July 23, 2025 • 32 mins
The CWB Association had the privilege to attend the Skills Canada New Brunswick Provincial Competition in Saint John, NB. Join us as we bring you special episodes recorded in person to advocate for careers in skilled trades and technology across the country.
Meet Calvin Getchell, a remarkable dual-trade professional whose journey through 12 Skills Canada competitions transformed his career and continues to shape the future of trades in New Brunswick. Now serving as Vice President on the Skills Canada New Brunswick Board of Directors, Calvin gives back to the organization that shaped his career. He actively mentors the next generation, passing on his knowledge while continuing to expand his own credentials, currently working toward a pipefitter ticket through UA Local 213.
Check out: https://www.skillscanadanb.com/
Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
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Canaweld: https://canaweld.com/
Josef Gases: https://josefgases.com/
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
All right, I can check.
Check, I'm good.
So I'm Max Duran.
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Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.
(01:05):
My name is Max Suron and, asalways, I'm trying to find the
best stories I can across Canadarelated to the steel trades.
This week I have been inbeautiful St John, new Brunswick
, for Skills New Brunswick andSkills Atlantic, where we have
welding competitions happeningfor both post-secondary and
secondary.
It has been a fantastic weekand I've it has been a fantastic
(01:25):
week and I've met wonderfulpeople, amazing stories and I've
learned so much about theindustry and what's happening
out here in New Brunswick.
One of the wonderful peoplethat I brought in today to talk
to you is Calvin Goetzel, whohas been a winner and a champ at
skills at many levels, and heis a welder and millwright.
Dual trades, it's the way theygo.
(01:46):
How's it going?
Very good, thanks for having me.
Yeah, for sure, man.
So I love seeing dual trades.
I'm a dual trade guy myself.
I have two red seals.
Um, I have three seals in total, so I have a welding red seal,
a steel fab red seal and a blueseal in business, which is uh
they don't offer it here in newbrunswick, but I think they
might be soon, awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I've never heard of it, yeah that's awesome Out west
we have it in a few trades.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's basically like a business degree, but for your
trade.
So it's about startingbusinesses, gotcha.
But side note, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Great, happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Now I see you as a welder and millwright.
Which one would you consider tobe your first trade?
Welding, Welding.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, started that back in high school.
I guess you could say in shopclasses.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And are you a local to here?
Are you born and raised in NewBrunswick?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yep, yep, Raised in St Stephen, New Brunswick
Awesome awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Was there a welding program in your high school?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
There was yep.
Yep, my instructor was actuallya boiler maker, so he had
firsthand experience on withwelding.
So that that was great and heactually introduced me to the
skills kind of competitions,which is where I started and
what year was that in?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
that would have been in 2011 okay, so this was a
while back.
Yeah, we were just talking tocourtney in the previous podcast
and she was talking about howskills kind of was at a low
point for a while.
So when you came, came in in2011, was it like this?
Was it this big show?
Multiple campuses, thousands ofpeople.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
No, no, it was really broken up.
So, like you'd have, I did mostof my competitions for the high
school level in Ormanto, okay,and so it was just a few
competitions that would be heldthere and then the other ones
would be, you know, st JohnMoncton.
So, and so it was just a fewcompetitions that would be held
there and then the other oneswould be, you know, st John
Moncton.
So they're really spread out.
So I really do like this howthey're more condensed and you
know, yeah, it brings a lot moreattention to it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Now, when you went through this, how did?
How did it happen?
You know, you, you get into thewelding program and then, as an
instructor, someone taps you onthe shoulder and says, hey, you
thinking about this, or was itlike hey, all the students try
it and see what happens?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, no.
Well, it just started Like Iwas always interested in welding
, I wanted just to learn that.
So in high school that came upas a course I could take.
So I took it and you know, Ireally actually focused on it.
And he just asked me one day.
He's like hey, would you, wouldyou like to try a competition
next month?
I was like okay, sure, so yeah.
(04:12):
So I did that and I got.
I got second that year and whenI was in my grade 11 year, yeah
, that's pretty good for justwalking in cold.
Yeah, so I was pretty ecstaticabout that and that kind of
started everything.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And then I mean being so young.
Now you've got the next yearcoming up, but were you in grade
11 at that point, yep.
So then you still got grade 12coming up, yep.
And was there another weldingprogram offered for grade 12?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yep.
So we had a four total that wecould take, and I maxed that out
, of course, and so I had oneeach semester and uh yeah.
So after getting second, I waslike I absolutely want to try to
get that gold in grade 12 yeahand as much practice as I could
and and I did get get the goldin in 2012, my last year okay.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So 2012, you're in high school, you, you get the
gold.
Now were you able like I'm notsure how it was back then here,
were you able to compete furtherwith that?
Did you go to nationals?
Yep, I went to nationals.
Yeah, yeah, and where wasnationals in 2012?
Edmonton, edmonton, fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, so you're an 18 year old kid.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, in Edmonton, from the East, that was my first
, biggest, longest flight everthere, and that is a long one.
There it is.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Right.
So what was that experience?
For an 18-year-old kid to walkinto the Nationals, because the
Nationals is a big deal, it'sbig right.
What'd that feel?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
like.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well, I didn't know it was that big until I went
there and I'm looking around andI'm like wow there's a lot of
competitions going on.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, going on, and yeah, yeah it was.
It was a little stressful, butyou know they always are.
You're competing, but it was.
It was absolutely a blast andand I kept wanting to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So, um, in grade 12 I I at that point I didn't know
what I wanted to do, for, likeyou were still convinced you
wanted to be a welder.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, it was like university or you know what do I
do?
And yeah, I remember sittingchemistry class and I'm like I
don't want to be in schoollearning this stuff for another
four years, yeah so that's whenI applied to uh do welding.
I was on the waiting list andthen I got mbcc, yep yeah yeah,
took that course in uh in stangers yeah, now coming.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
How did you do in edmonton at the?
At the national, I didn't place, I came seventh, I think.
Yeah, so a medal of excellence,I think they call it yeah, yeah
, seventh place.
Did that fuel you to want toget back to the national stage?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
yeah, absolutely.
Yep, I didn't, uh, I didn'tcompete in my first year, just
because it at that point stillit wasn't um, wasn't that big of
an compete in my first yearjust because at that point still
it wasn't that big of an event.
The instructors down there, theyweren't involved with it as
much, so I never went.
But I did get invited to go.
At that time it was called theNational Youth Forum, so I was
(06:57):
invited to go to Vancouver.
They picked one person fromeach province, yeah, and I just
kind of helped out and foundways to improve the competitions
, all that stuff.
They gave us little projectstoo, so it's still cool, I got
to go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, now that youth format doesn't exist anymore?
I don't think, no, I think theycall it essential skills.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
now, I can't remember now.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And then it's skills for change.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Oh, is it now?
Yeah, yeah.
And then it's Skills for Change.
Oh, is it now?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah yeah, that's right.
That's right.
So for you as a young man,these opportunities are opening
up for welding.
You're still kind of on thefence of whether you need to go
to university or not, but you'renot digging it very much like
in high school.
