Coming out on top
Scott Baker’s story
So, how do you set yourself on the path to a
successful and fulfilling career? Career testing helps
many. But many others come by their calling after
much trial and error. In the final analysis, you can
choose and succeed in a career that satisfies you only
when you understand who you are and what makes
you happy.
That happiness takes in factors outside the scope
of your job itself. Prominent among these factors is
where you live and work, as this affects the type of
life you will enjoy. As Scott Baker’s story shows, using
that choice as the starting point can lead to clarity
about career direction. Luckily for the region, Baker
chose the North.
Scott Baker knows a thing or two
about the labour market.
In his 26 years, the busy
Sudburian has held nearly as many
jobs. He’s installed drywall for a
contracting firm, solicited donations
by telephone, cooked pasta at a
busy cafe, and built computers
from scratch. He’s hopscotched
across the province, often taking
unfulfilling positions to make ends
meet. Essentially, he’s re-started his
career dozens of times, sometimes by
choice, but often by necessity.
While his rich roster of
employment experience allowed for
a varied resume, it brought him little
satisfaction. Now, as a second-year
industrial mechanical millwright
apprenticeship student at Cambrian
College in Sudbury, he finally feels
excited about his vocational future.
But it’s been a long journey to the top.
* * * *
Born in Young’s Point, near
Peterborough, Baker moved to
Sudbury at the age of ten, making the
Northern hub his home not long after.
Work began at an early age, with odd
jobs and volunteer positions filling
his after-school hours. By the time
he was in his third year at Lockerby
Composite School, he was employed
as a cook in a small bistro, and
making enough cash to satisfy his
teenage desires.
Interested in computer technology,
Baker hooked up with a small
computer consulting firm for an
unpaid co-op placement term in his
final year of high school. Much to
his surprise, the position developed
into a full-time job as a computer
technician immediately following
graduation.
Entertaining visions of higher
education, Baker had never aspired
to find permanent employment
out of high school. A series of
circumstances, however, kept him on
the path he was on.
“I was expecting to go to
university,” he admits. “It just didn’t
work out at the time.”
Besides, earning a steady income
at such a young age had its benefits,
and Baker became “pretty happy”
with the working life. Though he
lacked formal education, he made
concerted efforts to boost his skills.
He pored over books in his own
time, studying new tips and industry
trends. He logged extra hours in front
of the screen, trying new techniques
and figuring out what worked best.
His employers encouraged this
growth, and Baker soon moved from
being a rookie computer technician to
an adept software expert.
By the time the company decided
to relocate to Toronto a few years
later, Baker was an integral part
of the team, writing important
accounting and research software.
Engaged in his work, he decided to
move with the company.
* * * *
The transition from Sudbury to
Ontario’s capital was not without its
stresses for Baker.
“For a time I had an apartment in
both cities,” he groans. “It was pretty
difficult at first.”
He started to adjust to the Toronto
life, thanks in large part to “a bit
of a network” with fellow Northern
Ontario expatriates. As his social
adjustment improved, however,
his employment situation began to
deteriorate. He became frustrated
with his lack of vacation time and
long hours with the company, and
began to wonder if he couldn’t do
better on his own. In March of 2002,
he left the company.
Burned out and tired, he took a
break from full-time work to reassess
his priorities, relying on savings and
some independent contract work to
pay the bills.
When he decided to formally
re-enter the workforce six months
later, however, he rudely awoke to the
status of his qualifications.
“I found it was very difficult to
find work,” he frankly states. “I didn’t
have any credentials outside of my
direct experience.”
He sought a solution through a
series of quick-cash jobs, working in
telemarketing and sales, including
one “gut-wrenching” stint selling
newspaper subscriptions. Varied
as they were, none of these
appointments adequately reflected
his skills or ambitions.
“I didn’t do very well at those
jobs,” he assesses, describing each as
a “bad fit.”
