Empowering the Future: Celebrating Our First Scholarship Recipients at WyoTech

Episode 315: This episode announces the recipients of the HDPR scholarship for WyoTech students. Dalton Fisher and Blake Klamm, aspiring diesel technicians, are highlighted for their embodiment of heavy-duty traits. They understand the importance of our industry and are answering the call for more qualified technicians.

We all know the trucking and heavy-duty industry is the backbone of society and there's a growing need for skilled technicians like them. So, to keep our industry strong, we need to equip the next generation to succeed. After all, they are the future of the industry!

Show Notes: Visit HeavyDutyPartsReport.com for complete show notes of this episode and to subscribe to all our content.

Sponsors of this Episode

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Transcript

Jamie Irvine: 0:39

You're listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, jamie Irvin, and this is the place where we have conversations that empower heavy-duty people. Welcome to another episode of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm so glad that you are here today. Today is a very special episode. Not that long ago, we announced that we were going to establish a scholarship to support diesel technicians in the heavy-duty industry, and we were going to that. This day has finally come and we're going to get an opportunity to talk to the students who were awarded these scholarships, really looking forward to getting to know the next generation of diesel technicians who are coming from WyoTech and supported by the Heavy-Duty Parts Reports.

Jamie Irvine: 1:38

Before I introduce the winners of this year's Heavy-Duty Parts Report Scholarship to WyoTech, I wanted to share with you some statistics and some information that might give you insight into the world of diesel technicians. I found this very interesting. So there was this research study that was published on a website called Zipiacom, and all of the sources can be found in the show notes of this episode. So Zipiacom published a research summary where they showed that the average age of diesel technicians is 42.4 years old. 96% of diesel technicians are men, 4% are women. The US technicians are men, 4% are women. The US Labor of Statistics, according to their latest information, in 2022 there were 291,600 diesel technician jobs and between 2022 and 2032, it is predicted that we will need, as an industry, to fill 24,300 openings each year, just to keep up with those that are retiring and or leaving the industry. Now some sources claim that trade schools are only producing about 10,000 technicians a year. I looked for the source and all I could find was one article referencing another article referencing another article, and I couldn't actually get to the bottom of where that statistic came from. So unfortunately, I don't have a source to back up that claim. But let's just say for argument's sake that that is true. It certainly appears on the surface like the struggles to fill these open positions for the diesel technician position is going to be an ongoing struggle for many years to come. But wait, there's more. So if you believe the tenets of Adam Smith, if you believe that, then you know that Adam Smith presented the idea that there never would be a shortage in a free market, because in a free economy, shortages are filled by what he called the invisible hand of the market.

Jamie Irvine: 3:55

At the Heavy-Duty Consulting Corporation, we prepared a presentation for HDA Truck Pride members and we recently attended their annual meeting where we presented this information, and during our preparation for that presentation, we came across some information produced by the Wall Street Journal that I think is really, really encouraging. So, according to the Wall Street Journal, they are dubbing Generation Z, or Gen Z the tool belt generation. The reason they're calling them the tool belt generation is because more students are turning away from college and university degrees and towards apprenticeships than we've had in decades. According to the Wall Street Journal, college enrollment has steadily declined by 15% over the last decade. Demand for trade apprenticeships has boomed. In that same time period, we are seeing an increase of 50% enrollment in apprenticeship programs in that same time period, where colleges and universities have seen a 15% decline. Colleges and universities have seen a 15% decline.

Jamie Irvine: 5:07

So what does this mean for you if you operate a repair shop and you employ diesel technicians, or you operate a fleet and you employ diesel technicians? Well, I kind of look at it in five different things that you need to really think about. So first, you should be targeting kids that are between the ages of 17 and 24 years old right now, because this is the segment of young people that are turning away from college and towards apprenticeship programs, and these are the people that we have to recruit into our industry. We have to compete, so it is very incumbent on you to work with vocational schools in any way that you can. Third, I think that you should be joining mentoring programs. You don't have to run the program, but you should be joining mentoring programs at your local high schools, because you need to develop a relationship with these young kids who are moving towards apprenticeship programs and away from college, university.

