Career Opportunities in Piping for Transitioning Veterans | Fall/Winter 2017 13 Scott Williamson chilled water and heating. We’re almost finished, so we’re labeling pipes now.” Scott has enjoyed the school aspect of the ap- prenticeship as well. He said, “I’m interested in everything! I learned Trimble layout on the job. One of my classmates took the Trimble course, and my current teacher is a Trimble instructor. When we only had a few people in one of my apprentice- ship classes, my instructor offered to teach me how to convert it into CAD (computer-aided design), because I had CAD experience, and that was a neat trick and got me excited about what to look for in the future. He couldn’t keep concentrating on me, because he had other students, but it was nice of him to take the time.” Scott said he will take advan- tage of all of the training offered at Local 393’s state-of-the-art training center, even aer he turns out as a journeyman. “I’ve always been in school in one way or another,” he said. “I’m looking forward to my career,” Scott said. “I made the right decision. We have a savings account now, which I’ve never had, and a new car. Finan- cially, this job has allowed me to breathe. I made the right decision for my family and me. We are taking the next steps appropriately. We are going to try to pay off our house as soon as possible and put money away for college for the kids. We will proba- bly try to buy something a little bigger down the road. e last three years have been outstanding.” “A soldier’s mindset, coming out of the service, is completely different,” Scott said. “We are used to doing whatever it takes to get the task at hand done.” Scott would advise service members that, because of the things they all go through in the service—not just in deployment, but in general— this work is not hard for them. “We are very grate- ful,” he said. “I can pretty much tell you, the candidates are going to be very grateful for this op- portunity. It’s a very good thing. We’ve all done a lot more for a lot less. is will sound greedy, but it’s how I feel. I can’t believe they pay us this much. My advice to everyone looking at the VIP program is that when they ask you where you would like to go aer you graduate from the program to con- tinue with your apprenticeship, don’t just put any- thing down. Do some research. Find the three top places where construction work is booming and put those places down. You have to go where the work is. San Jose is one of those places, and it’s made all the difference.” He knew he had an interest in welding and engineering. College was the plan, until he heard about the Veterans in Piping Welding program through the Career Skills Program at JBLM.