At what point did you alreadymake the decision?
Okay?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I'm going to go for welding.
I'm going to try to do betterat skills, but I'm also going to
look at this as a career.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah.
So when I was on the waitinglist I didn't hear that I got in
until a week before classesstarted.
So at that point I'm like, okay, I guess I'm going.
Yeah, I plan on taking a yearoff and working, and I'm glad I
never did.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I'm glad I got in.
So you got into the college.
How'd you like the experience?
How much different was it fromhigh school moving into the
college world?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It was different, for sure, because you're right into
it and you got to treat this asif it's a job and you know,
work as hard as you can, learnas much as you can and get as
many tickets as you can.
So, yeah, I worked and I got.
My first ticket was the CWBstick S class, and right after
that I got my F3, f4 approvedticket pipe ticket, the six inch
, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And at that point, what were you thinking for
career, like, what kind of workwere you thinking you were going
to do?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, at first it was at the end of it when, past the
block, it was just like I justneed to find a job first and get
hours yeah.
So it started at a small fabshop, which is probably the best
place to learn, because you doa lot of fabricating learn a
little bit of everything.
Yeah, all the equipment we weredoing stainless aluminum make
tag like just going everywhereand that was absolutely a great
(08:57):
experience to to work there andwere you still thinking skills
during all this, like, where didthe skills journey go during
this educational process?
Yeah, so that first year, likeI didn't compete I was kind of
disappointed, but you know Iwasn't too hurt, I was busy and
(09:18):
all that stuff, and then thefollowing year doing my second
block, I think it was.
I think I had a year in there,right, I didn't have enough
hours to do a second block,because they usually start in
January, you know, and so Icompeted then and I got second
for the province, okay.
And then following year, Ithink, I got another second for
the province and then my lastyear I finally got gold for the
(09:39):
province, so right beforegraduation yes yeah, too bad.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Red Seals aren't allowed to compete.
I keep saying that we need tohave our own competition.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It would be cool.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Right the Canadian Red Seal weld off or something.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
There we go, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And of course I would win.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
But you know You're not allowed.
Wait, why am I not allowed?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I'm old and shaky.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
now I need cheater lenses now.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I'm old and shaky now I need cheater lenses now.
Yeah, conflict of interest.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, so you win the gold.
Did you go to nationals thatyear?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, and that was actually when I was here in New
Brunswick 2016.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, I was here for that.
Yeah, awesome.
And how'd you do?
I won second.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Got second, yeah, so.
I was like oh, I know, and ithaunts me to this day Like I
remember little things I messedup on that I shouldn't have,
like my aluminum yeah, it waslike the last spot.
I had to do a little filletweld and it was just screaming
hot and that's not good withaluminum.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Why didn't you just wait 30 seconds?
I know it cools off so fast.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, and I had time.
Still haunts me.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
But you know, know, it's good that it that you you
learned those lessons right.
Because that's one of thethings that I'd like to see you
know from your point of view ishow do you tie your extensive
skills journey like you wentback to it four times, five
times by my list here rightbetween high school and and
post-secondary and then you getout to work?
How did those skills youlearned competing and going
through that process, help youin your career on the job?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
yeah, I think it definitely helps because I put a
lot of extra time practicingand I think it's just a muscle
memory thing, like you got toput the hours in you, you got to
just keep welding, learning,and when you get out into the
field, like it shows, I guess,yeah well, and things, you're
not scared, yeah exactly thattoo you're more confident.
You're like, oh, I've done this, practicing and, and usually
(11:32):
with the skills like they, theyput you on a level that like red
seal, like weird positions andstuff like that that you have to
do in the field yeah, yeah,that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So you did you end up following through for your red
seal with welding, or did youswitch trades before that?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
no, I did.
I get the red seal.
I kept working for two or threeyears after that.
Okay, and then I was like kindof itching.
I was like I've always lookedat the mill right side.
I'm like I really like thatWell working with gears and
repair and motors.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
it's fine, Exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And so I bit the bullet and did my 40 week
program here actually in the.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
NBCC and yeah, did it all over again.
What did everyone in yourfamily think when you were like
I'm going back to school whenyou already have a great job?
Well, my brother was amillwright so he thought it was
a great idea.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And then parents are like oh well, you're leaving a
full time job and yeah, yeah, Ibelieve you can do it.
But you know, that first yearis going to be a little hard,
not?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
making money, yeah, yeah, and it is but yeah,
definitely a leap, but youweren't able to pick up a
weekend work welding orsomething just to supplement.
Yeah, no, no, I didn't Wellthere's those side jobs yeah.
Yeah yeah, fixing exhaust andsnowmobiles, snowmobiles.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I've got a lot of those intercoolers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, there's a lot of that always especially right
before the winter or right after.
Right after yeah, but there'sso much titanium on snowmobiles
now.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, there is, yeah, like all the time now it's not
as easy to fix.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah exactly, I don't have titanium rods kicking
around.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah exactly, I'll just throw some 309 on it.
No one will know.
There we go.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Shh don't tell anyone .
Speaker 1 (13:13):
So you know.
Then you decide that you wantto be a millwright.
I don't know how it works herein New Brunswick, but in
Saskatchewan and in a lot ofdifferent provinces they have
incentives for getting a secondred seal.
So for me to get my steel fabred seal they actually knocked
1,000 hours off Now, so I onlyhad to do three of the four
(13:34):
blocks For you.
Was there any incentives goingfrom welder to millwright or did
you have to do it right fromstart to finish, right from?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
start to finish.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I asked about it, I was hoping there would be a few
hours, because some of thethings that are left, like comms
, math, all that stuff, exactly,you had to do them all again.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, I did get to op out of the welding section of
it, because you the weldingsection of it Cause you have a
red seal?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, but that's only like a two week part Right,
right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
But the the good thing about it is is I was like,
well, can I spend some extratime machining?
Like I had some home jobs andgot got the school projects done
and yeah, so it was goodgetting a little bit more
experience in the machining side, which I really like too yeah,
no, are you?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
is that?
Is that going to be the thirdred seal?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
no, I think I should settle down now well, the third,
talking about our third redseal.
I'm in with the pipe fittersunion there, so okay, so you're
logging hours.
You're logging hours now.
So I'm back welding now, nowthat I have the, I'm done the
millwright apprenticeship, soI'm back welding, just building
some hours and I'd like to getthe pipefitters ticket so you
(14:37):
have a red seal in your millright now too yeah, okay so with
two I mean they the pipefittersdoes see, recognize your
welding red seal, so that alsokind of knocks some some off
there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But uh, yeah, like I mean, why leave mill writing to
go back to the UA Hall?
Or are you also picking up millwrite work within that scope?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, kind of just plain and jumping back and forth
, and it was from doing theprogram working for three or
four years getting that.
I was like, well, I should getback to welding so I don't lose
it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, I was afraid I was going to get rusty.
I don't lose it.
Yeah, I was afraid I was gonnaget rusty.
Did you lose it?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
no, no, first couple joints went in there.
