Landed my dream job with toyota....and life story

This may turn into somewhat of a long boring story for some ( why its in off topic ) but im super excited and blessed. And just want to comfirm that hard work does pay off.

First off im still a young buck 23 years young to exact. I was brought up in a hard working family and learned the value of a dollar when i was young and also realized you have to put in the work and handouts are un heard of for the blue collar line of workers in todays world. I do not come from a generation of mechanics by any means , i dont even have a memory of my dad changing his own oil as i was in my early teens. My dad also owning his own furniture buisness for the past 17 years would make anyone jump to the conclusion of me following in his footsetps.
However i had different plans when i hit high school and i begin to find a passion for turning wrenches. This was first discovered when i turned 16 and started to make my first car "fast". Atleast i thought it was at the time. Short trow shifter , exhaust , intake , headers , ect ect ect...pay check after paycheck i was dumping into my car or truck (whiever i had at the time). Still in highschool with little bills to pay and working nights and weekends i was slowly able to create what i wanted out of whatever current vehichle i had at the time. Now my parents ( still together at the time ) swore up and down that i was waisting my money. And in a sense they were right, but the big picture was over looked at the time by myself included.

Where it started to get expensive and more serious was when i found a love for a diesel motor. There was nothing that felt better then slamming the gears in a inline 6 4 door 8 foot bed pickup and sending the kid with daddys mustang back home depressed because he was out ran.

This is also when i figured out what i wanted to set out to be and make a career out of it. From changing turbos to injectors to pulling heads and everything inbetween i was gaining the experience i needed to get me a step ahead and set myself up for the career i wanted. Immediately after high school i enrolled in a local community college for heavy duty mechanics. Luckily i was a 50 minute drive from one of the higest ranked schools for heavy duty mechanics in the area. I attended the 2 year program and obtained my certificate. During college i was able to open a small side shop with a good friend and do minor repairs / performance work on nights and sundays when i was not at my regular job. Two jobs and college classes made for longggggg weeks but it definitely paid off and has made me what i am today.

3 months before graduating from heavy duty mechanics school my teachers pulled me aside and said the had me a job lined up at a grading company as a in the field technician.
I didn't hesitate to take the job after being offerd it after the interview. I knew it was getting my foot in the door and i was focused on gaining experience. Even if it was takin a paycut from my current non mechanic job.

I leanred a lot over the next 4 months and spent countless hours laying under countless pieces of heavy equipment chin deep in mud and hydraulic fluid. This was definitely not fun by any means but i was "paying my dues" as a wise man one told me.

I was contacted and offerd a job in the trucking industry by a man who had herd my name through a friend. Now talk of being in a shop and a $2.00 pay increase convinced be to jump ship and not look back on the mud and hydraulic fluid i was leaving behind.

My skills grew a lot at this job over the course of the next year as me and one other guy in the shop who was "green" as well had to figure out anything that rolled through the 10 bay doors.

A man who picked up our used oil on a regular basis somehow was given my number and i was soon contacted and offerd a job at his trucking company.

Within a month of working for him he promoted me to shop foreman. I enjoyed this for some time but soon was burnt out and ready for a change due to not feeling appreciated.

This pushed me to a company that had an account with target distribution centers. After a few months i over took the on site target work and was on their lot daily. I met and became good friends with a number of their employees and other onsite 3rd party techs. One of them being a crown lift tech. This got me highly interested in the fork lift industry and had me wanting to experience it for myself.

Now if you have made it this far into the post lets back up a bit...remember i had mentioned my dad owning a furniture store..well for the past year i have been handling all of the deliverys and setups on the side. When i get off work in the evnings. And on saturdays. It just so happend i deliverd a matress in a man one night and struck up conversation about me being a diesel technician. Turns out his dad is the owner of vesco toyota lift service and he is the VP.

A few months of working hard to get noticed and stopping by in person to meet some faces and fill out yet another application finally paid off. On the first of may i had a court date for a 2 year old DUI ( another long story ). I had been battling this in my mind since the night i made the mistake to drive and knew how it could hinder my career and take away the name i have already built for myself. Through a lot and i mean a lot of praying somehow the chargers were completely dropped and i no longer had this hanging over my head and nothing holding me back. The very next day i received a call from the owner of vesco and he wanted me in asap for a interview.

The owner was the kind of guy you would dream to work for and everyone i met was the kind you would dream to work with. Everything from the building, to the employees was top notch which it now made sense why its so hard to get on there and someone had to basically either retire or die before there was a job opening.

So now currently doing my e traning to become a certifed toyota forlift tech and i couldnt be more excited to look foward to building and growing with a company i know i can put in years and hopefully retire at.

Hard work and determination pay off! How you carry yourself and how you treat others does not go unnoticed even though sometimes you may think so!

And its also a bonus to look out the window and see nothing but toyota name everywhere. Including the majority of the employees driving toyota vehicles. And the VP telling you that you have the most bad ass toyota he has ever seen

 

Just noticed there is a job/career section. Mods please move if you need too thanks!

 

Congrats!

 

Good for you. Sounds like you've worked hard to learn and prosper in the field.

 

Congrats man. Glad your hard work has paid off. Hope you love your new job.

 

Congrats bother... Glad you found what everyone hopes for in a job.

 

Congrats dude!!! Glad your hard work paid off! I hope you enjoy it to the full extent!

 

Cool man, glad to hear you've gotten into something you feel is fitting for you at such a young age.. Good luck moving forward.

 

Can you run 33s with that lift?

 

Wow, great story. Glad to see a youngster work so hard, take responsibility for himself, and work himself into something he really loves doing. Keep up the good work, you may influence other young people to do well like you are doing!