Jamie Irvine: 6:05

Now, as I mentioned before, you're going to have to compete hard for these kids because we need to attract them to our industry, and we are competing with industries like electricians, plumbers, carpenters, hvac and welders and, according to the Wall Street Journal, these are the top five trades that this tool belt generation are going towards. Notice, it doesn't say in there that they are going towards becoming diesel technicians, so we need to make them aware of the industry and the opportunities that are in our industry that are unique to us, namely diesel technicians and, of course, parts technicians as well. And the fifth thing I think you need to consider is that the tools required to become a diesel technician are so much more expensive than the tools required to become an electrician, a plumber or an HVAC technician. And so, when you think about competing for these young people who are inclined to go towards the trades, that's something that we're going to have to overcome. You're going to have to get creative on solving that for technicians, and this is something that I think is a real barrier for us in getting those kids to join our industry. So, even if we don't directly employ diesel technicians, at the end of the day, I think we all need to do our part to get more of these kids to join our industry, because we have this need, we have these openings that we have to fill and we have this opportunity that we haven't seen in decades that we have to capitalize on. That's why we decided at the Heavy Duty Parts Report to create an annual scholarship for WyoTech students who are enrolled in the Diesel Technician Program.

Jamie Irvine: 7:50

We're going to take a quick break and when we get back from our break, you're going to hear interviews from the two recipients from this year's scholarship. Both of these young people are really, really impressive, in my opinion. I really, really enjoyed taking the time to interview them and hear their stories, and I think you're going to see that there are some great kids out there that we need to have join our industry. And this is just two examples. So let's take a quick break. When we get back from the break we'll hear those interviews. Are you deferring maintenance because of filter cost or availability? Or, worse yet, are you trading down to no-name filters to try to save a few bucks? Either way, you're rolling the dice. The good news there's a new premium filter option for fleets Hanks Filtration. If you're responsible for a fleet, you won't believe how much using Hanks filters will save you. But you've got to go to heavydutypartsreportcom slash Hanks to find out more. That's heavydutypartsreportcom slash H-E-N-G-S-T. Head there.

Jamie Irvine: 8:54

Now this episode of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report is brought to you by Find it Parts, your ultimate destination for heavy-duty truck and trailer parts. Discover a vast range of parts at finditpartscom. Don't spend hours a day looking for parts. Instead, visit finditpartscom and get them right away. We're back from the break, and before the break I was talking about the interesting statistics related to the diesel technician field, where we're headed right now with this Generation Z, which has been dubbed by the Wall Street Journal the tool belt generation, because they are going towards the trades in record numbers, numbers we haven't seen in decades, and this is creating a big opportunity. But now we need to take some time to get to know the two winners of our first ever annual scholarship for diesel technicians at WyoTech. So my guest first is Dalton Fisher. Now he is a current student at WyoTech. As I said, he's one of the first of two recipients of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report scholarship and he is a future diesel technician. Dalton, welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. Very, very glad to have you here.

Blake Klamm: 10:05

Yeah, thanks for having me y'all.

Jamie Irvine: 10:07

I wanted to talk right off the bat about one of the reasons that we picked you, dalton, and when I looked at your application and for those listening who understand, we had dozens of applicants. This was a tough, tough decision. And, dalton, one of the things that really stood out for me was your clear dedication to becoming a diesel technician Perfect attendance, excellent grades, 91% of the lowest, 98% of the highest. Right now, and I really like what you said about putting yourself into a better lifestyle by pursuing this career. I know myself, when I was first entering heavy duty, I didn't fully appreciate how impactful it was going to be, not only on my career but on my personal life. So I am so glad that you are going to join this industry. So congratulations on being selected for the scholarship. And now I'd like to take a little bit of time to get to know you better. Where are you from originally and what was it like growing up there?