I was like well, I think Istill got it all right.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, let's take a quick break for our advertisers
here, because I want to get backand talk about this skills
competition specifically, andyou know how you see the changes
between now and when you wentthrough, because I I think it's
quite different, right?
So we'll be back right afterthese messages from our
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And we are back here at the CWBAssociation Podcast.
I'm here with Calvin Getchell,who is a past multi-winner in a
(17:21):
number of events.
Now, did you ever compete as amillwright?
Yeah, yeah, how did you do as amillwright.
Well, I mean, at this pointyou're aged out for worlds?
Yes, so you're just competingfor the fun of competing?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Exactly, you're just competing for the fun of
competing.
Exactly, just to stress myselfout, you just like to freak out,
it's all good, I get it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So how did that go?
Did you go in your first blockright away and try, or did you
wait?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, unfortunately, the first block was when COVID
hit around that area.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So, competitions were a no-go yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And then the year after that we didn't have
provincials.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And so.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I just got invited to go to nationals, so it was like
a free trip to nationals, forsure.
So I went not expectinganything and kind of last minute
yeah.
So that would have been 21.
I went.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Where was 21?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That was in Vancouver .
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh, yeah, yeah, Okay, yeah, yeah.
I think that's the first time Itook you to skills was in
Vancouver, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
no because, I was at that one.
Yeah, that was fun.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, yeah, and so, being Idon't even think I had my second
block at that point, I had todo a lot of homework, learning
pneumatics and stuff that I hadno clue about a lot of youtube
and reading and, and I wentthere and, uh, to my surprise, I
(18:42):
placed second really fornationals?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
yeah, so just natural ability.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I mean, yeah, it's mechanical, yeah, most of it
only goes one way.
Yeah, except for pneumatics.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yes, they got arrows on them, yeah, yeah so then you
get second.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Did that again, fuel the fire?
Yeah, I was like, wow, I gotsecond.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Like you didn't even really know, yeah, and I was
like I still got two, three moreblocks to do.
So I was like, for sure, I can,you know, hopefully get the
gold someday here.
Yeah, so competed the next year.
We actually had provincials andhappy I won.
I was like, oh, I have to atleast win this, yeah yeah.
And went to nationals again,placed second again and then my
(19:28):
last year I actually put a lotof time in, built my own
pneumatic board, you know, andgot Pudge Lock's tube benders
and practiced all my tubebending and put a lot of time in
and I finally, finally won thegold last year.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So you've competed eight, nine, no eight times one
high school, two high school,one, two, three welding one, one
, two, three mill rate.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, three, six, seven, eight.
It would have been a total of11.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Oh, yeah, that is commitment, man.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Actually it would be 12, because the nationals.
When I went to high school Ididn't play, so I'm just
counting medals here.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Right, so actually 12 .
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
If you compare provincial with nationals yeah,
12 times, 12 times.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah.
So you are a veteran, I guess.
So of the skills experience,yeah, right.
So that leads to the questionwhat are you doing here today?
Well, this podcast yeah, and Iwant to check it out.
Just the podcast, yeah, I wantto check it out.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I really wanted to come uh yesterday because I was
actually helping, uh,post-secondary, yeah, there's
there's a little bit more goingon.
I wanted to see the welding andthe mill right, of course, and
I knew a couple guys that werecompeting and they actually won
did they?
Speaker 1 (20:46):
yeah, well, the winner, uh, yesterday was the
winner from the year before,right?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
yes yeah oh, josh right yeah, yeah, it was good to
meet him yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
And then you're here.
What do you see different intoday's skills as opposed to
when you went through it?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
The event's definitely bigger.
It's nice seeing all theseorganizations come and the
sponsors too, like it's reallygreat.
It's nice that it's cometogether and growing and, yeah,
I hope it grows more.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
How do you know, courtney, in this whole process,
is she the one that brought youin?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
She wouldn't let that have been.
I think that was actually 2016she started.
Yeah, that's correct.
And that would have been.
Yeah, I finally won that gold.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That was your gold year, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, and then I finally won that silver and
everyone knows she's got a softspot for welders.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, because her dad's awelder?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, out for welders .
Yeah, that's right, becausetheir dad's a welder.
Yeah, everyone knows the story.
So you know when you're, whenyou're still communicating to
people in the skills world, likeyou said, you still know some
of the instructors, you knowsome of the competitors.
How important is it for you tostay in this welding world, or
like the skills world andstaying connected in this
community?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
yeah, I well.
Well, actually now I'm on theboard of directors for Skills
New Brunswick.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Oh are you Awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, I'm the current vice president right now.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So, yeah, I just feel like I owe something back, kind
of thing.
I want to help with it and letit grow and, you know, get
people into it to draw someattention to it.
And it's great seeingapprentices that I know come
into it to draw some attentionto it.
And it's great seeing uhapprentices that I know come
into it and get excited about it?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
yeah, yeah.
And what about the young oneslike the high school students?
You know how do you feel whenyou see them.
You know, 16, 17 years old, youknow, do you see yourself?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
in them.
Yeah, I see the stress in theireyes that's what I said this
morning.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I walked in to talk to them, give them a pep talk,
at eight in the morning and Iwas like I know you guys are
nervous.
I could see the legs likeshaking under the table and
they're all trying to play coolright, like when you're 16.
You're trying to be cool right.
But I can see the fear and Isaid don't worry, number one,
you did the right thing.
Being here, period, like that'syou're.
That's already half the battle.
You're here two, just go outthere and have fun, because it's
(23:01):
not about winning yet this isan experience You're learning
and trust me, if you guys dowell, you'll get hungry, like
exactly to your point and theother thing I said to them is I
also introduced yesterday thepost-secondaries and they were
just as nervous.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
So don't worry about it.
Oh, it doesn't get easier.
I can tell you that.
No, it doesn't get easier.
You're nervous all the time.
From my last competition I wasstill nervous.
Oh, for sure, for sure, oh God,yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
It's too bad, you never got to go to Worlds.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I know Would you have loved to have seen that stage.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Shanghai, china, oh nice, I would love to oh man, I
would come back 10 poundsheavier A hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
You got to try all the food, all the food, yeah,
and all the beers.
The.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Chinese beers are amazing yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So, in terms of your connection to skills, you know
you're still.
You said you're on the board ofdirectors.
What about the mentorship part?
You know for yourself, overthese 12 competitions, you must
have had a number of mentors,right?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, a lot of instructors and talked to some
who competed before just to seelike, hey, what should I
practice?
And yeah, it definitely helpsthe mentorship part of it.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And with the millwright side was it kind of
the same, like both trades kindof run differently.
Right, yeah, the millwrightsdon't have associations, they
don't have like these kind ofsupports.
Was it just as easy to findmentorship within them?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Not as much, it was just my instructor.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, he had someone who won bronze at uh at a
nationals once before and he wasreally invested into the gold
yes, you know he wanted thatbanner on his wall.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that's right, you got enough banners to
wallpaper a house though, yeah.
So now, now, what's in thefuture for you?
You know, uh, you got lots, andyou know I.
