Graduate Connections – Meet Spencer Buck

Spencer, 21, was born in Utah, lived in California for a couple of years, then spent 12 years in Texas, before moving to Owasso, Oklahoma in 2016. Spencer completed the nine-month Electro-Mechanical Technologies program at Tulsa Welding School in December 2023. 

Thanks for your time, Spencer. Did you consider going to college after high school? 

I think I could have done well in college. I got good grades in high school and all my life teachers told me I could do it. My problem was that for the last two years of high school I started to check out and lose interest. At the time I wasn’t sure I should go to college because I had lost my enthusiasm. I didn’t want to rush into a risk like that without knowing what I wanted. Something I would say to anyone around that age, finishing high school, is that college is not for everyone. You should have a specific vision in your mind for what you want out of it first and ask yourself if you have the discipline to see it through.

That’s certainly true. So, what did you do before enrolling at Tulsa Welding School?

I decided to give myself a little time. It was a bit of a mistake because I basically did nothing for a year. I wasn’t in a very good head space. At some point I did build the confidence to get my first job at a pizza place. The first day was terrible; they had me on the phone, and I didn’t know the menu or how to talk to people. The second day they had me in the kitchen, and I took right to it. I just loved assembling things, and making a good product. It built my confidence. I mostly did pizza for about two years. 

Where did the idea of going back to school come from?

I was living with my girlfriend at the time, and we agreed that we both wanted to go back to school. We wanted to just look at our options. I had an idea that I wanted to study something because I knew I didn’t want to do low-skill work forever. Not that there’s any shame in that kind of work, it’s what I’d been doing for a couple of years, but I knew that my long-term growth was dependent on growing my skillset. 

How did you decide on trade school?

I basically saw an ad for an HVAC program. That’s really where this all started. It sent me to check out a couple of different schools. It took about a month of back and forth between three or four different schools. After talking to Lakin, my TWS Admissions Advisor, she gave me a tour of the campus and told me about the program, I ended up choosing Tulsa Welding School and started class in early March 2023. 

You figured you could handle the commitment of trade school better than university? 

The thing that made the most sense to me, at the time about a year ago, was that I knew I was capable of learning new things. I can learn pretty quickly. If cost is a problem, trade school is a great option. Working in the trades pays well as far as I could tell from research, and the time frame was realistic enough that I knew I could commit to it. I knew I’d be able to dedicate nine months to learning everything I needed to.

Why did you pick the EMT program?

Well, I didn’t know very much about HVAC at the time, but I knew it was important. I knew that these sort of systems are relevant to everyday life, and I thought it was within my reach. So, I took a chance on it. That’s why I picked that EMT program specifically and I’m pretty satisfied with how the program went.

What did you enjoy most about your time at TWS? 

The best part was that I got to meet some people there who are in different positions in their life, yet we all made a similar calculation to try this program to see if we can make this line of work grow for ourselves. The other best part was the instructors. We had excellent instructors there.

How did you find the program? Did you struggle? 

Well, at the very beginning, I had an event in my life that made me want to pull out of the program. It made me think I may not be able to handle it with everything else I had going on, but I decided to stick with the orientation and to start attending class anyway. Attendance is important and before you enter this program, consider whether you have the time to read the material. It’s not as much as a regular school, but it’s still something that you need to consider because it’s going to be a pressure point. 

On top of class time, you need to be able to spend three or four hours in the evening, maybe every other day, if you really want to get the most out of the program. Otherwise, it can get ahead of you. You may feel like you’re losing it and you’re not really understanding anything. You can get through those troubling moments by catching up on the material. The instructors are perfectly happy to help you in class too, to clarify anything. Sometimes they’ll even talk to you outside of class so that you’re all caught up. They don’t want you to fail either.

So, let’s talk about employment. Did you work with Career Services? 

