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I love my job because I get to work with a bunch of different people every day.
I really feel a part or something.
It's different every time, being able to work outdoors
work in different parts of the city.
When you go home at night, you know I'm tired,
but I felt I gave a good honest day's work for good honest pay.
When we're hiring for a pipefitter what we look for is
somebody that has a good attitude
somebody that is determined
and who's willing to work long hours.
Willing to work in inclement weather, and having a desire to learn a skilled trade.
Daily routine for a pipefitter
is getting your work orders either for a main replacement, a main repair or service repair.
Getting your equipment and heading to a job.
"Alright, today we're gonna do a flush. Gonna flush from the valve on Wahsatch to here"
First thing in the morning when we get here, when everybody gets here
we fire up the equipment, we get together and we have a pre-job safety or a tailgate meeting.
so everybody's on the same page even when we start in the morning.
The things we look for is pedestrians, make sure the road is barricaded
We check the equipment, make sure everything's safe,
basically just be aware of what's going on around us. Everybody when we come to work we're OK,
when we go home we want to make sure everybody's OK.
"Alright, everybody be safe, keep your eyes open."
Some of the challenges that you will encounter on the job being a pipefitter
working in excretions, having to use shoring,
working in traffic, working at night,
working in the snow and the rain,
and all types of weather.
The most hazardous thing on the job has got to be the unknown.
We see all kinds of different things in the ground. When you're digging you don't see everything,
so you've got to be real careful and real attentive to what's going on.
Some of the bigger pipe stuff that we have to use to put pipe back together
weighs anywhere from a pound up to 250 pounds.
With some of the valves we put in the ground weigh more than that. Five, six hundred pounds for some of the valves.
So you just after really be careful what you're doing and make sure you do it right
Before I started at Colorado Springs Utilities
I had about 10 years experience in the construction field.
I've done directional drilling, I've built homes for a number years.
Roofing, asphalt work, I ran equipment.
You know, I've dabbled in a little bit of everything.
Our apprenticeship program is a great way to learn.
An added bonus to the program, I think, is you get to collect a paycheck at the same time.
You get to learn a trade, work with some really great people,
learn about equipment, learn about the safe way to do things,
learn about all the different aspects of being a pipefitter, both in water and wastewater.
One of the hardest parts of the apprenticeship program seems to be a lot of the state testing.
It ends up being key factors of people finishing or not.
You know most people who come into the trade
they know enough construction, and they teach you enough here at Colorado Springs Utilities
safety wise and skill wise it'll move you through the program,
but the testing is based off of how much you put into it
and a lot of times guys don't see it as that important,
when it's one of the main focuses of finishing program.
I love my job. I started with Colorado Springs Utilities May of 2007
at a wastewater Department, and I was a
distribution collection specialist there and
now I'm a pipefitter for the water department.
What I like most about the job is working with the people I work with.
Most of them are pretty good people.
Like I said it's challenging, both physically and mentally sometimes
What I like most about my job at Colorado Springs Utilities is
the fact that I can say I'm contributing to something, I really feel a part of something.
You know I've done so many aspects of construction,
and built things, but protecting one of our natural resources is huge.
And to be able to be a part of a program that's starting out
and really maintaining our environment,
our work culture, our city,
you know is a great thing to be a part of.