Paul Tse, 30, isn’t afraid to admit that he wasn’t the best
student in high school — he even told Congress. In May, Tse testified before
the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education as part of a push by
the Associated Builders and Contractors to bolster spending for the Carl D.
Perkins Vocational and Technical Training Act, which aims to improve technical
training opportunities.
In his statement, Tse, who emigrated with his family from
Hong Kong to Montgomery County, MD, in 1996, explained that enrolling in the
HVAC program at the Thomas Edison High School of Technology, in Silver Spring,
MD, gave him necessary direction. “Spending my mornings in a typical classroom
and afternoons at Edison, I was introduced into the world of construction and
the skilled trades,” he told Congress.
A few weeks before he graduated, Tse was offered a job as an
apprentice with local contractor Shapiro & Duncan Mechanical Contractors,
in Rockville, MD, attending the Air Conditioner Contractors of America
apprenticeship program in the evenings. “Even before my peers packed up their
cars and headed out for freshman move-in day, I accepted a [position] and got
right to work,” he said in his statement.
We talked with Tse, today a project manager with Shapiro
& Duncan, about how he’s forging a path in the industry, the role of
technical education today and what it was like to share his story with
Congress.
As your friends were heading off to two- and four-year colleges, what did
you think of your decision to pursue a trade?
TSE: It was nerve-wracking. Everybody was going to go tour
different colleges and talking about their campuses and so on. I had nothing to
show for it. To me, I was taking a big risk. I wasn't sure what the road ahead
was going to be like. Nobody had told me whether it was going to be easy or if
it was going to be hard, or if I was going to have a decent-paying job. All
those things were unknown to me.
What did your instructors say about the decision to go into the
apprenticeship program?
TSE: My teachers were positive. They were all tradesmen who
had retired or stopped working in the trade to become teachers. They were all
like: "You can definitely get out of here and be able to find a job right
away. That’s a skill set that's going to stick with you for the rest of your
life."
What are some of the biggest takeaways from your four-year apprenticeship?
TSE: Showing up on time and being prepared for whatever
you're doing that day, as well as your craftsmanship — putting pride in your
work. Not only does that show to your mentors and your superiors but, at the
end of the day, it also shows to your customer, which will reflect on how you
do with your supervisors and your mentors. Also, being prepared to learn every
single day. You have no idea what you're going to encounter on your next
project or even the following day on the same project.
Can you describe the experience of testifying in front of Congress on the
importance of technical training?
TSE: It was very scary. The opportunity came up randomly
through the ABC. It was a normal day of work for me and then I got a phone
call, which became a phone interview, which eventually evolved into going in
front of the panel to testify. They were looking for a success story [for
technical training programs].
Did you realize you were a “success story” before they told you?
TSE: Not really. I just think I'm a normal American who
immigrated to the States and this is, to me, the American Dream. Starting out
with next to nothing and getting that education you're looking for, getting out
of your education without accruing debt and then having a normal life.
After the testimony, did you find that your position on the role of
technical training and mentoring changed?
TSE: It did, a little bit. After everybody told me how they
felt about my testimony, I was a little shocked because I didn't think I was
doing anything special. I thought this was a normal path, and that's when I
started hearing that a lot of these other people still have a bad taste in
their mouth of looking at construction workers as blue collar, inappropriate,
disrespectful, uneducated. But that’s not the reality. The path of going down a
four-year technical program in lieu of a four-year or two-year college should
be open to everyone, not just people who couldn't make it in school.
What kind of mentoring opportunities have been available to you?
TSE: I would consider myself extremely lucky in terms of
having mentors in this trade. A couple of incredible individuals at Shapiro
& Duncan have taught me from 75% to 80% of what I know today. They took my
hand and showed me how to do the things in the field. And then whatever I did
by hand during the day, I went into school at night [as a part of the
apprenticeship program] to get a more technical explanation, which reinforced
my background of this trade.
I was never the best student in high school, and going into
the classroom made me cringe a little bit. But in this case, it was
encouraging. It was different than my high school career because whatever I
learned during the day by hand, I was getting the explanation that night. It
was like two pieces of a puzzle and a light bulb coming on.
What do you think the industry could be doing better in terms of bring up
younger people through the ranks?
TSE: Awareness and advertisement. Being able to explain to
kids that being a construction worker [is a positive], that's step one. Step
two would be having school systems be more open to having contractors go to
their school to show kids that there are apprenticeship programs that they can
go into and they're not going to owe anybody a dime and are getting a skill set
that they can take anywhere.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
TSE: My hope is that I will still be here at Shapiro &
Duncan, and for the most part doing something similar but maybe at a higher
level, like looking at multiple projects at a time as a senior project manager
or some type of project executive. But maybe 10 years is too soon. Maybe I need
more time.