Talking Technicians
Talking Technicians
S05-E02 Arman is a technician at Excelitas
Arman is a fabrication technician at Excelitas in Boulder, Colorado. Arman moved from Santa Clarita, California, and now earns around $50,000 annually. He grinds and polishes lenses for various applications, including commercial and military uses. Arman emphasizes the importance of detail, communication, and teamwork in his role. He transitioned from a warehouse job to a two-year laser optics program at Pasadena City College. Arman advises aspiring technicians to pursue their passions and seize opportunities.
The Talking Technicians podcast is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program.
Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation.
Join the conversation. If you are a working technician or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org.
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https://micronanoeducation.org/students-parents/talking-technicians-podcast/
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Peter Kazarinoff 0:02
From MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center, this is Talking Technicians. The podcast about technicians: who they are, what they do, and where they come from. I'm your host, Peter Kazarinoff. I teach technicians and engineers at Portland Community College. In each episode, you'll meet a working technician and hear their story. That means real interviews, with real technicians, about real jobs. At the end of each episode, you'll hear actions you can take if you want to be a technician too.
In this episode, you'll meet Arman. Arman is a fabrication technician at Excelitas in Boulder, Colorado. Arman, welcome to Talking technicians. Thank you for having me. Peter, appreciate it. Arman, Excelitas is in Boulder, Colorado. Is that where you live to and how long have you been there for?
Arman 1:00
Yes, so I currently, actually just moved to Aurora, which is about 30 minutes from Denver, but I've been here for about three, three and a half months for work, and I'm loving it so far. It's nice
Peter Kazarinoff 1:17
And Arman, where did you grow up? Where'd you live before boulder?
Arman 1:21
So my whole life, I grew up in Santa Clarita, California, close to Los Angeles, and been there my whole life, and just recently moved so I'm loving it.
Peter Kazarinoff 1:32
Nice, nice. So that's kind of a big move across the country. So let's talk a little bit about where you work. So you're a fabrication technician at Excelitas in Boulder. What do you do day to day as a fabrication technician?
Arman 1:49
So I grind and polish lenses to a certain spec for different companies around the world, depending on what they need it for.
Peter Kazarinoff 1:59
And so you're grinding and polishing these lenses. What do those lenses ultimately get used in after accelerates, moves them on.
Arman 2:08
So depending on because we we work from commercial lenses to more like military type stuff. So just depending on what the lenses are for, we that from everyday cameras like the camera lights on street lights like that track you, if you run a red light. We work on some of those, and then we also work on some lenses and lenses and bulbs that go on, like helicopters and stuff.
Peter Kazarinoff 2:36
Wow, that's kind of neat. So when you first go into work, like right at the beginning of your shift or your work day. What are the kinds of things do you do then and then? What kind of things do you do in the middle, and what do you do at the end? How does that work?
Arman 2:50
So my - when I get there, when I start my shift, we clean all the equipment we're going to use for the day just to make sure it's nice and clean so we don't have any dust or particles that get on our lenses. Then we make sure the polisher we're using is at the right quantity, because we have a certain ratio to water to polisher we use. So we get all that set up. Then we go to our boss, see what our jobs are for the day. And then after we get our jobs, we set up the polishers or the pads, depending on which one we use that day, and we run, we run the lenses over the polisher to pretty much smooth them out and get them as like flat and clean as they can be to the certain specification that the company that we're selling it to once, and then we test it, make sure it's good, and then we send it on.
Peter Kazarinoff 3:53
And so Arman as a fabrication technician, what kind of salary could you expect working in the boulder area.
Arman 4:02
So, in the boulder area right now, starting off yearly, I think I'm making around 50,000 a year as a starting technician, because I've only been this is my first job in the field. So.
Peter Kazarinoff 4:14
And are there opportunities for professional growth? You mentioned that you just started in the field, but are there places that you can work up to in the company after that?
Arman 4:25
Yes, definitely, there's always potential for growth, because I've only been there for such a short time, but I've already been offered a promotion to move to super polishing, which is like a great higher than just regular polishing, which is what I'm in now. So there's definitely room for growth. You can do so much in this field. It's nice.
Peter Kazarinoff 4:48
And so in addition to salary Arman, are there other things like benefits, things like retirement package or healthcare that go along with your work at accelerates?
