When a career isn’t working, a new one in the trades could be waiting
One of the joys of Maia Kipp’s new plumbing career, she says, has been knowing she had a hand in something bigger than herself. (Photo by Kendal J. Bush Photography)
When Patrick McDonough was young, he envisioned himself as an architect. As a student and athlete at Central Catholic in Lawrence, Mass., the lifelong Salem, NH, resident never considered anything after high school except attending college. Ten years later, McDonough, now 29, is finishing up his first year as an electrical apprentice, and wishing he had started sooner.
Maia Kipp wasn’t sure about what she wanted to do after high school. The 32-year-old from New Castle worked a few jobs, including as a lobster pound laborer, a coffee barista and in the NH National Guard. She is in her first year as a plumber and also wishes she had started sooner.
Zach Beland of Manchester was a computer programmer before being laid off in 2020 when Covid hit. The 28-yearold Alvirne High School grad shifted gears and is completing his first year as an electrical apprentice. And like Patrick and Maia, he wishes he had done it sooner.
The three of them are a few of many who have entered the skilled labor industry after college or been in previous careers. They are seeing financial benefits in industries desperately in need of young people to fill the shoes of the retiring generation. More importantly, they are feeling a sense of personal satisfaction with their choice.
If you talk to high school students these days, many will quietly admit that they don’t know what to do beyond graduation. School guidance counselors regularly meet with students as early as freshman year. But to ask a 16 year old to decide on a career path is often an overwhelming request. Most assume they will go to college, but the major or concentration is usually a blur. College is abstract to a high school student who doesn’t know a life except for school and summer vacation.
At a recent career event at the Sanborn Regional High School gymnasium, students were able to visit with skilled labor vendors, such as Empire Beauty School, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Granite State Plumbing and Heating.
The student response most often given when asked if they knew what they wanted to do after high school was, “no idea, but this event is good to help me get ideas.”
Schools and employers are promoting the trades like never before.
For employers, the goal is to fill the spots of retiring tradespeople. Associated Builders and Contractors has estimated that the construction industry alone will need an additional 650,000 workers on top of its normal hiring process. In schools, guidance counselors hope that students can find a career path sooner rather than later, and the trades are a good partner for that mission.
‘More satisfying’
Ten years ago, Beland, Kipp and McDonough never experienced career fairs like the ones that are commonplace today. They feel as though they have found their calling, though at a later age.
Beland was working as a software programmer for a company that was contracted by Delta Airlines. In March 2020, when Covid shut down much of the world, Delta started laying off employees and contractors. He took the hit and reassessed his desire to be a programmer, a job he’d been doing for the previous six years.
Beland had started in customer service after high school, but after being introduced to programming, he realized it was something he was good at. And it was something he could do at home.
He laughed at the irony. “I was doing remote work before the pandemic, then when everyone started working from home, I was let go.”
During the months when people were staying home, Beland considered trying to find another programming job, but decided to live off his savings and try doing what he called “handyman work.” Friends and family would call him in for home repair. He liked it enough that he started to create and post videos of his renovations.
“It wasn’t just sitting at a desk at a machine and pushing buttons,” he said. “I was making something tangible.”
He had a cousin who recommended Plaistow’s Piquette & Howard Electric Service, which specializes in commercial electrical contracting. They accepted Beland’s application, and he began in June 2021.
As in many trades, an electrical apprentice needs to acquire hours in two different areas: the field and the classroom. Once these have been met, the apprentice becomes a journeyman electrician. Beland began his field hours once he was hired. This is considered his job, and he is paid an hourly wage to work alongside experienced electricians each day.
“Once I got over the shock of getting up at 5 a.m. each day, I’ve loved the work. It’s not easy, but the work is more satisfying than programming. A lot of my family are in the trades and they warned me the job was rugged. It is. I worried about the mindset of the people I worked with, but it has felt natural. I enjoy my co-workers.”
Beland doesn’t regret leaving the desk job. “The pay was nice. But in a few years, I’ll catch up. You can’t put a monetary value on the change. I’m much happier. I work on something like a fire alarm system, and I know I’m doing a small part to save lives, not just sending something into cyberspace.”
The enjoyment translates to the classroom. Starting in the fall of 2021, unlike most electrical companies, P&H has been training its own apprentices through “P&H University.”
The first-year apprentices work during the day on the job site, then two nights a week have their classroom experience, at P&H, taught by P&H electricians. The benefit of this model is that the teachers get to see their students on job sites. The goal is that in four years, P&H will be fully training their apprentices.
Since September, Beland has been taking his coursework under the instruction of Jim Cole, who sees promise in Beland. “Zach is always thinking and analyzing. He asks the most challenging questions, which I appreciate. It’s inspirational to teach when you have students like Zach in the class.”
‘It’s been an adjustment’
The building being constructed is enormous — an Amazon distribution center. Five stories. One of the plumbers inside is Maia Kipp. For a year, the 32-year-old Portsmouth High School graduate has been with Palmer & Sicard of Exeter, one of the largest mechanical contracting companies in New England.
On this day, she has been soldering joints on condensate draining, something she never imagined herself doing when she was a teenager.
“I had a hard time finding what I wanted to do,” she said. Like others, Kipp has adjusted to the hours, out the door each day at 5 a.m. Her day doesn’t always end when she leaves the site. Plumbing school is two nights a week for two and a half hours. She is working on getting as many certifications as possible, which will eventually increase her pay.