I went to russia with a weldingcompetitor, adam sebastian.
Um, his career's taken off.
(25:08):
You know, uh, ben from alberta,who won last year from red deer
, his career's already taken off.
So you, I see the success thatskill creates with with the, the
people that compete.
You know how's your career.
You know post skills and is ittaken off?
Are you happy with it andwhere's your future?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
yeah, I'm really happy with it.
Um, yeah, I plan on, you know,jump back forward doing some
welding mill, right, like I wantto keep up on both them.
Yeah, um, yeah, I don't.
And, of course, get my pipefitters ticket, hopefully soon.
Yeah, so there's that, and thenfrom there it's just whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
It seems like you're setting yourself up to start a
business.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
It kind of does sound like it.
Yeah, Like it doesn't seem likeyou have not thought about this
before.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, for sure Like I wasn't born yesterday and I see
some moves happening here, butit and I see some moves
happening here, but it's like Iwant to bounce back and forth
between welding miller.
Well, the only way to really dothat is to have a shop.
Yeah, and would you stay herein new brunswick?
Is this, is this home?
Have you had any thoughts abouttraveling or checking out other
(26:14):
places?
I mean, you're at an age whenthat's I did it lots, that's
kind of my own.
You know you're what.
Late 20s.
Now are you early 30s, 30 now?
Yeah, so I mean that's I did itlots.
That's kind of my own, you knowyou're what late 20s now?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Are you early 30s, 30 now?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
yeah, so I mean that's kind of prime for travel,
because it's like when you'restarting to hit your I guess
your stride for getting paidreally well right, because when
you first start you're only inthe you know 30s, but then you
get, you can start getting intothat $40 range.
Yeah, exactly 30s, but then youget, you can start getting into
that 40 dollar range.
Yeah, exactly, I can startdoing more stuff right, yeah,
(26:43):
yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No, I definitely thought of that.
Love to I've still never beenout west and love to check out
ontario.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
They got a bunch of you know nuclear plants out
there, you know everything outthere and of course newfoundland
.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Newfoundland is beautiful too.
I've never been to newfoundland, me neither we were just
talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It's one of the provinces I haven't been to and
it seems silly that I haven't.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, everyone tells me it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah, Right here.
Well, you've been to Vancouverfor the young.
What did?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
you say National Youth Forum.
Right, the National Youth Forumyeah, but you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I mean, you were young, you didn't have much to
do there.
Yeah, different, yeah, true.
Yeah, love to see the fishingout there.
Oh it is, it's amazing ling cod.
It's a type of cod that you canfish out there.
It's amazing to eat it is sodelicious and you can catch it
just off a boat but they'restill they're a good 20 25 pound
fish, different from the littlebass I catch here.
(27:33):
Bass are delicious, though, yeahyes so with your career, you
know, you got welding, you gotmill right.
You're working with thepipefitters hall now.
213 here, 213.
213, yeah, and that's there'stons of work.
Yeah, right, they've beentelling me about the amount of
work that's out here.
It sounds like you got work forthe rest of your life without
(27:55):
making much of a move.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It really sounds it, yeah, between the pipefitters
hall and the millwright halllike there's projects for a
while now.
I'd imagine the upgrader keepsthe millwrights busy and the
part mill probably keeps thembusy, yeah.
Probably keeps all you guysbusy.
Yeah, it does.
Yeah, lots of work.
What's the outlook?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
look for.
You know New Brunswick fromyour point of view being dual
ticketed.
You know so there's lots ofwork from your point of view
being dual ticketed, you know sothere's lots of work.
If someone's listening to thepodcast and they have a red seal
in Millwright or industrialmechanics or welding, you know,
is it worthwhile for them tocome check it out here.
Try out the East Coast life.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, If people, yeah,absolutely.
I mean there's tons of work,the Westside Mill there, like
the expansion, they're putting alot of money into it and I
always hear these rumors goingaround.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So it sounds like there's going to be more and
like, I mean, nuclear power isgoing to start ramping up,
exactly Right, and there's justalways maintenance At the end of
the day maintenance never stops.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's the thing.
Things don't last forever.
So there's work there.
Not in these type of industrieseither.
They're hard on equipment, justresuming their hard-on
equipment, yeah exactly, yeah,non-stop fixing.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
What about involvement with skills as a
mentor?
Have you ever thought aboutthat, about actually taking a
young pup under your wing?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
yep, yep for sure.
Um, right now, riley, he, hewon the industrial mechanic.
So I just gave him my pneumaticboard there, maybe a month ago,
and I'm like, if you if you winprovincials I'll.
I'll hope you get somesomewhere's with the nationals
good, so now it's game on.
Yeah, I'm hoping with my uhexperience and what I know I can
uh get him up there oh yeah itsounds like you're the right man
(29:33):
for the job.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I hope so.
What about for, like, an ntc oractual, like uh, official
position within skills, you know?
Have you ever thought aboutsomething like that?
Because I know that those areroles that are sometimes really
hard to fill.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, true, yeah, I've thought of that.
For sure.
It would be neat just knowingyou're going to nationals every
year.
Yeah, without the stress, it'sfun to go to nationals every
year.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, Well, I mean, it's a different kind of stress.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Different.
Yes, it's not you, it's them.
But it's still kind of you.
Yeah, it's all on you kind ofyou gotta prep it well.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They look to you when something's not right, yeah,
and you gotta have an answer,yeah you can't just be like I
don't know, whatever.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah, figure it out.
Good luck, get a bigger hammer.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly well, this has been awesome, man
, I really appreciate you takingthe time to to sit down with me
.
Things are winding up here.
In about an hour not even 45minutes we're going to be at the
closing ceremonies and findingout who the winners of the
secondary competitions were.
It's going to be super fun.
But congratulations on all youraccolades and thanks for being
on the show.
Yeah, thanks, thanks for havingme Awesome and for all the
(30:34):
people that have been checkingthis out.
This was the last one of thisseries and make sure you go back
and listen to all of them.
You will learn lots about NewBrunswick and the Maritimes and
all the wonderful industrythat's out here, the schools,
the education systems and, ofcourse, skills Canada and I am
so pumped to work towards SkillsNationals in Regina.
You'll be out there at the endof May.
(30:55):
We'll be out there at the endof May.
That's my backyard and we'regoing to have the best time and
really really do it up.
So catch up on all podcasts,make sure you send in some
comments, share them, downloadthem and send us in some
feedback.
We'll catch you at the nextepisode.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Do you own a company in the welding industry or want
to share a targeted message withour listeners?
Then this 45-second audio adspace could be yours.
We have the coolest listenersfrom all over the world, with
over 60,000 downloads, and 88%are from North America.
This podcast serves to educateand connect the welding
(31:45):
community together and isavailable on all major platforms
, including the CWB GroupNetwork.
If you are interested, reachout to info at cwbassociationorg
.
Look at that.
I just gave you all of thatinformation in only 45 seconds.
You've been listening to theCWB Association Welding Podcast
(32:06):
and if you enjoyed what youheard today or want to send us
some questions to answer, youcan text the show using the link
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We can't wait to hear from you.
