thebobcatkid86
Active Member
YoungOne's posts have left me feeling inspired lately so Ive decided to write my own.
I feel as though Im at a turning point in my life. I am now 20 yrs old. I have loved heavy equipment ever since I was very small (as in before I could walk or even remember). I have always wanted to be an operator in some capacity whether being a landscaper, utility/waterproofing contractor, whatever as long as I can run equipment. I am extremely lucky to have parents that are as supportive as I do. I live at home and keep my equipment in the garage here in the "historic district" of my hometown.I have dabbled in most of the construction trades as well as landscaping and I enjoy them to an extent but really want to run equipment. I currently have several people all of whom are friends and/or customers of my dad that I work for as a jack of all trades. I dont enjoy this nearly as much as running equipment but its money and its not so bad compared to some things (retail, fast food, etc.)
As part of the ceremony for achieving my Eagle Scout award I was given the opprotunity to follow someone in the field of my career choice. I put down heavy equipment operator of course. So I spent two days tailing one of the jobsite foremen for a heavy highway construction company. While running around with thier foreman I was given the opprotunity to run some machines. First thing they threw me in a large wheel loader (I dont remember which one but around Cat 930 size) on a water main replacement job, putting gravel in the trench. I had only been in a wheel loader once before that and it was much smaller. I had a lane and a half to work in with morning rush our traffic giving me dirty looks from about 6 feet away. This thing was so big and unfamiliar to me I couldnt get a feel for distance or where the cutting edge was. Needless to say, slightly stressful. (To the point I had begun questioning how badly I wanted to do this.)
The next site we went to they guys gave me a shot on an E120B. I had been running minis for off and on for a year or so, I thought "Great now something I know how to do". However being an older cat it had SAE controls and I dont believe it had a changer switch or if it did I wasnt told. In any event the next 20 minutes made me look like a real a$$. :Banghead This was all very frustrating to me and was making me reconsider certain aspects of my career choices. Now maybe that makes me a wuss but I couldnt help it. Running anything, let alone the big iron, with the general public comuting within several feet seems to be more than my nerves can handle. Does one get used to it eventually? :beatsme
Anyhow that was in February of '05. That summer I happened upon a couple of water proofing/drainage jobs for friends of my dad, running a rented 4 ton mini and a Bobcat S175. I thought "Hey now this I can do." I sincerely enjoyed being the operator on those jobs and decided then that I was going to try to be self employed. By october I had found what I thought would be an afforable entry level machine to get me started. So at the age of 18, in fact 2 years ago last week I made the largest purchase of my life so far. My little Bobcat 453 skid steer. While it is small it is still a very capable machine. I love running it but finding steady work has been next to impossible so far. If I get one $70-150 job every month and a half Im doin pretty good. Now I suppose if I had an LLC, better liablity, and money to blow on advertising campaigns I might be doing better but Im in a catch-22. I dont really have the capital to make it a "real business" and I cant get the capital to do it without more work. So Im kind of stuck as far as being self employed.
With regard to the job with this outfit, Fabrizi Trucking & Paving. It wouldnt start til late winter/early spring. I would start out as what the guys there affectionately call a "Yard Rat". Running parts to job sites, running a loader feeding the crusher (they do their own pavement recycling) and filling tandems with 304, washing down trucks, etc.
I just found out today that a friend of this guy that my dad knows runs Independence Excavating which does similar work, so I may soon have a similar offer from them. And I have no idea how to choose between them, should it come to that.
I also have a standing job offer to be the apprentice to the superintendent of cemetaries in my town. Eventually becoming (in a year or two) the superintendant myself. However it mostly involves cutting grass and plowing snow with the occasional backhoe job (obviously). Also, that postition answers to the cemetary board which for the most part are typical suburbanites with little to no common sense.
One other option would be to put my application in at the IUOE Local 18 for their apprenticeship program.
Also, I could apply to OSU's Agri-extention for their Landscape Contracting & Construction and/or Power Equipment degrees for their application to many things of interest to me.
So I dont know what to do. I have so many options and I have never been good at making critical decisions without any definite determining factors. I can talk myslef into, and out of everything Ive listed here.