Blake Klamm: 11:04

I'm from a small town in Indiana. It's very, very small so you kind of grew up knowing everybody around there. So there wasn't really not knowing anybody. And in Indiana you got a lot of farmers. So I kind of grew up around all that heavy duty stuff equipment, especially the heavy ag side. My dad was an auctioneer so I was always getting to see constant influx of heavy duty equipment that he was selling all the time. And I also got chances when I was younger that he helped out some local farmers all the time doing running grain beds and stuff like that. So I got to ride in the harvesters and stuff like that all the time. So I was always just kind of around it and that's just kind of how it was just growing up around it all the time. It was pretty laid back all the time.

Jamie Irvine: 11:46

Right and that exposure to the industry is important. I think for a lot of families, if they aren't around it, it's almost like the whole industry is invisible to them, right? Food just shows up at their table and everything they need is there at their disposal, but they don't really think about, like, how did it get there, right? So? So, with your dad being an auctioneer and selling equipment, obviously you have to. Oftentimes you bring in a piece of equipment you're going to sell. You got to fix it up. So was he kind of a do it yourself kind of guy and he had you along with him and he taught you, or, or how did that work?

Blake Klamm: 12:19

Oh, he was a really heavy do it yourself allyourself all the time. Very seldom he had anybody else do the fixing on all of his stuff. I know he did take his semi in a couple of times at the shop so they could do some professional work on it. So it would stay running for quite a long time. And I did get to watch him. I was a flashlight holder so I got the honor of doing that job. That teaches you quite a lot.

Jamie Irvine: 12:38

It sure does, it sure does. So, as you were growing up in that environment, some kids might have said, no, this is not what I want to do. You, on the other hand, were attracted to becoming a diesel technician. Just tell me about why that is.

Blake Klamm: 12:52

I just kind of like working with my hands. I don't think I could see myself working in an office anywhere. I like to be outside. Also, I think the challenge of it there is you're always trying to think outside the box of what could be wrong. Why is it wrong, how do you fix it? And it just kind of keeps changing. I don't want to do the same thing every day, and I think that's really what kind of drives me there, because it's new every day. You don't know what's going to show up and what you're going to do that day.

Jamie Irvine: 13:14

Oh, I agree with that. Now, I've never been a technician on the repair side. The things I genuinely appreciate about the business is there's always something new to learn, there's always a new challenge to try to overcome, and that I find very appealing myself. So tell me something you've been around especially the agriculture side of the business. You've been around that your whole life. But when you think of heavy duty so ag, mining, forestry, trucking, transportation, the whole industry what does heavy duty mean to you?

Blake Klamm: 13:48

I think it really means more of a foundation, because growing up I really didn't understand of how much the world pretty much ran on all this stuff and I think that's something you're not going to be able to get rid of because, if you just look at it, everything that you go to the store it got there from a heavy duty industry.

Jamie Irvine: 14:04

Yeah, no, I agree. I often say that the trucking industry, or, or, and, and heavy equipment as well it's the backbone of society, right. Without it, our whole way of life ends. So let me ask you something. There's many different you know, being a diesel technician there's many different places that you could take your career. When you graduate and you enter the industry and start working, what part of the industry really interests you today? Where do you see yourself going?

Blake Klamm: 14:30

I'm really interested in going into more of the ag and construction side, just because I think it's more of a little bit of a challenge and you kind of get to see a little bit new stuff. I do enjoy working on the over-the-road truck stuff like that, but I'm more of the ag guy and I also am very, very interested in the field service side. I love the shop environment AC, heated, it's real nice but I really like being outside in the elements getting that experience, because they also just make much more money than shop technicians do.

Jamie Irvine: 15:00

Yeah, I know there's a big opportunity there in any of the mobile repair. So we got to get you a truck and we got to get you a truck with a crane because you're going to be working on big, big equipment. Okay, so let me ask you something. You've been at WyoTech a little while now and I'm sure, like when you were thinking about going to this school, you obviously knew you were going to learn a lot about being a diesel technician. But have you learned anything? Or has WyoTech taught you anything about yourself that maybe you didn't know before you got there?

