What did you learn during your time in the service that helped you be successful as a Field Service Technician?

"I gained a lot of technical experience in the Air Force that isn't necessarily a one-for-one transfer to Mitsubishi Electric.

But, a lot of standards and practices of being organized and being self-sufficient and self-motivated as an independent worker have helped a lot transferring into Mitsubishi Electric as far as keeping myself and my paperwork and my schedule and sticking to being organized.

I keep those things in mind when I’m on the job site."

How would you describe the training process?

"There's a heavy emphasis on real life or real-time experience when it comes to training.

A lot of the newer techs that I see get hired on, as well as myself, pretty much within the first week outside of orientation hit the ground running.

Lots of field experience on the job, which actually ends up being really nice when it comes to going through our classroom program where we're sitting down in a controlled environment because then we get to take that on-the-job training in real time and reinforce what we're learning in the classroom.

And it really just opens up that learning and allows us to hit the ground running when it's our time to be independent."

With a year under your belt, what would you say is the most difficult part of the job, and what is the most rewarding?   

"I would say the most difficult part of the job is I sometimes might not know what my next week will look like, as far as the workflow goes.

The jobs come up, and we try our best to project what the week is going to look like, but as different things come up, I might have to move from one location to the next. I may not know where I'm going to be exactly - and sometimes that kind of picks up into a more fast-paced environment.

It also ends up being one of the better aspects of the job because it keeps things interesting as well. I may not be able to take a look and say, 'oh, I know where I'm going to be next month on this exact date.' I also don't have to worry about getting bored of, 'oh, this is the same thing that has been day-in and day-out and nothing's changed.'

So it definitely is something that can be more difficult at times, but also what's good about being in a field tech position.

Oftentimes in this fast-paced environment there's a lot going on, but it’s rewarding when I’m able to look back at my week or month and see how much I've accomplished or see how much I've done and know that I'm making an impact in my field or making an impact that’s positive for our customers or the people that we interact with.

Responding to an emergency after I’ve had a long workday may seem a little stressful, but then once it's done, it's pretty rewarding."

What advice would you give to a Facility Manager?    

"I would say get to know us, the Mitsubishi Electric Techs. Really develop those interpersonal, professional relationships.

Some of the smoothest jobs that I have, when it comes to working with the Facility Managers, are when they've spent the time to just talk with other techs and get to know not only the tech and how they work, but also their processes. Because then when I come in, or we have another tech that has to come in, they have a better expectation of how we work and the standard that we hold ourselves to as well as our equipment.

Putting a name and a little bit of background to that face definitely helps."

How does preventative maintenance play a role in system reliability?

"Preventative maintenance is a huge responsibility in maintaining the lifespan of the system when it comes to our equipment.

It's engineered and it runs really well, but keeping up with it is just as important as having the system designed to operate well.

Things like keeping it clean and replacing components, to ensure that those components inside of the equipment are going to operate smoothly as we project them to, is seriously important so end user or customers can get the full lifespan out of our equipment."

What is something you pride yourself on during your UPS preventative maintenance visits?

"Attention to detail.

When it comes to preventative maintenance, we do our best to keep up with cleanliness and keep up with inspections to ensure there's nothing abnormal or try to catch something before anything happens.

And I would say I pride myself in taking that time to actually clean areas that nobody else would think of outside of our field. Taking that time to not only clean it, but to inspect it and know that, when I close everything up, what I’ve done will help it to have long term reliability."

It’s 75 degrees and sunny, you’re driving down the road windows down, music blasting – what are you listening to?

"I'm not sure who it's by, but the song AOK [by Tai Verdes]. Or I would just go to Spotify and find an upbeat playlist, hit shuffle, roll the windows down, and just see where it takes me."

We’re going to tackle the world’s most controversial topics, and we need full justification for your answers. 

If a dog were to wear pants, should they wear them on two legs or four?

"I've seen pictures of dogs wearing pants and it's absolutely hilarious when they just have them on the back half and then sometimes they'll do the full Halloween costume. They have shirts too and they'll be sleeves in the front. Absolutely hilarious.

But, if we want to get technical, we do say dogs are four-legged creatures. When they wear shoes they where them on all four... We wear pants o two legs so why not dogs wear pangs on four legs?

But for comedic reasons, definitely stick to the two legs - and then you gotta put on the shirt."

What is the best advice you have received, personally or professionally?  

"Some of the best advice that sticks out to me, that I often find myself replaying in my head, is that only I can control my attitude or outward look on life.

I can't pinpoint the exact person who said that. It’s definitely been a collection of people that I feel like I've gotten this kind of advice from.

With so much changing in everybody's life day-to-day and so much happening around the world, when it comes to how we react, obviously we're going to feel emotions and we're going to feel differently about different situations. But the attitude that we project outwardly is definitely something that we can control.

Not that I’m saying it’s an easy thing to do. It definitely isn't. But knowing that it's in our control means we can strive to carry a positive attitude or control our emotions. We can encourage other people or uplift those around us, especially during more difficult times."