I love to run equipment. I love to learn. Im just unsure of what to do with myself.
I feel as though Im at a turning point in my life. I am now 20 yrs old. I have loved heavy equipment ever since I was very small (as in before I could walk or even remember). I have always wanted to be an operator in some capacity whether being a landscaper, utility/waterproofing contractor, whatever as long as I can run equipment. I am extremely lucky to have parents that are as supportive as I do. I live at home and keep my equipment in the garage here in the "historic district" of my hometown.I have dabbled in most of the construction trades as well as landscaping and I enjoy them to an extent but really want to run equipment. I currently have several people all of whom are friends and/or customers of my dad that I work for as a jack of all trades. I dont enjoy this nearly as much as running equipment but its money and its not so bad compared to some things (retail, fast food, etc.)
As part of the ceremony for achieving my Eagle Scout award I was given the opprotunity to follow someone in the field of my career choice. I put down heavy equipment operator of course. So I spent two days tailing one of the jobsite foremen for a heavy highway construction company. While running around with thier foreman I was given the opprotunity to run some machines. First thing they threw me in a large wheel loader (I dont remember which one but around Cat 930 size) on a water main replacement job, putting gravel in the trench. I had only been in a wheel loader once before that and it was much smaller. I had a lane and a half to work in with morning rush our traffic giving me dirty looks from about 6 feet away. This thing was so big and unfamiliar to me I couldnt get a feel for distance or where the cutting edge was. Needless to say, slightly stressful. (To the point I had begun questioning how badly I wanted to do this.)
The next site we went to they guys gave me a shot on an E120B. I had been running minis for off and on for a year or so, I thought "Great now something I know how to do". However being an older cat it had SAE controls and I dont believe it had a changer switch or if it did I wasnt told. In any event the next 20 minutes made me look like a real a$$. :Banghead This was all very frustrating to me and was making me reconsider certain aspects of my career choices. Now maybe that makes me a wuss but I couldnt help it. Running anything, let alone the big iron, with the general public comuting within several feet seems to be more than my nerves can handle. Does one get used to it eventually? :beatsme
Anyhow that was in February of '05. That summer I happened upon a couple of water proofing/drainage jobs for friends of my dad, running a rented 4 ton mini and a Bobcat S175. I thought "Hey now this I can do." I sincerely enjoyed being the operator on those jobs and decided then that I was going to try to be self employed. By october I had found what I thought would be an afforable entry level machine to get me started. So at the age of 18, in fact 2 years ago last week I made the largest purchase of my life so far. My little Bobcat 453 skid steer. While it is small it is still a very capable machine. I love running it but finding steady work has been next to impossible so far. If I get one $70-150 job every month and a half Im doin pretty good. Now I suppose if I had an LLC, better liablity, and money to blow on advertising campaigns I might be doing better but Im in a catch-22. I dont really have the capital to make it a "real business" and I cant get the capital to do it without more work. So Im kind of stuck as far as being self employed.
With regard to the job with this outfit, Fabrizi Trucking & Paving. It wouldnt start til late winter/early spring. I would start out as what the guys there affectionately call a "Yard Rat". Running parts to job sites, running a loader feeding the crusher (they do their own pavement recycling) and filling tandems with 304, washing down trucks, etc.
I just found out today that a friend of this guy that my dad knows runs Independence Excavating which does similar work, so I may soon have a similar offer from them. And I have no idea how to choose between them, should it come to that.
I also have a standing job offer to be the apprentice to the superintendent of cemetaries in my town. Eventually becoming (in a year or two) the superintendant myself. However it mostly involves cutting grass and plowing snow with the occasional backhoe job (obviously). Also, that postition answers to the cemetary board which for the most part are typical suburbanites with little to no common sense.
One other option would be to put my application in at the IUOE Local 18 for their apprenticeship program.
Also, I could apply to OSU's Agri-extention for their Landscape Contracting & Construction and/or Power Equipment degrees for their application to many things of interest to me.
So I dont know what to do. I have so many options and I have never been good at making critical decisions without any definite determining factors. I can talk myslef into, and out of everything Ive listed here.
I love to run equipment. I love to learn. Im just unsure of what to do with myself.