Please subscribe or visit us atCWB Association dot org to
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All right, I can check.
Check, I'm good.
So I'm Max Duran.
Max Duran, cwb AssociationWelding Podcast, pod pod podcast
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Happy welding.
Hello and welcome to anotheredition of the CWB Association
podcast.
(01:05):
My name is Max Suron and, asalways, I'm trying to find the
best stories I can across Canadarelated to the steel trades.
This week I have been inbeautiful St John, new Brunswick
, for Skills New Brunswick andSkills Atlantic, where we have
welding competitions happeningfor both post-secondary and
secondary.
It has been a fantastic weekand I've it has been a fantastic
(01:25):
week and I've met wonderfulpeople, amazing stories and I've
learned so much about theindustry and what's happening
out here in New Brunswick.
One of the wonderful peoplethat I brought in today to talk
to you is Calvin Goetzel, whohas been a winner and a champ at
skills at many levels, and heis a welder and millwright.
Dual trades, it's the way theygo.
(01:46):
How's it going?
Very good, thanks for having me.
Yeah, for sure, man.
So I love seeing dual trades.
I'm a dual trade guy myself.
I have two red seals.
Um, I have three seals in total, so I have a welding red seal,
a steel fab red seal and a blueseal in business, which is uh
they don't offer it here in newbrunswick, but I think they
might be soon, awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I've never heard of it, yeah that's awesome Out west
we have it in a few trades.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's basically like a business degree, but for your
trade.
So it's about startingbusinesses, gotcha.
But side note, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Great, happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Now I see you as a welder and millwright.
Which one would you consider tobe your first trade?
Welding, Welding.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, started that back in high school.
I guess you could say in shopclasses.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And are you a local to here?
Are you born and raised in NewBrunswick?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yep, yep, Raised in St Stephen, New Brunswick
Awesome awesome.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Was there a welding program in your high school?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
There was yep.
Yep, my instructor was actuallya boiler maker, so he had
firsthand experience on withwelding.
So that that was great and heactually introduced me to the
skills kind of competitions,which is where I started and
what year was that in?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
that would have been in 2011 okay, so this was a
while back.
Yeah, we were just talking tocourtney in the previous podcast
and she was talking about howskills kind of was at a low
point for a while.
So when you came, came in in2011, was it like this?
Was it this big show?
Multiple campuses, thousands ofpeople.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
No, no, it was really broken up.
So, like you'd have, I did mostof my competitions for the high
school level in Ormanto, okay,and so it was just a few
competitions that would be heldthere and then the other ones
would be, you know, st JohnMoncton.
So, and so it was just a fewcompetitions that would be held
there and then the other oneswould be, you know, st John
Moncton.
So they're really spread out.
So I really do like this howthey're more condensed and you
know, yeah, it brings a lot moreattention to it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Now, when you went through this, how did?
How did it happen?
You know, you, you get into thewelding program and then, as an
instructor, someone taps you onthe shoulder and says, hey, you
thinking about this, or was itlike hey, all the students try
it and see what happens?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, no.
Well, it just started Like Iwas always interested in welding
, I wanted just to learn that.
So in high school that came upas a course I could take.
So I took it and you know, Ireally actually focused on it.
And he just asked me one day.
He's like hey, would you, wouldyou like to try a competition
next month?
I was like okay, sure, so yeah.
(04:12):
So I did that and I got.
I got second that year and whenI was in my grade 11 year, yeah
, that's pretty good for justwalking in cold.
Yeah, so I was pretty ecstaticabout that and that kind of
started everything.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
And then I mean being so young.
Now you've got the next yearcoming up, but were you in grade
11 at that point, yep.
So then you still got grade 12coming up, yep.
And was there another weldingprogram offered for grade 12?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yep.
So we had a four total that wecould take, and I maxed that out
, of course, and so I had oneeach semester and uh yeah.
So after getting second, I waslike I absolutely want to try to
get that gold in grade 12 yeahand as much practice as I could
and and I did get get the goldin in 2012, my last year okay.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
So 2012, you're in high school, you, you get the
gold.
Now were you able like I'm notsure how it was back then here,
were you able to compete furtherwith that?
Did you go to nationals?
Yep, I went to nationals.
Yeah, yeah, and where wasnationals in 2012?
Edmonton, edmonton, fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, so you're an 18 year old kid.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, in Edmonton, from the East, that was my first
, biggest, longest flight everthere, and that is a long one.
There it is.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Right.
So what was that experience?
For an 18-year-old kid to walkinto the Nationals, because the
Nationals is a big deal, it'sbig right.
What'd that feel?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
like.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well, I didn't know it was that big until I went
there and I'm looking around andI'm like wow there's a lot of
competitions going on.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, going on, and yeah, yeah it was.
It was a little stressful, butyou know they always are.
You're competing, but it was.
It was absolutely a blast andand I kept wanting to do it.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
So, um, in grade 12 I I at that point I didn't know
what I wanted to do, for, likeyou were still convinced you
wanted to be a welder.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, it was like university or you know what do I
do?
And yeah, I remember sittingchemistry class and I'm like I
don't want to be in schoollearning this stuff for another
four years, yeah so that's whenI applied to uh do welding.
I was on the waiting list andthen I got mbcc, yep yeah yeah,
took that course in uh in stangers yeah, now coming.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
How did you do in edmonton at the?
At the national, I didn't place, I came seventh, I think.
Yeah, so a medal of excellence,I think they call it yeah, yeah
, seventh place.
Did that fuel you to want toget back to the national stage?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
yeah, absolutely.
Yep, I didn't, uh, I didn'tcompete in my first year, just
because it at that point stillit wasn't um, wasn't that big of
an compete in my first yearjust because at that point still
it wasn't that big of an event.
The instructors down there, theyweren't involved with it as
much, so I never went.
But I did get invited to go.
At that time it was called theNational Youth Forum, so I was
(06:57):
invited to go to Vancouver.
They picked one person fromeach province, yeah, and I just
kind of helped out and foundways to improve the competitions
, all that stuff.
They gave us little projectstoo, so it's still cool, I got
to go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, now that youth format doesn't exist anymore?
I don't think, no, I think theycall it essential skills.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
now, I can't remember now.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And then it's skills for change.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Oh, is it now?
Yeah, yeah.
And then it's Skills for Change.
Oh, is it now?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Yeah, yeah yeah, that's right.
That's right.
So for you as a young man,these opportunities are opening
up for welding.
You're still kind of on thefence of whether you need to go
to university or not, but you'renot digging it very much like
in high school.
At what point did you alreadymake the decision?
Okay?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I'm all in.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
I'm going to go for welding.
I'm going to try to do betterat skills, but I'm also going to
look at this as a career.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah.
So when I was on the waitinglist I didn't hear that I got in
until a week before classesstarted.
So at that point I'm like, okay, I guess I'm going.
Yeah, I plan on taking a yearoff and working, and I'm glad I
never did.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I'm glad I got in.
