Speaker: Drew, Certified Quality Control Technician, Northeast Paving
What is your name and what do you do for work?
Drew: My name is Drew Renfro and I work for Northeast paving, um, which is a part of Euro via atlantic coast, and I work in our quality control department. Um I test and make sure we are maintaining a quality, hot mix asphalt product, which is what we use to pay roads, bridges and highways. Um I also work on our community connections team and and president of our emerging Leaders Network.
How did you get into your current role? Consider schooling, training, and experience
Drew: I got into my current role on accident. Um, so my background is in state and local politics, communications, um, brand recognition. And um, I started my own business in 2018 and unfortunately it didn't survive covid. Um, but I still needed to pay my bills and wanted to have enough free time to work on my own side projects. So I applied for quality control technician And within about seven months I was ready to take the test to be a certified lab technician and uh, I failed the first time, but they let you take it again and I passed with an 87 the second time. So, um, that's how I got into the position that I'm at now.
What is the most rewarding aspect of the job?
Drew: hmm. I would say the most rewarding aspect of the job is the independence. So as a quality control technician, I don't really have a home base. I mean, I mainly work in this laboratory just because it's close to home. But um I usually go where the work is and I don't really have a lot of supervision Once you're certified, I just go where I need to be need to go. And that could be all the way up in Northfield or Walpole, new Hampshire or Chicopee or Springfield massachusetts. So, um, I like the Independent and I like that. It's more of a cerebral part of construction. Um, it's a lot of analytics. It's a lot of studying bulk densities and maximum specific gravity's and air voids and liquid asphalt content. And I like to do that. So it's it's construction. But all of your work is done, you know, between your ears. It's not so much done with your hands. Um Not to say you don't do any work with your hands. You do enough. But I think those are the aspects I like about the job the most
What is the biggest challenge for someone in your line of work?
Drew: I'd say that I'd say the toughest. Um I'd say the biggest challenge of what I do is limiting factors. So there's so many factors into making a good quality, hot mix asphalt product. Um You don't know if your sample was taken wrong, you don't know if somebody's doing something different at the plant. You don't know if uh, something, someone's doing different on the roads at the, at the job site. So it's very important that I do every test the same so that I could limit factors as much as possible and can make decisions as quick as possible. Um, A a mistake in the lab can cost the country, the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially, depending on the size of the job that we're doing. Um So it's very important that I limit, I limit the factors that could go wrong and I pay attention to potential, um issues early. Um So it's, it's, there's, there's some pressure to the job and that's a little bit challenging. That's, if you're not ready for it, but I like it. Um Also early mornings, very early mornings. If you're not a morning person, it's a tough industry to be a part of
What is your advice for students thinking about entering this field?
Drew: I think it's a tremendous opportunity to get into the industry right now. There's, you know, the next 5 to 6 years is a tremendous amount of people who are retiring or qualified to to retire. And there's a strong need for a new influx of youth and new ideas into this industry, particularly with quality control. The science is only 15 to 20 years old. Um it's exciting and that there's so much innovation to be had. So, I mean, just within a few years ago, we discovered that putting paper products into our hot mix, asphalt makes it not only stronger, but we are able to use less liquid asphalt. Um, Different rubber particles were starting to put in mixes. Now there's so much room uh, to innovate in this new science of road paving that is um that is, yeah, that we need new minds for. So I think, I think it's a great opportunity and also the flexibility. I mean, you can take this, these skills that you learned and go wherever road paving is a thing. So I think there's a lot of flexibility and opportunity in my industry right now and I highly suggest it
