see it because everyone is there there's one of two but like 90% everyone's smiling is like whoa that's so cool the other half is that's gross why would you ever want to do that get that out of here yeah it's new and cool get it out of here yeah exactly those are the those are the people that should retire I think absolutely so you'd you came to my shop to demo that thing and I was one of those people that was just like just blown away by it have you had people not be excited about it not the people that ignore it but like they try it and they're all like I don't I don't see this working anywhere.

Adoption Hurdles And Certification Gaps

SPEAKER_03

The one guy at your shop everyone else seemed to be super excited but the one guy he was just like testing me and pushing buttons and he seemed kind of cranky but other than that I haven't had a lot of pushback on it I did a demo at uh Gino's in a cineboya uh it was like a group thing I had I think 20 to 30 people there just looking from the surrounding area there was a couple old farmers that were like oh that thing's useless that thing's gross how much does it cost but there's people like that that say that about everything you know like those guys were around when MiG first came and they didn't want to touch it and now everybody touches it.

SPEAKER_02

That's just crazy to me but it is weird and laser does come up a lot on these episodes it's like you it's it's different it's a different kind of welding you almost have to forget how to weld to learn how to weld with it right absolutely the less experience you have with welding the easier it is going to be to learn how to use the laser because everyone that welds has like they're so used to being in control you don't have control.

SPEAKER_03

All you do is hold it up and press the button and it does it all for you. And if it's not working it's probably user error.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah you know so actually it's you know the price tag might be big but it makes it it makes welding more accessible to people I guess.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely um oh it it's it's kind of similar to like everyone's arguments on like CNC machines of oh you're gonna just you're you're gonna hire someone for less money to do less you're you just took away a job from somebody so that's kind of an argument that I've heard a lot from about that but it's on the other side you can have laser specialists you know like it it it go it goes beyond handheld laser it can go into laser cleaning it can go into robotic or cobotic uh laser there's just so much to it we just need the certification world to kind of catch up right like it's have you have you dealt with that also you go into a shop and you're trying to sell a laser welder and they're like well I can't use this on anything important. I could do like ornamental stuff but anything else I can't a little bit yeah we just need we we need Canada to catch up specifically a lot of the places so like any of the mines and stuff no chance no chance at all that you're getting one in there but as it goes as it is right now each province has a different set of rules for like laser safety so like Alberta you have to have a curtain or an enclosure no no option as soon as they get catch wind that you buy a laser someone's at your door checking it and they will tag it out if you don't have it. In Saskatchewan there's nobody doing that here you know like coming down your door and checking it out I it probably will be in the future but in Saskatchewan it's pretty easy right now.

SPEAKER_02

Until OHNS hears this episode and then watch out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah uh oh they're coming for me have you sold many machines like in in your in your area uh I've sold two awesome it could be it could be more but I just need the laser back it's actually getting repaired right now the the whip stopped stopped producing a laser uh so we're waiting for it to get repaired and I have a couple shops um in Regina that are gonna borrow it for about a week to try it out without me breathing down their necks yeah fair enough but then they'll gonna be they're gonna be calling you every five minutes like what does this mean?

SPEAKER_02

What is this button here? What does that do?

Real-World Use Cases And Duty Cycle

SPEAKER_03

That's okay it's no different than the Worldcore reps um we actually just dispersed the rest of our demo lasers to the rest of our Worldcore locations and I know how I got here but I don't really know how I got here but every time that there's an issue or there's a new branch setting up a laser I'm the first call help help help and I'm like okay yeah I just go down the list and try to try to figure out what's wrong and half the time it is just something super simple. It's very um I don't know if niche would be the word you can say that at this point in time yeah for sure yeah I I think I think certain shops will have a use for it. It kind of depends on what they're doing like if they're a job shop or if they constantly are making these specific parts that it would work for um but then come down the certifications and everything. So it's it's very specific on what you can use it for.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm. I guess give it a few years let the world catch up and by that time too I think the technology will be better and it'll be more affordable too.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely give it give this about five ish years the price is going to drop by a lot the only reason it's so expensive right now is because um the UL certification uh which is over top of like CSA it costs so much to get them certified like you're looking at ten to twelve thousand dollars to get a piece of equipment certified like it's a lot um our original laser that Weldcore was going to try selling it was it was a brand called Bodore we were actually looking at getting them uh CSA and UL approved but we got a quote for how much it costed and it doubled the price of it. So we were like oh let's let's just find one that already has it yeah no that's fair like oof that's huge. It's a lot of money and you you're you're gonna be gone like you're you're not gonna have your equipment for six to eight months because they have to tear it apart piece by piece and do what everything they need to do to it and it's it's a process you know but give it a couple years and the price will be much more fathomable.