Blake Klamm: 15:31

It did taught me quite a bit about myself. So a little bit going back before this, high school years were kind of rough. I didn't have much of a drive for high school because I didn't enjoy it, but WyoTech really kind of taught me how much I can drive myself and what I'm capable of. Never did I think I would have perfect attendance and a 4.0 GPA, but now that I look at it I'm like dang. I can do some things that I never thought I'd be able to do and I did prove a lot of people wrong and I just think that I learned that so much about myself is that I do have a very high drive for myself because even looking forward into the future, I'm still planning and planning every day of what I want to do and how I'm going to get there, and I always look at every step of how I'm going to get there very in depth and what I need to do to get there, because I do want to get there and nothing's going to stop me.

Jamie Irvine: 16:12

You know, a couple of things come to mind when you say that one never underestimate a man with a plan. And two, I think that sometimes you have good people that are in the wrong environment, right, and you put those good people in the right environment and then they flourish, and I think that's what's happened with you. So we are so happy that you chose to be a diesel technician, that you're going to join our industry. If there's just one thing you want people to remember about Dalton Fisher and this conversation, what's that one thing?

Blake Klamm: 16:43

I wouldn't necessarily be about myself, but I think that people should remember that they should believe in themselves more than the other people believe in them, because I believe if you believe in yourself more than other people, you're going to prove them completely wrong. That is awesome.

Jamie Irvine: 16:55

You've been listening to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm your host, Jamie Irvin. We've been speaking with Dalton Fisher, current student at WyoTech, recipient of the Heavy Duty Parts Report Scholarship and future diesel technician. Dalton, thank you so much for being on the Heavy Duty Parts Report. I really, really hope that one day, when you're working and you're running your own equipment and you're running that mobile truck and you're doing your own thing, you'll come back on the show and tell us how you're doing. So make sure you stay in touch with us.

Blake Klamm: 17:22

Yeah, I really appreciate you letting come on here and I really appreciate your guys' opportunity to let us apply for that scholarship.

Jamie Irvine: 17:28

Dalton Fisher is an oppressive young man. I love his attitude and I feel like he's someone who maybe has been overlooked in the past, but he is ready to prove to people that he has more to give. This is a young man with a plan and I think he's going to be very successful in our industry and I think he's got a lot more to give than some people maybe have given him credit for in the past. So we look forward to seeing what Dalton does when he becomes a heavy-duty diesel technician. My second guest today is Blake Clam. Now he also is a current student at WyoTech and one of the two recipients of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report Scholarship, and also will be a future diesel technician. Blake, welcome to the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. Very glad to have you here, sir.

Dalton Fisher: 18:16

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Jamie Irvine: 18:18

So I wanted to explain to the audience the reason that we picked you, blake. To explain to the audience the reason that we picked you, blake, I really felt in your application that, first of all, you didn't go into a lot of in-depth detail about all the reasons why you yourself would qualify. You really focused on this one thing that got my attention. You said America needs diesel techs right now and that's why I'm here at this school. When I saw that I just thought to myself here is a young man who understands the importance of our industry and, almost like you were responding to a call to action to stand up and take responsibility for this in your own individual way, and to me that's just a very, very important character, part of your character that really came through in your application. So congratulations on being selected for the first ever Heavy Duty Parts Report Scholarship.

Dalton Fisher: 19:15

Yeah, thank you.

Jamie Irvine: 19:15

All right, let's get to know you a little better. I got the same set of questions as we just asked Dalton. Let's start. Where are you originally from and what was it like growing up there?

Dalton Fisher: 19:24

I'm from a small town in Montana it's called Mile City, grew up wrenching on the cars with dad and grandpa and, you know, learned lots from them and I always thought it was interesting and, you know, even though I was mainly just a flashlight holder for a while but I don't know how to say it I guess you know I just enjoyed being there and, you know, spending time with dad and grandpa, so that was, you know, little. And then got to high school and I met one of my now one of my best buddies there. Now got to work out on the farm with him. His dad's got this little business going and we run a pellet mill out there so we make like feed and all kinds of fun stuff. So that involves, you know, do all the farm stuff.