Still in the Greater Toronto Area,
he eliminated sales as an option and
started working in a series of manual
labour posts. He did well in these
positions, but found it difficult to find
a stimulating or appropriate work
environment. One job involved a
prohibitively lengthy daily commute,
for example, while another refused to
pay him in a timely fashion.
Desperate times called for a
dramatic change. Baker gave it some
thought, and finally decided that after
years in the workforce, it was time to
get some post-secondary education.
* * * *
“It was a culmination of events,”
Baker recalls. “I was almost
completely out of money, especially
with the cost of living in Toronto
(being so high). I had recently
revisited Sudbury and rekindled
old friendships. And my parents
encouraged me to go back.”
Education seemed like the
perfect solution. There was only one
problem: Baker didn’t know what he
wanted to study. “Finding a definitive
path has always been my problem,”
he says wryly.
Befuddled, he enlisted the services
of Youth Employment Services, which
helped him narrow down where his
interests lay through a series of skills
assessments and personality tests. He
eliminated those careers he’d had bad
experiences in, and started to focus
on skills he wished to enhance in his
studies. Eventually, he figured it out:
in order to be satisfied, he needed
something spatial, hands-on, and
constantly changing.
* * * *
Engineering seemed a perfect
fit, so Baker applied to his school
of choice; unfortunately, however,
he was turned down. Frustrated
but undaunted, he explored other
options. After doing some research
on trades-based professions, he found
himself drawn to a convenient option:
the SkyTech Industrial Mechanical
Millwright program at Cambrian
College.
The program seemed perfect.
It was hands-on, interactive, and
intellectually stimulating. It was one
of the top-rated apprentice programs
in the country, boasted an awesome
apprenticeship option, and just so
happened to be located in his old
hometown. He gained admission into
the course, moved back to Sudbury,
and returned to class in September
of 2004.
Even after more than five years in
the workplace, Baker did not find the
transition back into an educational
setting especially difficult. Rather, he
claims to have “thrived” in his new
environment.
“I’d been missing that mental
stimulation,” he reflects.
Baker has taken on an ambitious
range of duties in his new role
as student. While maintaining
good academic standing, he has
represented fellow students to the
school’s Trades Council, Students
Council, and Board of Governors.
Aside from satiating his desire to
get involved, these experiences
have helped him to make excellent
connections – a must in today’s job
market.
Baker will graduate from the
program with apprentice status,
which he calls a “perfect match” for
the current, trades-focused Northern
Ontario job market.
“I’m going to be making a better
wage than the engineers (will be),
and I’m going to be working handson,”
he reasons. “Plus, I get to play
with all the toys!”
FEATURE
To fulfill this career goal, Baker
has created a two-pronged job search
strategy. His first tactic is to take full
advantage of the college’s job-search
program, which gives him access
to posts not listed elsewhere. The
second is to continue to connect
with other industrial millwright
mechanics, a task made easier by
in-class interaction. Though it’s still
early, the hunt is going well so far,
and he is “very optimistic” he’ll land
the position of his choice.
* * * *
Now that he has re-settled in
Northern Ontario, Baker plans to stay
here, at least “for the time being.”
Not only is the market hot for
skilled trades people (“the industrial
centre is really growing here,” he
says admiringly), his fiancé, Dahnja,
is currently studying at Laurentian
University. With young son Damien
happily bouncing around at home,
Baker sees little reason to leave any
time soon.
After years of struggling to find the
right career path, Baker feels things
finally seem to be going his way.
In the end, it wasn’t convenience,
or timing, or even money that
fuelled his choice. It was overcoming
the obstacles of indecision and
procrastination, and taking on
something with vigour.
“The biggest thing, for me, was
finding something I really liked, and
fully applying myself there,” Baker
explains. “When I first started in this
(industrial mechanical millwright)
program, I didn’t think I wanted to do
this with every fibre of my being. But
that was the wrong way to look at it.
“Ultimately, for me, it was a matter
of stopping on something that made
sense, and putting my all into it.”
He pauses.
“It was the best thing I ever did.”
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