A journey to journeyman in St. Paul

Like so many young people leaving high school, Martese Casillas had no idea what he wanted to do as an adult.

A couple of semesters in college gave him no clearer direction. After a decent-paying job became less-than-satisfying, Casillas finally relented and took a friend's advice to give plumbing a shot.

Two rounds of applications and some work polishing his interview skills got him into a work/training program with St. Paul College and Plumbers Local 34. After five-and-a-half years of school and work, Casillas recently graduated from apprentice to journeyman plumber, a job with starting pay of about $80,000 a year ($48 an hour), said Dean Gale, business manager for the St. Paul union.

Full disclosure: My wife is the office manager for Local 34. Eye On St. Paul recently met Casillas at his graduation and later sat down with the 36-year-old to discuss his journey and why he thinks more people should consider the trades.

This interview was edited for length.

Q: You say it took a couple of years for your friend to convince you to apply to become a plumber. Why?

A: At the time, I had a pretty steady job [as a forklift driver] and it was outside of my comfort zone to start a whole new career when I had a job that I was good at. Then the job wasn't so great anymore. So, I interviewed for the plumbers' program, but I didn't get in.

Q: What did that involve?

A: You're not an apprentice yet, but the summer-helper program lets you try it out. I did it for almost a year. You do core drilling, nail plating, fire caulking. I interviewed again in October 2016, and I got in.

Q: You just graduated from the apprentice program. Tell me about it.

A: It was five-and-a-half years. During that time, we worked full time and went to school two nights a week, from 5 to 9 p.m., Mondays and Wednesdays.

Q: After a full day working?

Q: How did you keep up with the pace?

A: It's mostly just time, putting in the time. I'm not married, so it wasn't that hard. But, for a lot of people who have families, they go straight from work to school. They sacrifice time with their families.

Q: So now you're a journeyman plumber. What are you looking forward to?

A: Honestly, you know, the end goal was to become a journeyman. I'm happy with that. I don't have any plans to get my master's in the next few years or to become a foreman. I look forward to going to work every day. I look forward to, how do I put this? ... This trade provides, financially, a very stable lifestyle. I look forward to that.

Q: Besides the money, what about the job appeals to you?

Q: So, the next big job you do will be your first as a journeyman?

A: Yes. But it's not the first time I've done the work. As you go along in the program and the more you learn to do, the more your foremen trust you. You go from core drilling to pulling pipe. That's how the apprenticeship is supposed to work. It's supposed to progress the farther along you get. I've [done everything from] copper air lines to doing pre-fab pipe for a building project for Ohio State [University].

When you become a journeyman, it is a big deal. You've gone through school. But you're also doing the work, so it almost doesn't feel like a transition. Apprentice pay is 80 percent of what journeymen make. Most people by their fifth year are doing the work of a journeyman. They're capable of doing it.

Q: Who would really benefit from giving this a go?

A: Anyone. [Plumbing] is a very logical trade. You need [to install] this every 4 feet. You need to use this fitting. You have to put that at a 45-degree angle.