Dalton Fisher: 20:00

So you know, run the tractors, you break the tractors, you learn how to work on them and you know it's always it's like a never ending cycle. So I always, you know, learned a lot out there and I love to learn something different every day. I mean it's never the same out there. One day you're in the shop working on something and the next year out in the field trying to fix something. I mean, you know, everybody wants to be successful and I wanted to be successful and do something that I enjoy doing at the same time, so that you know I wouldn't burn out after a while, or whatever. You know, it just seems to go together for me.

Jamie Irvine: 20:35

And having a career that is not only interesting but also is meaningful. I think that adds something to your overall outlook on life, and I think it adds something to your overall outlook on life and I think it adds something to your life. I mean, let's face it, we all spend a large portion of our life working. You might as well do something that you enjoy and that is meaningful. Just quick question what's the most favorite car you've ever worked on with your dad and grandpa?

Dalton Fisher: 20:59

Well, dad's got a 1966 Mercury Comet and he's got a long story with that and it was mainly dad and grandpa that kind of built that car and that's dad's car. Yeah, and then me and grandpa. So we took an old 302 out of a fox body mustang and we put it in a 90s ford ranger. Okay, me and grandpa have been working on that one. It's still kind of a work in progress and, yeah, that thing's scary, but that one's probably it's either between the comet or the ranger.

Jamie Irvine: 21:31

Honestly, yeah, I can, uh, I can appreciate that um one of one of my buddies he took. He took a v8 engine and he put it in a datson like an s5 or something. It's one of the old 70s cars. The car weighs like I don't remember like 1600 pounds, but it's rear-wheel drive and so he had a four-cylinder originally and he stuffs a v8 in it and that thing was scary to be in but it was a lot of fun. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about specifically what attracted you to becoming a diesel technician.

Dalton Fisher: 22:03

Always you know, had the thing for diesel pickups, yeah, and got out onto the farm. You know, everything out there's diesel all the tractors and the front end loader and the telehandlers. I mean it's all diesel. So I learned how to work on all that stuff and I don't know. It's just diesels, just like it.

Jamie Irvine: 22:18

You don't need a better answer than that, my friend.

Dalton Fisher: 22:20

You just like it and that's what you want to do, no problem just the heavy duty side of things, just being the bigger person on the road, I guess, or, you know, just running this great, big, massive piece of equipment out in the field. I mean it's just, it's just fun running a truck down the road. I mean, whatever it may be, it's just diesel, you know.

Jamie Irvine: 22:37

It's funny. It's funny because, you know, I, I you say that and I get it and our audience will understand completely, but when you really think about it, there's a lot of people out there that they just never had any exposure to it and maybe they would love it, but they've just never had the opportunity and they've never even thought of it. When you think of the heavy-duty industry as a whole, though, you talked about how America needs it, so you already understand that it's the kind of like the bedrock of society. Let's talk about when you graduate, where you want to take your career, what aspect of diesel, you know. Do you want to be a diagnostic technician? Do you want to specialize in driveline or engine rebuilding, or like, where do you want to take this?

Dalton Fisher: 23:18

I don't really have a specific category. I guess that I want to go here, but I was kind of looking into the oil and gas side of the industry and if I don't end up doing that, I'm probably just going to go back and keep doing all the farm work stuff.

Jamie Irvine: 23:32

All right. Well, you've got a plan. You know you've got a couple options in front of you. That's great. You've been at WyoTech a little while now. What have you learned about yourself by coming to WyoTech? Or what has WyoTech taught you kind of about yourself that you didn't know before you got here?