“It’s been an adjustment,” Kipp said on her lunch break, talking about how her life has changed since starting her plumbing career. “Finding time to do everything has been a challenge.”
Rob Moore is Kipp’s supervisor and has great things to say about her.
“Maia is consistent. She does good work and never complains. The best part is that she is willing to learn.”
Being a woman in a field that has traditionally been dominated by men is something Kipp is aware of. According to government statistics, about 10 percent of construction workers are female. On her first two job sites, Kipp was the only woman.
“Those were smaller sites. Here, there are 45 women on the site. But all the sites have all been comfortable. People are polite, and everyone is equal.”
Kipp remembers her first day as a plumber. It was at the New Hampshire SPCA in Stratham. “There were so many mixed feelings — excitement that I was starting a new chapter in my book, but nervous, not wanting to be a hindrance and slow the job down. I remember my co-workers were so helpful.”
One of the joys of her new career has been driving by SPCA and knowing she had a hand in something bigger than herself.
“I used to volunteer at the SPCA when I was young, and it was nice to give back to the people and animals. This job is so rewarding. Every day I leave the site and know that I’ve learned something new and challenged myself.”
Patrick McDonough is a third-generation McDonough to attend Central Catholic, and there really wasn’t a question as to which school he would attend. The college-preparatory high school was like a second family to him, literally, as his grandmother worked in the office while he was there.
He participated in football, lacrosse and wrestling, enamored with the camaraderie of a team. When it came time to consider life after high school, he decided on landscape design at the University of New Hampshire.
‘It’s a team, and we all want the job done right,’ said Zach Beland, a soon-to-be electrician at Piquette & Howard Electric Service in Plaistow. ‘I’m told when I make a mistake, but it is in a way that will help me along the way.’ (Photos by Kendal J. Bush Photography)
“The concept of not getting an education was so alien to me, I never considered it an option,” he said recently after a workday that started long before sunrise.
“My parents are both educators, and almost 100 percent of my graduating class was going to college. I thought that higher education was the only route to getting a good-paying job.”
As a young person, McDonough regularly took things apart and tried to put them back together. He loved Legos. Working with his hands was how he spent much of his childhood. Maybe if he was in high school today the next step would have been different, but college was the expectation.
His father, Shawn McDonough, is a teacher at Campbell High School in Litchfield.
“At the time, we felt that college would provide the best opportunity for Patrick. Society seemed to say, ‘Get a degree.’” McDonough attended the Thompson School of Applied Science at UNH and finished the two-year program with a degree in landscape design. He used that degree for a while, but quickly returned to UNH and got a B.A. in psychology. Then there was an assortment of jobs — selling cars, a counselor at a children’s home, and back to landscaping.
“I like to be a lifelong learner and got a lot from these jobs. The mental health field is so difficult these days. And I wasn’t seeing an end result from my work.”
During this time, his mind kept coming back to electrical, whether it was selling electric vehicles at a dealership or the use of electricity in landscaping. After a few jobs in a row when he was doing landscape lighting, he felt like electrical was something he wanted to pursue.
“My grandfather was an electrician, so it was always part of my life. Once when I was young, he was showing me how an electrical outlet worked, and I remember getting zapped.”
During the winter of 2020-21, he researched opportunities and was accepted at P&H, starting in March of 2021. He says it’s the best decision he’s ever made.
“In my other jobs, they would talk about the word ‘team,’ but it really wasn’t. As an apprentice electrician, I’m truly with a team. We need to get the job done together. The foreman wants you to ask questions. If we work together and build each other up, we are going to accomplish our work.”
The elder McDonough agrees. “We are very proud of him and see a difference in him since he started at P&H.”
‘Give it a shot’
Beland, Kipp and McDonough weren’t sure what to expect when they started their trade. But all are pleased with their choice.
“I had the expectation that I’d be on a job site with a foreman yelling, ‘Don’t screw up,’ all day,” Beland said. “But that’s not how it is. It’s a team, and we all want the job done right. I’m told when I make a mistake, but it is in a way that will help me along the way.”
McDonough agreed. “I thought that there wouldn’t be much in the way of safety and that there would be a lot of aggression on the job site. But that’s not how it has been. Safety is the priority here. There have been times when I’ve looked at the assignment and I’ve said, ‘No way is this going to happen, it’s not safe,’ but it’s amazing how many ways there are to be safe and get the job done.”
“Construction sounded scary when I was thinking it over,” Kipp said. “But the support from my co-workers has been great. I thought it would be a more difficult transition. I was sad to leave each job site, because I had a bond with the people I worked with. But then I got to a new site and found another great group.”
All of them agree that they wished they had started earlier and offer that advice to young people.
“Give it a shot,” Kipp said. “I got a late start but know it will work out and 100 percent wish I had started earlier. The past year has been professionally better than the previous 10. It’s exciting, and I thoroughly enjoy the work.”
McDonough wishes he had started when he was out of high school. His father is always communicating the trades as an option to his students at Campbell High School.
“If you are going into high school, find out about your Career Tech Center and visit it. Try it out. There are so many skills that can be learned from Career Tech Education,” said Shawn McDonough.
And to parents of high schoolers, Shawn McDonough hopes that they look honestly at their child.
“Support your kids’ passion. You’ve lived your life, let them live theirs,” he said. “Let them find happiness.”
In schools, guidance counselors hope that students can find a career path sooner rather than later, and the trades are a good partner for that mission.
