Chris was working at the Austin-Bergstrom In- ternational Airport (ABI) at the time of this inter- view. Young & Pratt had been contracted to do all of the mechanical piping, plumbing, and sheet metal work at the new terminal. ey were work- ing on tying the mechanical piping from the exist- ing central utility plant to the new terminal. Chris said, “It’s just Spencer and me, and we’ve been doing a lot of field welds and a lot of bolting up. We’ve been here two months and probably have another month to go. We are doing all of the rig- ging and welding. When we need to, we bring in another journeyman and apprentice. We start at 7:00 and work until lunch, and then we are fin- ished at 3:00 every day. I really like this job because I learn something new every day. It can even just be a different way of doing something or a different way to work around an obstacle.” Chris said a lot of journeymen work for Young & Pratt for their entire careers, and that the com- pany is a great company to work for. “At our last job, we were doing a lot of underground chilled water lines and steam for a building at Texas State University,” he added. “We tied onto their existing lines and ran miles and miles of pipe. We did a lot of rigging on that job too, and at the time, I was taking the rigging class, and it was neat to be going to class and to bring those examples from the class into the field. We figured everything out by the book and by what was practical in the field. at was a really fun job.” Chris will turn out as a journeyman in one more year. He said, “If I was talking to another person who was interested in the VIP Welding program, I would definitely tell them to do their best to get into the program. It’s only becoming more and more competitive. Where else would you go if you wanted to work with your hands? Being part of the local union is a true brotherhood, even for guys who haven’t been in the military. Everyone is work- ing toward the same goal.” CAREERops 8 Tracy Cooper works for Young & Pratt Mechanical Contractors in Austin, and he’s been a Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 286, Austin, TX, member for 28 years. His dad is also a retired mem- ber of Local 286. He stated that, at one time, he owned his own signatory contracting company, but it just wasn’t for him. At the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport new terminal build, he was the Superintendent on the job. He said, “I’ve had probably 10 or 12 VIPs who have worked for me over the years. Spencer and Chris are probably the two best VIP graduates that I’ve seen. They bring experience. They are not fresh out of high school. From the military, they understand leadership roles. They are always on time, and they are very polite. Spencer can really multitask, and I can put him with whomever, and Chris too. Chris has a little more experience. I think he will be running work eventually, but I’ll tell you, Spencer is right behind him.”