QW

Dylan Yore - Executive Interview.

A few weeks ago I spent the day shadowing Jon Hautau. I had a great time attending a couple of meetings and then finishing up with a one on one interview with him. It was very insightful being able to sit in on meetings that involve Jon. I got to witness some very interesting behind the scenes work. 

I really enjoyed the interview I conducted with Mr. Hautau. We talked about a lot of topics that I feel opened up my eyes towards bettering myself as a student and a worker.

Jon and I spoke about a variety of topics that were very informational. I felt that our conversation would be good for anybody going through internships or looking for full time employment to hear. 

We started off talking about him and his past. As we progressed I focused on Jon's position in management. We discussed leadership pretty heavily. 

Jon commented, "As a leader you have to make yourself approachable. Go out of your way to make sure you are engaging with people so they feel comfortable."

The PDPM programs have a weekly meeting with Jon on Wednesdays to keep up with safety incidents, talk about awards, new employees and so on. This is an example of how Jon makes himself available and gives others the chance to have a voice. It has been a pleasure soaking in knowledge from Jon because he has always been available for my questions and is always willing to give his insight on a topic. 

I asked Jon if he had any advice for someone going into a leadership position and he responded, "Check your management skills to see if you need some classes. Some people are born leaders or managers while some may need a tune up. But advice for someone coming into that position for the first time would be to get to know your people. You have to know they have your back."

Having passion for your work is very important. Having a passion for the work that you do comes first hand when you enjoy and truly love what you do. Having passion for you work is much easier when you enjoy who you work with. It is refreshing to know that Ideal Contracting's upper management cares as much as it does about its people.

Hautau brought up a great point when he expressed, "People are the biggest thing, we have to make sure there is good culture and that the people working here are happy."

When happiness is in the air, passion makes its way through as well. Jon and I discussed key traits a manager would look for when interviewing a possible employee. Passion was up there heading the list. Jon Pointed out that people with passion care about what they do and are usually very easy to work with.

It has been an Amazing experience working at the Warren Tech Center with Ideal Contracting this summer. This internship has shaped me into a more well rounded student, worker, and most importantly a better person. I worked with the most amazing group of people. I came into work everyday knowing that I was surrounded by hard working people who cared about me. Ideal
Contracting has given me an awesome experience and I cannot thank everyone enough!

THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN AMAZING SUMMER! 

Dylan Yore - WTC final week. 

 Last week was very eventful for everybody. I spent majority of my week making sure I was ready for my presentation. I spent a lot of time rehearsing in front of people and buttoning up my power point. At the same time, the nerves set in as I sit back and realize we're all back to school in a matter of no time. I hope everybody had an awesome experience and enjoyed it as much as I did. We had an great intern group and I enjoyed spending time with all of the interns and mentors. I appreciate everything Jon, Alex, and Yesi did for us this summer; You guys really knocked it out of the park! I'd also like to show some gratitude to my Mentor Gus. Gus did everything he could to make sure I had the best experience I could and was exposed to as much as possible. He opened up my eyes and expanded my mindset on this great industry. It only made me fall more in love with the work we do here at Ideal Contracting. Gus "is good people." I quote him and some of the people here at WTC when I say that because I've adopted that saying over the past few months. Thank you everyone for this summer, it was an awesome experience that I will cherish forever!

Steven Sinn: Week 11, Meet Bill Kingsinger

This is Bill Kingsinger, Bill is one of the four general foreman

that ideal has on site; Bill is in charge of the steel erection on building AB and C. When I first met Bill, building AB was in the beginning stages of erection. Bill has been my right hand man in my time at the event center. If I ever needed anything or needed help with something he found a way to make time and help out. Bill is one of the more experienced Iron Workers on site and I am grateful to be able to learn and work with him. Now Bill is working on building AB detailing and building C. Bill finds a way to be productive and makes the Iron Worker’s work hard on a daily basis. I’d like to thank Bill and the rest of the Iron Worker’s for making my first internship an awesome experience that I will never forget. Here is a picture of Eric Faust and Bill Kingsinger. Eric is one of raising gang iron workers; he has also been a pleasure to work with and has always helped me out.

