My high school in Kentucky has one of the best machining programs in the state. My high school teacher got me interested in taking the course. I got into it and started enjoying it.
In my senior year of high school, I also became an apprentice with Atlas Machine. I was making $11 an hour doing that, sweeping floors and just learning about machining.
Two weeks before I graduated, the company hired me. I started full-time the day after graduation in 2008. I'm now a fourth-year apprentice with Atlas. I'm a few months away from graduating from trade school where I took classes in machining, trigonometry, blueprint and hydraulics.
Atlas has a great program for its workers where we're evaluated every six months and we get raises based on it.
This is going to be my lifelong career. I come in every day with a smile on my face. I learn something new every day. I don't know what new project I'll be working on one day to the next. And I love that.
I'm also making good money now, $20 an hour with overtime. I work 13 hours a day, and I have three days off a week.
America does this work better than anyone else. My high school friends see what I do and they think it's pretty cool.
U.S. factories are creating new jobs. But owners are struggling to find skilled American workers to fill them.