SPEAKER_02

Nice. Well that's exciting because yeah I think a lot of people yeah big thing that scares them is the price. And then the next thing is if if I'm gonna buy it I need to keep that thing busy all the time right absolutely and so like the the the shop that's bought two here they they're they use them all the time.

Volunteering And Chapter Leadership

SPEAKER_03

They've basically replaced Tig with it unless they need to like get somewhere super small uh where the laser gun doesn't fit but they they use it all the time all the time actually so much so that we had to learn what the duty cycle was on it because it's not like a regular duty cycle it it just needs to cool down every seven minutes for eight seconds that's oddly specific. Yeah it's weird but this is the kind of stuff that you find out right but yeah people trying to find stuff to make them busy with it all the time so like your guys at shop I don't think it would be busy all the time.

SPEAKER_02

Mm-hmm unless I wanted to weld stainless steel countertops all day every day which is you know I do enjoy it but yeah I don't want to be that guy that's true that's true that's true well that's cool that's cool um so we kind of touched on it you are the vice chair for the CWB Regina chapter um what made you want to get involved with the chapter because you've only been for a few years now right I I mean I only joined the chapter like as a as an executive in January. Yeah so yeah we're going on a year.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah just about just about there. But I think I went to like two events before that uh while I was at Polytech. So like I've been a member since probably like 2017. Yeah but yeah on on Xecs it's had it's almost a year.

SPEAKER_02

Very cool. And you worked your way up pretty quick right up to vice chair?

Networking, Events, And Industry Community

SPEAKER_03

Yeah violently quick it was like it was like a ah no it's like I think a lot of us felt that you were the right person for the job and I think too like your your connections in the industry being in the sales side like you know a lot of people you you know you can help us get the word out right right and like I can just go plaster posters at a bunch of my customer sites and stuff so that that's pretty nice and then the the the prizes aspect of it is I can just go and ask vendors yeah whereas a normal person with a with an actual welding job might not be able to do that but oh very cool I think I think that helps out a little bit so what are you excited about this year that we're doing like what's an event that you get excited for I'm actually really excited for the golf tournament again. Yeah yeah that one was good I've never been to a golf that was my first ever golf tournament like period and it was actually a lot of fun even though it was raining sideways it was still a lot of fun that almost that almost made it funner I think is yeah everyone coming in so confused drenched yeah just swinging for the fences just get the ball down and let's just go yeah yeah yeah I think I'm also really excited for the games night I went to that one last year and then I think to two years before and those ones are always fun you get to meet a lot of people um a lot of people aren't welders at that event but it's still nice to get to talk to them yeah we get a lot of students out too I was gonna mention like I think these events are cool because like the whole networking aspect of it right right right and like if I would have known more about the events when I was at Polytech and how much more doors it could open I probably would have gone to a little bit more while I was there provided COVID still got in the way of that but I would have still had those connections had I made them prior. Yeah yeah you know and it's not like anyone goes to those events as a manufacturer is like I don't want to talk to anyone they're not like that.

