Working at a multi-generational company like DSC has distinct advantages for those who want to build long, successful career as tradesmen. Although times have changed and technology has advanced, there is no substitute for hard work and there is nothing more valuable in the trades than learning from those who came before you.
To become a skilled tradesmen, it takes time and grit to get to the top. Those in the highest positions (and making the most money) all started somewhere much farther down the “ladder” and put in the time and effort to hone their skills and learn from others who were willing to pass on the knowledge that they built over the years. To be successful, this type of growth mindset is not only helpful—it’s required.
A good analogy of the way tradesmen need to work through the positions to get to the higher positions is to think of starting a career in a trade as starting your college education. You can’t just go to college for a week and expect to graduate. And you learn the most from the professors who have the most experience—those that have been around for years and years and have built up a “bank” of knowledge, often times through trial and error.
The same can be said for building a career at DSC. When you start a career with us—whether you start at the very beginning or bring some experience with you—we pair you with someone with more experience so that you can learn the skills and build the knowledge you need to move up to the next position—and that you will someday impart to others once you move up. Like professors at a college, our “elder statesmen” are always willing to take others under their wings to teach them all of the things they learned on the job and from their predecessors. It doesn’t happen overnight. In fact it can take years to gather the knowledge to move through each position, but, in the end, it’s what makes this industry, and our company, work so well.
For example, at DSC we have a lot of guys who operated heavy equipment long before the newest technologies came into play. They have experience that newer Operators (who never had equipment without the advanced technologies), don’t. So, they can teach these newer guys how to get out of tough situations when the technology can’t help.
At DCS not only do we have skilled workers at multiple levels, we are also proud to have multi-generations of families amongst our team—those who have learned the business from their fathers, who, in turn, learned the business from their fathers…and so on.
Three of our foreman, Jason Ludwig, Bo Velasquez and Kerry Jensen all learned the value of hard work, commitment and old school knowledge from their dads. Jason’s dad was a mechanic, Bo’s was a heavy equipment operator and Kerry’s was a foreman at DSC.
Members of the Smith family who own and operate DSC today—Enoch, Nate and Teresa—also learned from their dad—and are still learning from him. For the Smiths, every day growing up was a learning experience. And it took years until they were at the skill level to run the company. None of them started at the top; instead each started at the bottom and learned every position from their dad and others in the company.
Some might call it “learning the hard way,” but the Smiths see it as “learning the right way.”
It is this type of growth mindset that built DSC into what it is today and it is the operating model upon which we are building our future. The Smith family was raised to believe that you can always learn and that you need to keep learning to be successful. The Smiths don’t rely on history, they keep pushing the envelope to learn more. They push their teams, and themselves, to improve—to be faster, safer and curious to learn something new.
Enoch Smith says that his curiosity to learn sometimes requires his wife to take over the driving duties when in the car together. “When I pass construction sites when I’m driving, my wife has to take over because I have to look at it and see what they’re doing and how they’re doing it,” he says. It is this type of curiosity and eagerness to learn that has been the heart of the Smith family and DSC since the company was founded way back in 1942.
Make no mistake about it, career tradesmen are not made overnight. It takes years of hands-on experience and a willingness to learn from those who came before you to develop the skills and expertise needed to build a successful career and “move up through the ranks.” But when you’re at the right company—one with a multi-generational team of skilled and experienced tradesmen who are willing to pass on their wisdom and proven techniques—the sky’s the limit and successful, lifelong careers are not only possible, they’re there for the taking!