A Career Journey With Pops

I’d like to share with all of you something close to my heart. ?I keep my posts strictly career related and (I hope) relevant. I've never written a LinkedIn article before, so I hope you enjoy it and make it to the end. After reviewing, its a tad bit longer than I had originally intended!

The last year or so in my life has been quite the adventure, one that has me reflecting on what drives me and how I got here. All of my passions, where my endless energy comes from, what gets me out of bed everyday and where it all started. ?Through the reflection, the further back my memories go to where it all began.

When I was a young man ~11 years old or so, I have memories of sweeping the floors in my Mom & Dad’s store Darlington Audio in Drayton Valley, AB. ?

I grew up watching laserdiscs of The Princess Bride, loving television because his store had full cable (with Super Channel!) and we did not have that at home! ?It wasn’t long before he had me in the back of his shop, TV’s, VCR’s, ripping them apart to teach me how to use an oscilloscope, or how a capacitor failed and how to replace it. ?Developing soldering skills, tracing out circuit boards, replacing resistors, and the occasional zap from the AC. ?

Before I knew it I was installing Pioneer Premier car stereos. Yes, the ones where you take the face off and take it with you. ?A modern Blaupunkt from MacGruber ??. At 11 years old I was charging 50$ to install these car stereos. Pulling off the dash, running the wires, installing subwoofers, amplifiers… you name it. ?

Next up, front-line sales at the store. ?Working Christmas Day, looking to help folks out with last minute Christmas deals. ?Dad showed me the price books, our costs, the MSRP, and giving me total freedom to move the price around and use my best judgement to close a deal. ?

He would always say something like:

“No one spends their days just walking around stores because they are bored. ?They are here because they want to buy and?people buy deals, not the price.” ?

It started out with a TV here, a stereo there, but before I knew it I was closing entire home theatre systems. ?It was exciting times with Dolby Digital on DVD’s, 46" Projection TV's and Tower Speakers from Paradigm. When your friend tells you about their new TV, they don’t brag about the contrast ratio, or the response time. ?The first thing they say is “Nice TV right? You wouldn’t believe the deal I got!”

I have incredibly fond memories of growing up in that store. ?My minds eye always seems to roam back to snapshots in time simply from all of the time I spent there, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that my dad was training me. ?He was imparting his sense of humour into me, how to interact with people that I did not know. ?How to be approachable, to negotiate, to ENJOY myself. ?More than that however, he had me in the back fixing the same things we sold. ?Understanding how they work, what was different between brands or technology. ?Why things broke, and more importantly how to sell customers in plain language as to why one item was differentiated from another.

In simple terms, my dad was solution or consultative selling in a time where the process wasn’t widely known. ?He wasn’t selling on a data or spec sheet; he wasn’t selling on a price point. ?He was engaging the person, understanding who they were, what they wanted and most importantly: Making sure they left the store satisfied so they could come back next time.

You see I grew up in a small town of less than 3000 people at the time, everyone knew everyone. ?Your name, the way you conducted yourself, your ability to listen and act and do the right thing is what was left over once the sale was done. ?Our brand was our family, and it was drilled into me that the way we interacted in society reflected the public's perspective. Without repeat customers, the family didn’t have a business.

Fast forward many years later I found myself in somewhat of a dead-end career, the organization had tremendous turnover, an extremely poor culture that just used people up and I was deeply unhappy. ?I had taken Computer Engineering at NAIT, my life was primarily Automation, Protocol Integration, Software development & Sales focused. ?My dad had closed his store in the meantime, deciding to retire as the electronics industry was changing. ?Profit margins were being… marginalized. ?Big box stores were more concerned about moving volume at low profits, the industry had become purely transactional. ?I applaud him for recognizing the industry faltering and having the courage to make a change.

It was a somewhat short retirement, as since we are basically the same person… he couldn’t sit still. Don VanEmber from DV Meter approached my father and offered him a job as a First Year Instrument Technician, lapping pop valves. ?After a year or so Don told my dad, “If you go to school and get your first year completed, we will pay you more.”

My dad was intrigued yet, afraid. ?He was in his 50’s and the thought of going back to school was terrifying. ?My father and I speak to each other almost daily, if at a minimum weekly and he tossed the idea out at me about him going back to school. ?I thought it was a great idea and encouraged him to do so, yet he was still hesitant. ?It was at this time that my dad suggested something that changed the course of both of our lives. ?

“Son, why don’t you get a job taking your computer skills to the Oilfield?”???

Shortly thereafter, I left my job at the time and managed to get a contract with an Instrument Shop in Drayton Valley that agreed to enroll me in the Instrumentation trade. ?I would work primarily as a Programmer, Configuring RTU’s, PLC’s, SCADA systems, Radios and much more on the digital side of things in return for education in mechanical, construction, pneumatics, and field repair. ?It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating to “reboot” my career path.

Before you know it however, the truly unique thing happened. ?My dad and I aligned our schedules and attended Instrumentation at NAIT, together. ?We were study buddies; I did my best to tutor him, we lived together in Edmonton for 10-12 weeks a year while my mom stayed back in Drayton Valley. We rode our motorcycles to school together every day, went for a beer together after exams, always were lab partners, and even sneakily helped each other out on a particularly challenging question during a quiz. ?????

This time in my life was truly amazing, and what I cannot believe is that no matter how much I scour old photos I have none of us in class or living together during this time. We attended 3 of the 4 years at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) in their instrumentation trade program together. What a truly unique and once in a lifetime experience to spend together!

Finishing up the program was bitter sweet as it was the ending of a chapter. Watching my dad be unsure of himself when it came time for the Trade Qualification Exam was inspiring. Now that I am in my early 40's, I have considered going to get my MBA, but with my age, my kids and my career path... it's terrifying!

I remember the day of the TQ clearly:

After finishing my exam I was waiting with my wife and my mother in the hall as I had finished first. We all knew pops was worried, but when he emerged from the exam and met our eyes he gave us the nod. He had passed and knew it. What a strange thing in the moment to be seeing your father as a person, someone vulnerable, unsure of himself but having the courage to put himself out there and do it. It was a pretty spectacular feeling for all of us once it was all finished and I couldn't be more proud of him.

Again reflecting on this time has given me many insights. ?For myself, I knew I was mixing my love of technology along with the industry. ?I felt that I had found a niche around the inner workings of technology and it spanned the whole spectrum of technology in the Oil & Gas industry. ?But more importantly it was that once again I didn’t realize that my dad was once again teaching me.

All along he had been instilling these core values in me:

• Courage, Put yourself out there.
• Desire, Never stop learning.
• Dream, Chase what energizes you.
• Laugh, It's never so bad you can't see the light.
• Believe, One foot in front of the other gets the job done.
• People, The world is made up of real people, engage them.
• Character, People remember, be authentic.
• Family, Work hard but don't lose sight of what truly matters.

My pops turned 70 this year, he is my best friend without a shadow of a doubt. We play video games together nearly daily, we spend our summers RV'ing together with our families, and sharing our inner most thoughts together with absolute trust.

I really couldn't ask for anything more. Turns out that now I have 3 little stinkers of my own, Max (11), Oscar (8), and Nash (5) and I have the opportunity to be the same person to them that my father was for me. What an honor.

Thanks for an entire lifetime of memories dad, thanks for inspiring me all along the way, and thanks for being so engaged in teaching me. Either you were extremely clever, or just a natural dad but what matters most is that the mission has been a success.

Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there, there couldn't be a better and more important career.