NICK DOPJUDA: MY JOURNEY

Project Executive Southland Industries

I started in the sheet metal industry in 1981 when my brother-in-law, who was in the trade, encouraged me to take the apprenticeship test. I knew absolutely nothing about sheet metal and thought it had more to do with auto body and fender work until I showed up for the apprenticeship test, where there were over 600 applicants and only 25 would be accepted into the program.

I started my apprenticeship while attending Cal State Fullerton studying business communication. The plan was to work in the trade during the day and attend apprenticeship classes and my college degree classes at night. As soon as I started, I realized that the sheet metal industry offered exactly what I was looking for in endless career opportunities. The pay was around $7/hour for apprentices at the time, which included medical and a thing called a “pension”. I decided to put my college schooling on hold and to go all in, and I’ve never looked back. I proudly finished my four years of apprenticeship by graduating No. 1 in our class, and somehow, here I am still in the industry over 40 years later.

I’ve always been mechanically inclined, but one thing I really enjoyed was the physical work and constant challenges of our industry. I’ve been fortunate to have worked for a company like Southland Industries that allowed me the opportunity to participate in some of the most challenging and complex projects around the country. I found it interesting and rewarding to work with such a diversified group of people. There are sheet metal workers who go back generations as well as professional engineers and owners.

I started my apprenticeship working for ACR Mechanical and stayed there 11 years. ACR was a company that took great pride in mentoring and investing in its people and became a breeding ground for some of the top individuals in the sheet metal industry. My next opportunity came over 25 years ago with Southland Industries working on large scale commercial HVAC. As I explain the scale of this work to others, I note: “You know that little air-conditioning unit you might find on a side of a house? Our AC equipment is the size of the house.”

The sheet metal industry is hard work. I equate it to a “full court press” in basketball, when you play both offense and defense with no chance to rest in between. You have to be on your game and up to the challenge, and you must dedicate yourself fully, as many people don’t make it.

I always kept my head down and worked hard. I was never trying to make a statement. I was told by my mentors that you can’t learn while your mouth is moving. My daily goal was to always work harder than the next guy, and eventually I worked my way up through the organization.

I started as a hand detailer before CAD, which was a real craftsman’s position, and then went on to foreman, superintendent, and construction/operations manager. When I retire this year, it will be from the position of project executive, which means I work directly with customers and owners to provide executive level representation and to ensure the company is meeting the customers goals and expectations.

I have been involved with Locals 420/102/105 (trustee and executive board) and SMACNA SoCal (director) for the past 30 years. Positive labor-management relationships are so important because we have common goals and interests. The success of our industry comes down to the cooperation of both labor and contractors; one does not survive without the other. I have seen a lot of situations where labor and management do not cooperate, and in those cases, we fail by not focusing on the long-term prosperity for each other and our industry.

I came to the SMACNA SoCal board from the labor side, so I tried to bring unbiased fairness to the table. Labor and management had their sides, and I was that person in the middle who tried to bring sensibility and balance and what I thought was fair. Without balance, the whole thing leans left and right and doesn’t work well. The gears aren’t engaged. I always felt like Local 105 and SMACNA had an unwritten agreement to do the best thing for our industry.

Embrace your choice to be in the sheet metal industry, and be passionate about it. Don’t make it work—make it a career. You have to be all in. Everyone wants to feel like what they do counts and matters. If you feel that passionate about something, the rest falls into place. If it doesn’t count and matter, then you just have a job. ▪