Tulsa Welding School has good career specialist staff who will do their best to help you. But you shouldn’t expect the school to do everything for you. You have to want it, and you have to be willing to reach out to people yourselves and be your own manager. The resources at school are meant to help you, but they’re not there to create opportunities for you. With that said, I had been looking for about three months. I expected opportunities would be pretty abundant, but I ran into issues where employers either wanted more experience, or they just wouldn’t get back to me. You can expect to run into challenges like that, but I persevered, and I’ve now got three opportunities that have been moving pretty quickly recently.

Tell us about those three opportunities. 

Two days ago, I received an offer to work for an HVAC construction company in Paris, Texas. I was going to start on Monday, and I’ve made arrangements to go. But earlier today I received an offer for an entry-level commercial service tech or a pipefitting position at a place in Pryor, Oklahoma, which looks promising. The third opportunity is at a university in Oklahoma that has recently renovated their facilities. That position involves working with mainly large chillers and boilers and AC controls to campus buildings,  like facilities management. They seemed very interested in me. So, a lot of things have come at me all at once. All the waiting and work has paid off, and I’ve got some decisions to make in the next day or two.

Are the offers pretty similar financially?

They are pretty similar. The job in Texas offered me $18/hour to start, but it’s more expensive to live out there. The job in Pryor offered to match that, and it’s cheaper to live here, and it’s nearby. I don’t know what the university is offering yet, but if I was to go with them, I could get free schooling to become an engineer or something like that, and a long-term opportunity to be trained with the school. So, I think if they were to offer me that, I would take it above the other two options. But the other two I’m willing to work with too. I’m willing to start small, but if a good opportunity comes along, I’m going to take it.

It’s great to have opportunities! What’s your long-term career plan from here, Spencer?

My approach is that you have to be realistic about what’s right in front of you. You have to take gradual steps. So, I can see a path to becoming a good service tech and being reliable for that. But I think the most promising thing for me, if I wanted to go back to school again – which I think I do – is I’d like to become an engineer in some capacity. I think that is the best option. It could be related to this field, or it might not be. I could design systems for new construction, anything HVAC related or electrical. I think I would be good for it, but that’s all going to be decisions I make as they come around.

What do you enjoy most about your new trade?

I like to understand, break down, and work with systems. That’s a very broad category, but I like thinking about building a functional system from the ground up. I also like to look at a system, see what its problems may be, and look at each individual part in it and what it contributes. I love to just break things down and understand them, and I think that’s the biggest thing that this line of work has to offer for me. 

Did you make some connections at school? Friends that you’ll stay in touch with. 

I’m kind of a shy person. My tendency is to have fewer people in my life, people who I have a lot of stock in rather than a broad group. I met this guy, Jacob, at school – he’s a good friend. We ended up meeting by chance and just got along. We’ve been in contact since finishing, and we intend to be each other’s point of reference for how the broader field is doing. There are a couple of others who I contact every so often. I still keep in touch with a couple of my instructors too. I’ve gone to them when I’ve had a question about my job search, or about something I’m encountering.

What advice do you have for someone to be successful at Tulsa Welding School? 

Going into it, you need to give yourself some time, talk about your goals with the people at the school. When you’re ready, take a tour, look up some videos, see if there’s anyone in your life who is related to the industry you’re interested in. Make it a calculated decision. You can never know 100%, but you want to be confident that this is something that you are prepared to put nine months of hard work into. You have to show up every day, you have to set aside extra time for studying. You have to be willing to put in the effort. What pays off in the end is not having expectations of things coming to you like they do in high school; you have to go and get it if you want it. But you’ve got to know what you’re willing to give up, and what you’re aiming for in the end.

UPDATE: Spencer declined the offer in Paris, TX, and decided to accept the offer to work in Pryor, OK. He hopes to hear back from the university in about a month with a potential offer of their own. If he doesn’t happen to get that offer, the role in Pryor has a promising future and he thinks he will enjoy working with them.

If you’re a TWS graduate and would like to share your success and be an inspiration to others, please email [email protected] to be considered for a Graduate Connection interview. Please include details such as your graduation date (month/year), program, and campus name (Tulsa/Jacksonville/Houston/Dallas).