Chris Kuenzer: DEEC Site Visit

We were fortunate enough to get a tour of the DEEC on Friday, and it has changed quite a bit since I was there in May. The parking garages were just a giant hole in the ground last time I was there, and now there is a beautiful pre-cast structure that looks like it’s practically ready for hockey season. They have also made a lot of progress on buildings AB and C, and it was wonderful to see the actual arena again, with more of the steel put up. After the tour, we went back to building C and had lunch, and then learned a little bit about finishing cement. Gus showed us how to use the finishing tools, and we decorated our pavers with marbles and bolts. As always, I had a great time, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone again at the Tiger’s game and the Supplier of the Year celebration!

Week 13 Tony Saucedo

Two major events took place this past week. For one, I was able to finish my intern presentation on the various generational gaps within the workforce today. Second, I had the privilege of visiting the new future home of my favorite hockey team, the Detroit Red Wings.

I thank the entire Ideal Contracting DEEC team for their hospitality. The arena must be completed for the 2017-2018 hockey season, so every man hour counts. Many workers had to return to work during the weekend, just so we could be able to visit on Friday; so far that, I am grateful.

The summer is now coming to a close, but I sincerely look forward to presentations this Thursday in the training room. I invite everybody to attend (if you have time).

Dylan Yore WTC. This is for the last two weeks,,

Last week I spent a day with Paulina shadowing her in the morning and experiencing what a hard dollar project is like. It was very cool to see that side of the construction spectrum. Then that afternoon I took her all around the places of our campus that she had not experienced and showed her all of the jobs I have been on this summer.

I also spent a day with Steve Sinn2 out at the Red Wing's new stadium. That was an amazing experience and truly eye opening. It was crazy to see all of these trades working together all at once. We enjoyed lunch downtown and then came back to watch the 426 ton crane make a couple of picks. I look forward to tracking the building of the stadium because one day when I go to see a Wings game, reminiscing on the construction will be a great feeling.

I also took care of my executive shadow and interview with Mr. Hautau. I had an awesome day standing in Jon's shoes. we sat in a couple meeting which sounds boring, but again was so eye opening and very inspirational. To go from being in the field day to day to experiencing all of the behind the scenes leg work Jon and the upper management do to support our day to day functions was inspirational. I am currently in the process of doing my write up on the interview between Jon and I. We had a great conversation and discussed a lot of informational topics. I have a fantastic day Jon!.

This week I have been practicing my presentation and helping Erin Wolf out with daily field reports that have to be entered into a computer program manually. The presentation is going great and I am feeling more and more comfortable presenting it in from of people. We have been working on this very important monument for a plane crash that occurred several years ago. Yesterday we poured the base of this monument with a rebar cage and sonotube which brought me back to last summer working for the electrical contractor I worked for. We did this a lot.

Presentation practice and Milford Visit

This week was full of learning experiences for me. Monday was the intern's practice for their presentations for next week. It was great to see everyone's project coming along and to learn about the different topics. This was a great experience for us because we were able to get constructive criticism on our project without feeling attacked. It was good to hear some compliments on my topic, presentation and speaking abilities. Like everyone, I do get nervous before a speech like that, but I am usually able to keep on track, stay focused and complete the speech with little "ums" or "uhs". With some suggestions from the fellow interns and others present, I made some changes that will make the presentation better. I still have some practice to do so the speech comes more natural and I know when and what to say for each slide.
On Wednesday I visited Riley and Chris out in Milford. It is very interesting to see the level of security that GM has in order to keep their future cars secret. Upon entry to the special Contractors Gate, I had to cover up the cameras on my phone and laptop. This was also the only gate that I was allowed to enter/exit because I did not have a badge. I had to park outside the gate and Riley had to pick me up. Another thing that GM does to keep their cars secret is they have black and white swirls painted on the cars for camouflage to make it harder to identify the style lines and curves of the cars that are still a few years out. I have seen these out driving around before, but I did not know what they purpose was until Riley pointed it out to me.
After getting the safety orientation for the Milford Proving Grounds, Riley took me around to a few different jobs Ideal had around campus. We went out to lunch with Chris at a Bar-B-Q joint in downtown Milford, and after that Riley and I accompanied Chris to is weekly safety/progress meeting on a large renovation project that he was working on. It was cool to see a larger project that you don't typically get to see while working PDPM. Before the meeting Chris took the two of us around the project and showed us some difficulties that they had faced.

This is a sample of the paint covering concept cars.

Don't worry though! this is a close up from a picture I found in the internet.

http://gizmodo.com/how-automakers-use-a-wwi-era-camo-technique-to-disguise-1647618861