Dalton Fisher: 23:47

It's kind of a little background. You know, I go to work and there's guys there that have been there forever and they know everything they're doing and I go do something and I mess it up. It makes me feel kind of stupid, right? Well, coming here to Wild Tech makes, you know, kind of open my eyes up, Like you know they understand it because I've done it so many times. But now that I'm here learning, it's not like it's that far out there like I can do this type of thing. I guess it's kind of like what he was saying you can believe in yourself and you can do way more than you'd expect yourself to be able to so, would you say.

Jamie Irvine: 24:17

It's fair to say that since you've gotten here, you've realized maybe you have more potential than you even knew. Yeah, for sure. Well, I think people who meet you would probably know that right off the bat, because I have only talked to you for a few minutes and we met a little bit before and I can say that I think you're a young man with a lot of potential. If you want people to just remember one thing about Blake Clam, what's that one?

Dalton Fisher: 24:43

thing, Not necessarily me personally, but to have the mindset that not everything's going to come in one day. You got to have the drive. You know, keep all the hard work going. It's not all just going to show up on your doorstep after a couple of days of doing it. You got to be persistent, keep learning, try to learn something every day. You know, keep your nose in the book. Whatever you want to say, I mean, you got to just keep going.

Jamie Irvine: 25:05

I agree with that. Life takes hard work, but with persistence and determination and hard work, it's amazing what you can accomplish. Sometimes I've heard people talk about what they want to accomplish in a year and they totally overestimate what's possible in a year, but they underestimate what's possible in 10 years. And so having that long range view and having a path and being determined, that is recipe for success for you, my young friend. So I'm very, very happy that you're able to be awarded the scholarship. Like I said, blake Clam is a current student at WyoTech, he is a recipient of the Heavy Duty Parts Report Scholarship and he is a future diesel technician. Blake, thank you for taking time to be on the show today and sharing your story. I really appreciate it.

Dalton Fisher: 25:51

Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate being here as well.

Jamie Irvine: 25:53

I'm sure you'll agree with me that Blake is also an impressive young man and I really liked how, at such a young age, he really gets the role our industry plays in society, why it's so important.

Jamie Irvine: 26:05

I hope that you enjoyed this week's interviews and this special episode where we have announced our first annual scholarship for diesel techs who are attending WyoTech. The Heavy-Duty Parts Report is very proud to set up this annual scholarship and we're looking forward to giving this scholarship every year for many years to come, and I hope also that we've inspired you to get involved, because we need to all do our part to get this tool, belt generation to look at becoming either a diesel tech or a parts tech as a legitimate option and for them to join our industry. We're going to conclude this week's episode with another edition of that's Not Heavy Duty. In this week's edition of that's Not Heavy Duty, I want you to listen to or watch, if you're watching, the video version to this video from a TikToker named at Jack Spanners. Now he is a heavy-duty technician and he tells a very interesting story about his experience as a young apprentice. Listen in to Jack Spanner's story.

@jackspanners: 27:16

I used to work with a similar bloke. He used to f*** with me all the time back when I was an apprentice. I mean he used to hit my elbows and knees with a wire brush. I remember this particular time. He knew I didn't have knee pads in. I was laying back checking some wheels with my knees pointed up, and he come round and whacked me on the knee and there must have went in a couple of mil into my knee as he pulled it out and it got infected and I had a rough knee for about two weeks.

@jackspanners: 27:42

I used to do this f***ing weird thing as well. He'd come up behind you if you were sat in the tea room or something, and he'd bite the back of your neck. Sounds a bit homoerotic, doesn't it? But he'd leave you looking like you've got a love boat and he'd say f***, try explaining that to the missus. It's just you know.

@jackspanners: 27:57

Anyway, it came to a head one time. So all the lads are out the back and there's nothing to do. We're all smoking out the back. Something got said and he chased me around this caddy van and after a few circuits I thought he ain't giving up. And you could see in his eyes he wanted to f***ing hurt me. But at that point I think I was about 18, 19, and I'd been doing MMA, judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu for quite some time and I was f***ing good at it. Anyway, I just stopped running as he come to me, I swept him, him, lay him on the ground, sat on his chest and started smacking his face, said what you're gonna do now, old timer, and all the lads you know all the lads were laughing and he got brushed off. But he never challenged me again and subsequently, uh, unfortunately just moved on to the other apprentices.

