By the time Lucas Machado completed high school, he had his sights set on a career in the trades. He just wasn’t sure which path to take. Was it welding, or carpentry, or maybe metal fabrication? Instead of deciding right away, Lucas opened his own renovation company. Two years into the venture, during the summer of 2012, Lucas was asked to complete repairs on a wrought iron fence. It was a request that ended with Lucas inquiring at Mohawk and launching a career in metal fabrication.
“Looking into schooling on the Internet, I came across a Mohawk Open House,” Lucas remembers. “While visiting the trades campus, I was sold, and all that was left was applying.”
With top technology and professional facilities outfitted specifically for the skilled trades, it’s no wonder Lucas’s visit to the Mohawk’s Stoney Creek Campus and the Marshall School of Skilled Trades & Apprenticeship sealed the deal. The location is the ideal learning environment for Mohawk’s 2,900 annual apprenticeship students to acquire the skills they need to meet the performance objectives of the Apprenticeship Training Standards.
In addition to its impressive facilities and reputation as one of the largest trainers of apprentices in Ontario, Mohawk is also intimately connected to various industry partners. One such partner is Walters Group, a steel construction company that designs, fabricates, and constructs commercial and industrial projects across North America. Walters’ employees are no strangers to Mohawk’s classrooms, often serving as guest speakers.
“While I was at Mohawk, Walters visited and that’s when I knew what I wanted to do with metal fabrication,” says Lucas, who attended the college in 2013. “More specifically, structural steel was the path I wanted to take, and I realized building sky scrapers or intricate structures is what I had a passion for.”
Because the Mechanical Techniques Welding and Fabrication program combines on-the-job experience and in-school training, Lucas was able to take his interaction with Walters a step further by completing a placement with the organization. He says he enjoyed working at the company so much that he later accepted a job offer. Today, he is one of Walters’ team leaders.
“I enjoy coming into work, building large or intricate structures, and watching them be erected onsite!” he says, before offering advice to aspiring apprentices. “Do your research, find what your passion is and chase it. There will always be hard times, but use those as steppingstones to help yourself excel.”
Mohawk’s Mechanical Techniques Welding and Fabrication program results in opportunities as varied as working in fabrication shops, specialized welding shops and construction, or with heavy machinery contractors, aircraft contractors, structural steel and platework manufacturers, and more. Experienced and licensed journeypersons lead the program, which covers all the in-class training for this apprenticeship.
