Jeremy Alessandro—2015 WECA Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship graduate, current WECA Health and Welfare and Pension Board of Trustees Trustee, and Operations Manager of Alessandro Electric, Inc.—started running his first large project immediately after graduating from WECA.

“It was a $680,000 HVAC project and lighting retrofit for Rocklin High School,” recalls Jeremy. “It involved a 13-person crew and a 90-day completion time; it was crazy going immediately from taking direction to directing a larger crew. Upon completion of that project there ended up being an immediate need to fill a purchasing role within the organization. Although I was just supposed to fill in, I made the position more than just purchasing. I started to find opportunities to go above and beyond in the role and over time, made it into an operation manager role. I created and continue to create process improvement for the company. I started with prefabrication design/support and continued to create standardization of work, safety training, strategic vendor relationships, and logistic improvements. I am currently reengineering the way projects are built from initially getting the job all the way through completion. I am always looking at the company and looking for the lowest hanging fruit (what will help the organization most) to improve upon. Constant improvement is necessary in this industry, and everything is changing around you. You can either be the catalyst for change or be run over by it.”

Jeremy’s career trajectory and advice are certainly inspiring—but that’s not all!

Here are some more nuggets of wisdom from Jeremy:

• Jeremy’s favorite thing about his career is the ability to constantly improve. He always strives to make tomorrow better than today.
• Jeremy advises current and future Apprentices alike to “Treat the Apprenticeship as your dream and don’t procrastinate.”
• To ensure success after graduation, Jeremy says to remember some key sayings to get through tough times, such as:
  • Embrace the credo “It all pays the same.” This means that nothing is below you, and to lead by example.
  • “Do whatever it takes.” Be willing to go above and beyond in any situation, and you will more than likely be kept busy during the slow times.
  • “Living the dream.” Even if your day is hard, find what’s good in it and fake it if you have to, because we work together way too long and hard to deal with each other’s negativity.
• Find a company and become indispensable. Many companies—including merit companies—will take into consideration how long you have been with the organization. Find a place you love and feel like you want to be with for the long haul and do whatever it takes to stay there. I would often during slow times wait for the next project rather than company hop, and that loyalty kept me busy.
• Find your motivation in life, and then use that motivation to propel you to be the best every day. Don’t let anything stop you from your happiness. Almost all hardships are temporary and adapt to those which are not.

And last, but not least, Jeremy recalls his WECA Apprenticeship days fondly, saying that his favorite memory of his WECA Apprenticeship was the feeling he’d get every time he went back to class.

“It was amazing to be with a group of guys that were all there to make each other better,” says Jeremy. And he also recalls one instructor in particular—Jimmie Slemp—and credited him with “making electrical fun and always pushing me to be better.”