@jackspanners: 28:44

But the thing is they're in every shop and I'll tell you now, you with me a lot, but that bloke taught me a hell of a lot. That's the thing. I used to kind of look at it as like intellectual theft. He didn't like me very much, I certainly didn't like him, but he was forced to teach me everything he knew. It was like you know who got the better deal? You know what I mean. I gave him nothing and he taught me my craft. So you know, I'll put up with a. So you know, I'll put up with a bit with him until I couldn't put up with any more. It's just, you know, it's character building. At the end of the day, some of it's banter, but it does turn into bullying.

Jamie Irvine: 29:22

Does this resonate with you? I know, I know that the past generations, I know that they bullied the baby boomers and then the baby boomers bullied the Gen Xers and millennials, and I know that that is oftentimes just part of the culture of the whole trades and apprenticeship, and it's not just in our industry. This is definitely something I saw in the contracting world as well. I know, I know, I know as heavy-duty people we need to be resilient and I certainly know that a little bit of lighthearted teasing is completely appropriate. And you know, kids are just going to have to deal with that. It's part of being an apprentice, it's part of learning.

Jamie Irvine: 30:04

But this kind of of extreme bullying, this kind of physical altercations, this is not heavy duty, this is not what we want to do. And if we are going to act like that, guess what? If we're going to act like that, these kids are not going to put up with it. They have a lot of options. There is so few of them available to us that we are all in the trades competing for these young, talented people to join our industry, and if we're going to mistreat them, we're going to lose them. That's just the way it is. So we got to change our mindset. If you're in this mindset, you need to really take a look in the mirror and ask yourself what have you been doing that is contributing to people leaving the industry? And if the answer is that you've been doing something that is contributing to people leaving the industry? And if the answer is that you've been doing something that is contributing to people leaving the industry, that's not heavy duty. You need to change your attitude, you need to change your behavior. And for the rest of us who aren't geared that way we don't necessarily bully people when we see it. We got to call it out. And again, I am not saying that there isn't room for a little bit of lighthearted teasing, for a bit of camaraderie to develop over time, and certainly if we screw up when we're young and we have to learn the hard way, a little bit of tough talk is not what I'm talking about here. I am talking specifically about the kind of physical bullying that at Jack Spanners calls out in this video. Did you notice, though, his attitude towards the end? He recognized that, even though he experienced this kind of bullying, he's the one that actually benefited because he stuck with it. That is a heavy duty, resilient man that we should all be proud to have in our industry. All right.

Jamie Irvine: 31:48

So thank you so much for listening to this week's episode where we get to have in our industry All right. So thank you so much for listening to this week's episode where we get to announce this annual scholarship. It's so awesome. And thank you very much for your ongoing support of the Heavy-Duty Parts Report. I'm excited to announce that I'm going to be attending Diesel Connect, which is sponsored and put on by Full Bay in the Phoenix area in May, and they've invited me to be a speaker. I'm going to be talking about what it takes to go from a repair center to a parts and service center and how to actually make that transition. Very excited about giving that presentation. So if you're a repair shop owner or you operate a repair shop, you should seriously consider attending Diesel Connect this year. Head over to fullbaycom slash diesel connect to buy tickets and I will see you there.

Jamie Irvine: 32:38

If you haven't already, head over to heavydutypartsreportcom and follow the show for free. Sign up to our weekly email. We'll send you one email a week keeping you up to date with all the content that we've created. If you listen on a podcast player of your choice. Make sure you give us a five-star rating and a review If they give you that option. I heard that that helps us grow the show and we'd appreciate your support. If you like watching the video version, hit the subscribe button on YouTube and hit that bell notification so you never miss out. Thanks again for listening and, as always, I want to encourage you to be heavy duty.