So you got into the college.
How'd you like the experience?
How much different was it fromhigh school moving into the
college world?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
It was different, for sure, because you're right into
it and you got to treat this asif it's a job and you know,
work as hard as you can, learnas much as you can and get as
many tickets as you can.
So, yeah, I worked and I got.
My first ticket was the CWBstick S class, and right after
that I got my F3, f4 approvedticket pipe ticket, the six inch
, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
And at that point, what were you thinking for
career, like, what kind of workwere you thinking you were going
to do?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, at first it was at the end of it when, past the
block, it was just like I justneed to find a job first and get
hours yeah.
So it started at a small fabshop, which is probably the best
place to learn, because you doa lot of fabricating learn a
little bit of everything.
Yeah, all the equipment we weredoing stainless aluminum make
tag like just going everywhereand that was absolutely a great
(08:57):
experience to to work there andwere you still thinking skills
during all this, like, where didthe skills journey go during
this educational process?
Yeah, so that first year, likeI didn't compete I was kind of
disappointed, but you know Iwasn't too hurt, I was busy and
(09:18):
all that stuff, and then thefollowing year doing my second
block, I think it was.
I think I had a year in there,right, I didn't have enough
hours to do a second block,because they usually start in
January, you know, and so Icompeted then and I got second
for the province, okay.
And then following year, Ithink, I got another second for
the province and then my lastyear I finally got gold for the
(09:39):
province, so right beforegraduation yes yeah, too bad.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Red Seals aren't allowed to compete.
I keep saying that we need tohave our own competition.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
It would be cool.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Right the Canadian Red Seal weld off or something.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
There we go, right yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And of course I would win.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
But you know You're not allowed.
Wait, why am I not allowed?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I'm old and shaky.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
now I need cheater lenses now.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I'm old and shaky now I need cheater lenses now.
Yeah, conflict of interest.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Yeah, so you win the gold.
Did you go to nationals thatyear?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, and that was actually when I was here in New
Brunswick 2016.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Okay, I was here for that.
Yeah, awesome.
And how'd you do?
I won second.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Got second, yeah, so.
I was like oh, I know, and ithaunts me to this day Like I
remember little things I messedup on that I shouldn't have,
like my aluminum yeah, it waslike the last spot.
I had to do a little filletweld and it was just screaming
hot and that's not good withaluminum.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Why didn't you just wait 30 seconds?
I know it cools off so fast.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, and I had time.
Still haunts me.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
But you know, know, it's good that it that you you
learned those lessons right.
Because that's one of thethings that I'd like to see you
know from your point of view ishow do you tie your extensive
skills journey like you wentback to it four times, five
times by my list here rightbetween high school and and
post-secondary and then you getout to work?
How did those skills youlearned competing and going
through that process, help youin your career on the job?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
yeah, I think it definitely helps because I put a
lot of extra time practicingand I think it's just a muscle
memory thing, like you got toput the hours in you, you got to
just keep welding, learning,and when you get out into the
field, like it shows, I guess,yeah well, and things, you're
not scared, yeah exactly thattoo you're more confident.
You're like, oh, I've done this, practicing and, and usually
(11:32):
with the skills like they, theyput you on a level that like red
seal, like weird positions andstuff like that that you have to
do in the field yeah, yeah,that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
So you did you end up following through for your red
seal with welding, or did youswitch trades before that?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
no, I did.
I get the red seal.
I kept working for two or threeyears after that.
Okay, and then I was like kindof itching.
I was like I've always lookedat the mill right side.
I'm like I really like thatWell working with gears and
repair and motors.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
it's fine, Exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
And so I bit the bullet and did my 40 week
program here actually in the.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
NBCC and yeah, did it all over again.
What did everyone in yourfamily think when you were like
I'm going back to school whenyou already have a great job?
Well, my brother was amillwright so he thought it was
a great idea.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
And then parents are like oh well, you're leaving a
full time job and yeah, yeah, Ibelieve you can do it.
But you know, that first yearis going to be a little hard,
not?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
making money, yeah, yeah, and it is but yeah,
definitely a leap, but youweren't able to pick up a
weekend work welding orsomething just to supplement.
Yeah, no, no, I didn't Wellthere's those side jobs yeah.
Yeah yeah, fixing exhaust andsnowmobiles, snowmobiles.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, I've got a lot of those intercoolers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, there's a lot of that always especially right
before the winter or right after.
Right after yeah, but there'sso much titanium on snowmobiles
now.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Yeah, there is, yeah, like all the time now it's not
as easy to fix.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah exactly, I don't have titanium rods kicking
around.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah exactly, I'll just throw some 309 on it.
No one will know.
There we go.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Shh don't tell anyone .
Speaker 1 (13:13):
So you know.
Then you decide that you wantto be a millwright.
I don't know how it works herein New Brunswick, but in
Saskatchewan and in a lot ofdifferent provinces they have
incentives for getting a secondred seal.
So for me to get my steel fabred seal they actually knocked
1,000 hours off Now, so I onlyhad to do three of the four
(13:34):
blocks For you.
Was there any incentives goingfrom welder to millwright or did
you have to do it right fromstart to finish, right from?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
start to finish.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
I asked about it, I was hoping there would be a few
hours, because some of thethings that are left, like comms
, math, all that stuff, exactly,you had to do them all again.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, I did get to op out of the welding section of
it, because you the weldingsection of it Cause you have a
red seal?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, but that's only like a two week part Right,
right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
But the the good thing about it is is I was like,
well, can I spend some extratime machining?
Like I had some home jobs andgot got the school projects done
and yeah, so it was goodgetting a little bit more
experience in the machining side, which I really like too yeah,
no, are you?
Speaker 1 (14:14):
is that?
Is that going to be the thirdred seal?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
no, I think I should settle down now well, the third,
talking about our third redseal.
I'm in with the pipe fittersunion there, so okay, so you're
logging hours.
You're logging hours now.
So I'm back welding now, nowthat I have the, I'm done the
millwright apprenticeship, soI'm back welding, just building
some hours and I'd like to getthe pipefitters ticket so you
(14:37):
have a red seal in your millright now too yeah, okay so with
two I mean they the pipefittersdoes see, recognize your
welding red seal, so that alsokind of knocks some some off
there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But uh, yeah, like I mean, why leave mill writing to
go back to the UA Hall?
Or are you also picking up millwrite work within that scope?
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, kind of just plain and jumping back and forth
, and it was from doing theprogram working for three or
four years getting that.
I was like, well, I should getback to welding so I don't lose
it.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, I was afraid I was going to get rusty.
I don't lose it.
Yeah, I was afraid I was gonnaget rusty.
Did you lose it?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
no, no, first couple joints went in there.
I was like well, I think Istill got it all right.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Well, let's take a quick break for our advertisers
here, because I want to get backand talk about this skills
competition specifically, andyou know how you see the changes
between now and when you wentthrough, because I I think it's
quite different, right?
So we'll be back right afterthese messages from our
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And we are back here at the CWBAssociation Podcast.