Arman 5:00
Oh yeah, definitely, I've, uh, I've never had a job that offered as many benefits. Honestly, it's kind of nice, because I get health, dental, 401, k like, the like, I get everything. So it's, it's really nice working in this type of field that gives you what you need to, like, have a healthy life and still be able to show up to work. So
Peter Kazarinoff 5:23
Arman, you moved across the country from California to Colorado. What did it feel like that first day of work when you went into Excel, yet for the very first time, what did it feel like that first day of work?
Arman 5:37
It was, it was very exciting and nervous at the same time, because this is something I wanted to do for a really long time, and I'm actually getting the opportunity to do it, but being from California, and I grew up there my whole life, and I'm like, Wow, I'm like, 17 hours away from my family and my friends. So it was, it was, it was a little nerve wracking at first, but I enjoyed it because it was something I wanted to do, so it wasn't too bad. And a lot of the and a lot of people I work with are really, really like good people and comfortable. And they helped me. They helped me a lot.
Peter Kazarinoff 6:14
So, so now Arman, compared to that very first day at work, what does it feel like now when you go in,
Arman 6:21
It's funny, because it kind of just, it doesn't feel like home, but it just feels feels like normal. It feels like my day to day life now, like I'm just, I'm going to work, I'm doing what I want to do. I'm enjoying it. I still think about my home like California, of course, and my family, but it's nice. I'm more comfortable now that I'm more comfortable with my job and what I'm doing, it's I like it a lot.
Peter Kazarinoff 6:46
So Arman, let's switch gears a little bit and talk about how you got to where you are now accelerates does some pretty high tech work, and so I want to talk about your previous work experience and your education to be able to do that kind of technical work. So let's start off with work experience. What kind of work experiences did you have before you became a fabrication technician?
Arman 7:10
So before this, I actually worked for a aerospace shipping company, so we would receive parts in like a warehouse. Count the parts, make sure the quantity they sent us was the right amount. Then we would ship it to different like companies, depending on who would go to, depending from like Boeing to SpaceX to multiple like aerospace companies, we would ship them out to. So I kind of started there in that field, but I've worked in a lot of different places. My first job was target. Couple years. I was a tax professional for a little bit, so I've done a lot of things, but I've always wanted to work in this type of field. I just didn't know how to kind of get a start, and then that's kind of like going into your next question, yeah,
Peter Kazarinoff 8:02
So Arman, you're leading me right into what I was gonna ask next. So you've worked in a couple different areas, but none directly, like in fabrication technician work, or working in the optics or laser or semiconductor industry. How did you transition from those roles into what you have now, what was the missing piece there?
Arman 8:24
So when I was working at the warehouse job, the aerospace shipping warehouse job, so my partner actually had a co worker who knows the professor of the Pasadena City College, and she informed me about it and told me, like, told me that this would be something that you're interested in, and I got into it. I looked it up, I went to their website, and I gave i I sent him an email, and he replied the same day, and I signed up that year.
Peter Kazarinoff 9:02
And Arman, what kind of program did you enroll in at Pasadena City College?
Arman 9:07
So I signed up for a two year course, laser optician, or laser optics.
Peter Kazarinoff 9:15
And what sort of things do you learn in a two year laser optics program at a community college?
Arman 9:21
We learned a lot of things. I I wanted to, because I knew I was going to be moving soon to Colorado. I took, it's a two some, it's a two semester course each for each year. So it's from June to I want to say it's from June to October, and then the second course starts, uh, January to May. But I wanted to do it fast, so I took both courses at the same time. So I finished it in the I finished a year early. It was exciting. You learned a. Lot. You learn a lot about assembly. You learn a lot about cleaning lenses. You learn about how to take care of glasses. You learn how to read the wavelength of lenses. You learn the different wavelength of light. It's a lot. It's a lot of fun, though.
Peter Kazarinoff 10:19
And Arman, do you think that you could do your role at Excelitas, or have gotten that role without going through that without going through that program at Pasadena City College?
Arman 10:30
I don't think so. It's They. They. I learned a lot at Pasadena City College that helped me understand what I'm doing now. And I feel like if I didn't go through that course, I would have no idea what I'm doing my job right now.