SPEAKER_02

They're they they they welcome everyone with open arms you know no it's cool you see like so many different people there from students to business owners to you know production welders uh salespeople like everyone's there and you never know who you're gonna meet or what what that could lead to right right it's it's just the community and seeing the community at events like that it it's kind of nice because you kind of get to see every everyone and see all the supporters. Yeah I like too that's like you know we're all coming there and some of us in directly competing companies but when you're but when you're at these events it's just like oh hey how you doing oh yeah same same issues as I do oh yeah same drama that I do well that's that's nice you know yeah yeah I I think I think I might have a slightly different perspective on it just because me wildcore and uh Jeremy yeah so we we kind of have to be careful what we say around each other but you just gotta turn that that that part of your brain off and stop looking at it like a salesperson just be a be a human be normal you know just be normal yeah so speaking of being normal what do you do outside of the welding world like what how do you have fun I crochet a lot no way yeah that's I don't have any projects I can show you but no that's really cool my niece crochets and she's incredible I I don't think I'd have the patience for it that's so fair it takes so long I go through phases of what I'm interested in at the moment uh so I'll go on like a nine month crochet binge and then I won't pick it up for like four months while I pick up an entirely different hobby.

Life Outside Work And Personal Goals

SPEAKER_03

So right right now I I got a PS5 so I've been playing the h out of that yeah oh yeah I beat I beat Spider-Man 2 and I'm happy with life that's all I wanted to play on it. But now I'm just on now I'm on my two week Minecraft phase and I'm good sweet well that's cool I did not know that about you you like the game and you crochet yeah it's pretty sweet other than that not much I like to skate in the winter like playing hockey yeah so we're gonna teach some more people how to skate but we'll figure it out yeah it's like swimming like it's amazing how many people don't know how to swim in Saskatchewan like that's weird. Right? It like grow up and they like learn to survive as a human being yeah like I can understand not knowing how to skate because some people are just they they just grow up different yeah but like with with more simple stuff it's like how did you make it this far did you just spawn in as like a 27 year old and you just started there like natural selection hasn't presented them with a knee high water yet oh that's funny.

SPEAKER_02

So do you got any goals coming up this year? What's next for you whether it's job wise or do you want to go back to school do you want to pursue other things got any goals this year?

SPEAKER_03

Probably just to hit my like for work wise make um I don't know what the proper word is for it make more monthly like on accounts and stuff. Because when I went so when I first started Worldcore I just got handed a territory that wasn't being watched and so luckily I don't have last year's to compete with right now I I will have him next year with this year's um but just to just to grow over that and go meet more people talk to more people um it just kind of become more confident in my role be less timid.

Final Advice And Closing

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna really try to work hard on that be less nervous yeah just honestly like when you come into to my shop like you got full respect and everyone listens to you just like treat every place like that just walk in and boss up with everybody like you need these yeah that's just true I love going into your shop though I probably hands down one of my favorite customers I really hope no other customers are listening to this well that's awesome so that's that's work-wise but like um you know on the personal side of things do you have anything going on or not really it's still gonna work towards the goal of buying a house yeah um that's a big one yeah I might get another dog maybe Facebook's making it really hard not to right now yeah keep seeing all the sad puppy ads yeah we just yeah we just lost our old man dog and uh it's the same thing over here it's just nonstop like when are we gonna get a puppy when are we gonna get a puppy it's like uh let's just take a moment to breathe and then of course the phones are listening so they hear us talking now like everything's popping up like oh god yeah that's uh that that's really unfortunate I'm sorry to hear that oh that's you know that's okay I've I've been through it a few times it's tough when you know the kids gotta go through it it's always hard but you know they're a bed we're we're their best friends their whole life and they're only in ours for so long right very sadly yes yeah yeah so I guess you know wrapping things up here we kind of touched on it a little bit but what is a piece of advice that you would give someone coming up in the trades and even more specifically like women in the trades if you want make contacts that's gonna be your best friend start to know people get to know people like not saying that you gotta be best friends with them but like keep a relationship with people because you never know who's gonna pull through for you or help you when you really need it. Well awesome thank you so much for being my guest I know it was a little bit out of left field but uh you did great yay all right thanks everyone for listening this has been the Canadian Welding Bureau Association Welding Podcast make sure you tune in we've got episodes dropping weekly and uh share this with the people you love thanks very much you've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast you enjoyed what you heard today rate our podcast and visit us at cwbassociation.org to learn more feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future.

SPEAKER_01

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