I'm here with Calvin Getchell,who is a past multi-winner in a
(17:21):
number of events.
Now, did you ever compete as amillwright?
Yeah, yeah, how did you do as amillwright.
Well, I mean, at this pointyou're aged out for worlds?
Yes, so you're just competingfor the fun of competing?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Exactly, you're just competing for the fun of
competing.
Exactly, just to stress myselfout, you just like to freak out,
it's all good, I get it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
So how did that go?
Did you go in your first blockright away and try, or did you
wait?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, unfortunately, the first block was when COVID
hit around that area.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
So, competitions were a no-go yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
And then the year after that we didn't have
provincials.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
And so.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I just got invited to go to nationals, so it was like
a free trip to nationals, forsure.
So I went not expectinganything and kind of last minute
yeah.
So that would have been 21.
I went.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Where was 21?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That was in Vancouver .
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh, yeah, yeah, Okay, yeah, yeah.
I think that's the first time Itook you to skills was in
Vancouver, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
no because, I was at that one.
Yeah, that was fun.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, yeah, and so, being Idon't even think I had my second
block at that point, I had todo a lot of homework, learning
pneumatics and stuff that I hadno clue about a lot of youtube
and reading and, and I wentthere and, uh, to my surprise, I
(18:42):
placed second really fornationals?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
yeah, so just natural ability.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I mean, yeah, it's mechanical, yeah, most of it
only goes one way.
Yeah, except for pneumatics.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yes, they got arrows on them, yeah, yeah so then you
get second.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Did that again, fuel the fire?
Yeah, I was like, wow, I gotsecond.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Like you didn't even really know, yeah, and I was
like I still got two, three moreblocks to do.
So I was like, for sure, I can,you know, hopefully get the
gold someday here.
Yeah, so competed the next year.
We actually had provincials andhappy I won.
I was like, oh, I have to atleast win this, yeah yeah.
And went to nationals again,placed second again and then my
(19:28):
last year I actually put a lotof time in, built my own
pneumatic board, you know, andgot Pudge Lock's tube benders
and practiced all my tubebending and put a lot of time in
and I finally, finally won thegold last year.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So you've competed eight, nine, no eight times one
high school, two high school,one, two, three welding one, one
, two, three mill rate.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, three, six, seven, eight.
It would have been a total of11.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Oh, yeah, that is commitment, man.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Actually it would be 12, because the nationals.
When I went to high school Ididn't play, so I'm just
counting medals here.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Right, so actually 12 .
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
If you compare provincial with nationals yeah,
12 times, 12 times.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah.
So you are a veteran, I guess.
So of the skills experience,yeah, right.
So that leads to the questionwhat are you doing here today?
Well, this podcast yeah, and Iwant to check it out.
Just the podcast, yeah, I wantto check it out.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I really wanted to come uh yesterday because I was
actually helping, uh,post-secondary, yeah, there's
there's a little bit more goingon.
I wanted to see the welding andthe mill right, of course, and
I knew a couple guys that werecompeting and they actually won
did they?
Speaker 1 (20:46):
yeah, well, the winner, uh, yesterday was the
winner from the year before,right?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
yes yeah oh, josh right yeah, yeah, it was good to
meet him yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
And then you're here.
What do you see different intoday's skills as opposed to
when you went through it?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
The event's definitely bigger.
It's nice seeing all theseorganizations come and the
sponsors too, like it's reallygreat.
It's nice that it's cometogether and growing and, yeah,
I hope it grows more.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
How do you know, courtney, in this whole process,
is she the one that brought youin?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
She wouldn't let that have been.
I think that was actually 2016she started.
Yeah, that's correct.
And that would have been.
Yeah, I finally won that gold.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That was your gold year, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, and then I finally won that silver and
everyone knows she's got a softspot for welders.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, because her dad's awelder?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah, out for welders .
Yeah, that's right, becausetheir dad's a welder.
Yeah, everyone knows the story.
So you know when you're, whenyou're still communicating to
people in the skills world, likeyou said, you still know some
of the instructors, you knowsome of the competitors.
How important is it for you tostay in this welding world, or
like the skills world andstaying connected in this
community?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
yeah, I well.
Well, actually now I'm on theboard of directors for Skills
New Brunswick.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Oh are you Awesome.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah, I'm the current vice president right now.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
So, yeah, I just feel like I owe something back, kind
of thing.
I want to help with it and letit grow and, you know, get
people into it to draw someattention to it.
And it's great seeingapprentices that I know come
into it to draw some attentionto it.
And it's great seeing uhapprentices that I know come
into it and get excited about it?
Speaker 1 (22:24):
yeah, yeah.
And what about the young oneslike the high school students?
You know how do you feel whenyou see them.
You know, 16, 17 years old, youknow, do you see yourself?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
in them.
Yeah, I see the stress in theireyes that's what I said this
morning.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
I walked in to talk to them, give them a pep talk,
at eight in the morning and Iwas like I know you guys are
nervous.
I could see the legs likeshaking under the table and
they're all trying to play coolright, like when you're 16.
You're trying to be cool right.
But I can see the fear and Isaid don't worry, number one,
you did the right thing.
Being here, period, like that'syou're.
That's already half the battle.
You're here two, just go outthere and have fun, because it's
(23:01):
not about winning yet this isan experience You're learning
and trust me, if you guys dowell, you'll get hungry, like
exactly to your point and theother thing I said to them is I
also introduced yesterday thepost-secondaries and they were
just as nervous.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
So don't worry about it.
Oh, it doesn't get easier.
I can tell you that.
No, it doesn't get easier.
You're nervous all the time.
From my last competition I wasstill nervous.
Oh, for sure, for sure, oh God,yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
It's too bad, you never got to go to Worlds.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
I know Would you have loved to have seen that stage.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Shanghai, china, oh nice, I would love to oh man, I
would come back 10 poundsheavier A hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
You got to try all the food, all the food, yeah,
and all the beers.
The.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Chinese beers are amazing yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So, in terms of your connection to skills, you know
you're still.
You said you're on the board ofdirectors.
What about the mentorship part?
You know for yourself, overthese 12 competitions, you must
have had a number of mentors,right?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, a lot of instructors and talked to some
who competed before just to seelike, hey, what should I
practice?
And yeah, it definitely helpsthe mentorship part of it.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
And with the millwright side was it kind of
the same, like both trades kindof run differently.
Right, yeah, the millwrightsdon't have associations, they
don't have like these kind ofsupports.
Was it just as easy to findmentorship within them?
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Not as much, it was just my instructor.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, he had someone who won bronze at uh at a
nationals once before and he wasreally invested into the gold
yes, you know he wanted thatbanner on his wall.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, that's right, you got enough banners to
wallpaper a house though, yeah.
So now, now, what's in thefuture for you?
You know, uh, you got lots, andyou know I.
I went to russia with a weldingcompetitor, adam sebastian.
Um, his career's taken off.
(25:08):
You know, uh, ben from alberta,who won last year from red deer
, his career's already taken off.
So you, I see the success thatskill creates with with the, the
people that compete.
You know how's your career.