Peter Kazarinoff 10:45
So Arman, you talked about at Pasadena City College how you learned some pretty technical skills about measuring certain properties of lenses. But in your day to day work, do you use any kind of skills that we might call professional skills things like communication with managers and other technicians, or working in reporting and writing. How are those type of skills part of your job, too?
Arman 11:13
That definitely plays a role, and that's also why I like the course, because in in Dr Brian monticelli's course, you do classroom or classwork for an hour, and then we do all lab work for the rest so and you always are matching with different students and different people. So you have to kind of communicate, learn how that person works, learn how their mind thinks. And then when it comes to actually assembling what you're doing, you got to kind of all come to a set idea, because everybody has different ideas. Everybody wants to do this, everybody wants to do that, but you guys all got to think together and come together. So communication is definitely a big thing that I learned in that course. And definitely, I would say Excel. Excel is a very important thing for sure, with datas and graphs and keeping your information like where it needs to be, Excel is another big thing I learned.
Peter Kazarinoff 12:18
So in addition to communication, being able to work with spreadsheets, and being able to enter things into spreadsheets, organize them, be able to read them. That sounds like that. That was important too.
Arman 12:30
Yes, definitely. It was really important, because even to this day, a lot of the jobs we do might be the same, but they might there's one little like information that we don't know that's different. So we need that communication from the person up top, who knows, to come down and tell us to say, hey, we actually have to do it like this. And then, okay, we know what we got to do. We get it done. So communication is a real big part in this field.
Peter Kazarinoff 13:01
Arman, vwhat's something unexpected about working as a fabrication technician that you only learned after you started? What was surprising about moving into Excelitas, from moving to like a classroom to the real field?
Arman 13:16
Yeah, every little thing matters, the tiniest little detail. It could be the tiniest little piece of dust. It could be you forgot to tighten this bolt just a little bit, or the tiniest little details matter so much, and you really got to pay attention to that. I learned that a lot.
Peter Kazarinoff 13:38
So being really detail oriented in all of your work. That sounds like it's pretty important.
Arman 13:45
Yes, definitely gotta pay attention. You gotta focus on what you're doing.
Peter Kazarinoff 13:50
Arman, how did your life change when you became a technician? What's different now compared to when you were at Pasadena City College?
Arman 13:57
My life changed a lot because this is kind of something I've been wanting to do for a long time now. So the fact that I'm actually able to be in this field and go wake up every morning and do something I want to do is really nice. And it just I wake up happy. I wake up excited to go to work. So it's nice. So I feel like my life changed a lot, but I still think about home. I still miss home, but I'm excited also, because this is always something I wanted to do.
Peter Kazarinoff 14:32
Arman, what advice would you give students or people who want to transition their careers and work as a technician like you do?
Arman 14:40
I would say, if you really want to do it, you would you got to just go for it, because I was one of those people who wanted to do it, and never just looked for the information, or never actually put in the time to go out and try to do it. So when the opportunity came and I took it, you. I did, and now I'm living my best life in Colorado. So I would say just if you want to do it, you got to take a chance, because you never know what will happen.
Peter Kazarinoff 15:11
And Arman sort of to finish up - Do you have a final call to action for students? Say they're in a two year tech program at a community college, or maybe they're in a different career, and they were sort of like you, that they need a little push. What would sort of be your final call to action for those folks.
Arman 15:30
I would just say you got to do what your heart wants. You got to do what your mind wants. And I know it gets hard sometimes, because it was hard for me sometimes, and there was times where I wanted to just quit and give up, but I didn't. I stuck through it, and now I'm where I am, and I'm happy, and you learn a lot more in the field. So it gets better. It gets way better.
Peter Kazarinoff 16:00
Arman, I think that's a great message to end on for today. So thank you so much for being on talking technicians and sharing your story with me.
Arman 16:09
I appreciate it. Thank you much. Thank you so much for having me, and I hope talk to you soon.
Peter Kazarinoff 16:14
Please keep in touch.
Arman 16:16
Yes.
Peter Kazarinoff 16:24
Talking Technicians is produced by MNT-EC, the Micro Nano Technology Education Center through financial support from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education grant program. Opinions expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the National Science Foundation. Join the conversation: If you are a working technician, or know someone who is, reach out to us at info@talkingtechnicians.org. We're always looking out for great guests to share more stories with you.