Joseph Hughes
Maintenance Technician
Eaton
Sherman, TX USA
“Never give up. If you believe it, you can do it.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationJoseph Hughes
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
I was born and raised in Sherman, Texas.
When I was a few weeks from graduating high school early, I was told I needed to complete another year of the curriculum in order to graduate, so I decided to get my GED instead.
I went away to college in Phoenix, Arizona, to pursue computer programming but had to come back home due to family matters.
I was essentially homeless and going from house to house trying to find any handiwork jobs before eventually finding an industrial assembly job at Eaton through a temp agency.
I was able to go back to school and earn a few certifications—all paid for by my employer!
While working at Eaton, I moved up from industrial assembly to become a welder, which I did for a few years before moving up again to quality control.
After a few more years, I took the test to move up to the final associate position as a front line lead supervisor.
I worked as a supervisor for several years but decided to move back into maintenance because I missed working with my hands.
Education
GED
Certification/License
Industrial Maintenance Technician
Industrial Maintenance Technician
Certification/License
Basic PLC Programming
Basic PLC Programming
Certification/License
Advanced PLC & Robotics Programming
Advanced PLC & Robotics Programming
Career
Maintenance Technician
I perform maintenance tasks to keep a sheet metal fabrication plant running productively.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Technology
Problem Solving
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
The first step is to figure out what kind of maintenance work you want to do. Maintenance is very broad—you can do electrical maintenance, industrial maintenance, electromechanical maintenance, etc. Figure out which area you want to focus on and then look for community colleges that offer online certification courses for that focus.
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"You don't have enough education to do this. Your GED isn't enough."
Challenges I Overcame
Adult Learner