You know post skills and is ittaken off?
Are you happy with it andwhere's your future?
Speaker 2 (25:28):
yeah, I'm really happy with it.
Um, yeah, I plan on, you know,jump back forward doing some
welding mill, right, like I wantto keep up on both them.
Yeah, um, yeah, I don't.
And, of course, get my pipefitters ticket, hopefully soon.
Yeah, so there's that, and thenfrom there it's just whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
It seems like you're setting yourself up to start a
business.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
It kind of does sound like it.
Yeah, Like it doesn't seem likeyou have not thought about this
before.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, for sure Like I wasn't born yesterday and I see
some moves happening here, butit and I see some moves
happening here, but it's like Iwant to bounce back and forth
between welding miller.
Well, the only way to really dothat is to have a shop.
Yeah, and would you stay herein new brunswick?
Is this, is this home?
Have you had any thoughts abouttraveling or checking out other
(26:14):
places?
I mean, you're at an age whenthat's I did it lots, that's
kind of my own.
You know you're what.
Late 20s.
Now are you early 30s, 30 now?
Yeah, so I mean that's I did itlots.
That's kind of my own, you knowyou're what late 20s now?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Are you early 30s, 30 now?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
yeah, so I mean that's kind of prime for travel,
because it's like when you'restarting to hit your I guess
your stride for getting paidreally well right, because when
you first start you're only inthe you know 30s, but then you
get, you can start getting intothat $40 range.
Yeah, exactly 30s, but then youget, you can start getting into
that 40 dollar range.
Yeah, exactly, I can startdoing more stuff right, yeah,
(26:43):
yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
No, I definitely thought of that.
Love to I've still never beenout west and love to check out
ontario.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
They got a bunch of you know nuclear plants out
there, you know everything outthere and of course newfoundland
.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Newfoundland is beautiful too.
I've never been to newfoundland, me neither we were just
talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It's one of the provinces I haven't been to and
it seems silly that I haven't.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Yeah, everyone tells me it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Yeah, Right here.
Well, you've been to Vancouverfor the young.
What did?
Speaker 2 (27:09):
you say National Youth Forum.
Right, the National Youth Forumyeah, but you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
I mean, you were young, you didn't have much to
do there.
Yeah, different, yeah, true.
Yeah, love to see the fishingout there.
Oh it is, it's amazing ling cod.
It's a type of cod that you canfish out there.
It's amazing to eat it is sodelicious and you can catch it
just off a boat but they'restill they're a good 20 25 pound
fish, different from the littlebass I catch here.
(27:33):
Bass are delicious, though, yeahyes so with your career, you
know, you got welding, you gotmill right.
You're working with thepipefitters hall now.
213 here, 213.
213, yeah, and that's there'stons of work.
Yeah, right, they've beentelling me about the amount of
work that's out here.
It sounds like you got work forthe rest of your life without
(27:55):
making much of a move.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
It really sounds it, yeah, between the pipefitters
hall and the millwright halllike there's projects for a
while now.
I'd imagine the upgrader keepsthe millwrights busy and the
part mill probably keeps thembusy, yeah.
Probably keeps all you guysbusy.
Yeah, it does.
Yeah, lots of work.
What's the outlook?
Speaker 1 (28:14):
look for.
You know New Brunswick fromyour point of view being dual
ticketed.
You know so there's lots ofwork from your point of view
being dual ticketed, you know sothere's lots of work.
If someone's listening to thepodcast and they have a red seal
in Millwright or industrialmechanics or welding, you know,
is it worthwhile for them tocome check it out here.
Try out the East Coast life.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, If people, yeah,absolutely.
I mean there's tons of work,the Westside Mill there, like
the expansion, they're putting alot of money into it and I
always hear these rumors goingaround.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So it sounds like there's going to be more and
like, I mean, nuclear power isgoing to start ramping up,
exactly Right, and there's justalways maintenance At the end of
the day maintenance never stops.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's the thing.
Things don't last forever.
So there's work there.
Not in these type of industrieseither.
They're hard on equipment, justresuming their hard-on
equipment, yeah exactly, yeah,non-stop fixing.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
What about involvement with skills as a
mentor?
Have you ever thought aboutthat, about actually taking a
young pup under your wing?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
yep, yep for sure.
Um, right now, riley, he, hewon the industrial mechanic.
So I just gave him my pneumaticboard there, maybe a month ago,
and I'm like, if you if you winprovincials I'll.
I'll hope you get somesomewhere's with the nationals
good, so now it's game on.
Yeah, I'm hoping with my uhexperience and what I know I can
uh get him up there oh yeah itsounds like you're the right man
(29:33):
for the job.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I hope so.
What about for, like, an ntc oractual, like uh, official
position within skills, you know?
Have you ever thought aboutsomething like that?
Because I know that those areroles that are sometimes really
hard to fill.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, true, yeah, I've thought of that.
For sure.
It would be neat just knowingyou're going to nationals every
year.
Yeah, without the stress, it'sfun to go to nationals every
year.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, Well, I mean, it's a different kind of stress.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Different.
Yes, it's not you, it's them.
But it's still kind of you.
Yeah, it's all on you kind ofyou gotta prep it well.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
They look to you when something's not right, yeah,
and you gotta have an answer,yeah you can't just be like I
don't know, whatever.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Yeah, figure it out.
Good luck, get a bigger hammer.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly well, this has been awesome, man
, I really appreciate you takingthe time to to sit down with me
.
Things are winding up here.
In about an hour not even 45minutes we're going to be at the
closing ceremonies and findingout who the winners of the
secondary competitions were.
It's going to be super fun.
But congratulations on all youraccolades and thanks for being
on the show.
Yeah, thanks, thanks for havingme Awesome and for all the
(30:34):
people that have been checkingthis out.
This was the last one of thisseries and make sure you go back
and listen to all of them.
You will learn lots about NewBrunswick and the Maritimes and
all the wonderful industrythat's out here, the schools,
the education systems and, ofcourse, skills Canada and I am
so pumped to work towards SkillsNationals in Regina.
You'll be out there at the endof May.
(30:55):
We'll be out there at the endof May.
That's my backyard and we'regoing to have the best time and
really really do it up.
So catch up on all podcasts,make sure you send in some
comments, share them, downloadthem and send us in some
feedback.
We'll catch you at the nextepisode.
We hope you enjoy the show.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Do you own a company in the welding industry or want
to share a targeted message withour listeners?
Then this 45-second audio adspace could be yours.
We have the coolest listenersfrom all over the world, with
over 60,000 downloads, and 88%are from North America.
This podcast serves to educateand connect the welding
(31:45):
community together and isavailable on all major platforms
, including the CWB GroupNetwork.
If you are interested, reachout to info at cwbassociationorg
.
Look at that.
I just gave you all of thatinformation in only 45 seconds.
You've been listening to theCWB Association Welding Podcast
(32:06):
and if you enjoyed what youheard today or want to send us
some questions to answer, youcan text the show using the link
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We can't wait to hear from you.
Please subscribe or visit us atCWB Association dot org to
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