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But speaking of students let's say you're at conferences with the people that are hiring and bringing on these students.
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So if some- if a student's listening, I think they're thinking a few things.
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One, AI is eating the entry level positions potentially, industry's shifting a lot.
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Is it safe to go in? And then also, like, what are people looking for, these, these executives? So maybe you could share a little bit about advice for, uh, some students that are thinking about making a career out of this.
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First off, we already kinda hit on it, we need people.
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Yeah.
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So the first thing that I like to say is construction is cool.
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Go tell all your friends, because we- Yeah we'd love to have you all.
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And uh, and it's purposeful, it's fun, it's ever-changing, it's challenging.
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Construction's an awesome industry.
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So first off, there's that.
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For the, uh, for the fear that maybe AI is starting to eat into some of the entry level stuff, one of, one of the things on that rules list, AI is not gonna replace you, but someone who knows how to use it will.
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Just get good at using it.
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Get...
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The prompt engineering is a real thing.
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Like, asking the right questions of AI means a lot.
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And so get good at using AI and it, it will help you immensely, uh, as you, as you talk to those entry level stuff.
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But really, it, right now, when it comes to our industry we need the people, and we're willing to work with you, challenge you, give you opportunities, and uh, and I couldn't be more excited about the level of opportunity that's out there for a student that wants to come into the construction industry.
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Whether you're coming from college in a degree for an enginee- more of an engineering role, or whether you're coming straight out of high school and you wanna be a superintendent, a foreman, some- out in the field, like, we got room for you either way What about the techies that wanna s- that wanna get into the data side, like the- Mm wanna work at Procore, something like that that are students,
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they're in comp sci programs.
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Do we...
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How do you attract them into the industry, or? Oh, that's a really good question.
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I think, again, part of that goes back to getting good at AI and understanding AI.
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And the other part, I think, g- goes to being curious about alternative topics and industries.
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Because if you get super laser focused on just the data or the, the software or the, even the, the math side of the house when it comes to the algorithms, if you get really focused in on that and you don't see the bigger picture of what you're trying to solve for...
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get curious about the industry.
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Go to a con- a construction conference.
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See if you can visit a job site with, uh, with the engineering department at the school that you're at.
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Or just read up on the industry at large on, on things like ENR and Construction Dive and, and other places, because the context is huge in this industry.
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I was having a conversation with someone else this morning about how, like the sequencing of the schedule, they're thinking about robotics when it comes to certain tasks on the job site, but they're assuming a flat concrete floor has already been installed, and they don't realize that the, the slab on grade pad inside a building isn't necessarily there when the roof is getting hangers on it.
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Sometimes that is last because they're doing in-floor recesses and things like that.
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The concrete, you're not always gonna have a flat concrete surface.
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That context is huge in whatever you're trying to build technologically.
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And so get curious about the industry All right.
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I love that.
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It makes me feel like I should start a job board or something on our podcast- Yeah to attract these people.
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Um, one other question for the students, and maybe even younger than college students, uh, you were told that you weren't smart enough to be an engineer.
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You opened up with that.
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Like, what do you tell that kid now that's struggling with that? Oh.
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The for me it was a comparison thing.
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Someone else had gone off and flunked out that was way smarter than me in high school, and so they were assuming that I was gonna flunk out, too, right? What I would tell you is you are you.
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You're not someone else.
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You're not someone else's experience.
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You're not someone else's learning abilities.
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You're not someone el- You are you.
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You know what you're willing to put in.
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You know what you're willing to study.
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You know the effort that you're willing to give it.
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And so don't let comparison steal your joy Yeah.
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That's great advice.
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And I I tend- I believe...
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On the...
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I'll just add to this point a little bit.
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I I had an interesting track because I actually started in, like, special education, the bottom.
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And then I also ended up in the honors program.
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So I've seen both- Both ends sort of remedial education all the way through the, like, highest level of, honors.
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Because I was sort of, like, not neurotypical or whatever.
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I don't know.
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Long story short, what I learned from that was that th- there's a lot more about just the crew that you're running with than your own- internal capabilities.
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There are very few people, in my estimation, that aren't smart enough to be an engineer.
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I think a lot of times if you feel like you're not smart enough for something, it might just be that you're not put into the right stream of people, because people move together.
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And so sometimes it's just a matter of saying, like, yeah, you, if you hang out with people that are smart enough, you might notice that there's no magic to it.
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They're just do- Yeah they just have different habits than you, and they believe in themselves.
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And then if you go to another group, like a remedial group, maybe they don't believe in themselves, and they have a
habit of not believing in themselves.
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Like, yeah, you're not gonna achieve things.
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So I, I believe people are actually, uh...
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There was something that said, uh, "Genius is as common as dirt," was a quote somebody gave, which is like everybody is incredibly, exceptionally smart.
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And I think that people say, "Oh, you can't be smart enough for something," I think generally they're wrong.
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And I think there's really great ways that, you know, younger folks can, like, get smart at stuff.
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I think people have incredible potential.
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I think anyone can be an engineer.
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Yeah.
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I love that.
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Yeah.
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I couldn't agree more.
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Yep.
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So just kind of wrapping up here with some takeaways, what kind of books would, you know, really spoke to you? Other podcasts, where obviously The Engineered Life is a great one.
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Or other people that you follow, associations.
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Like, what advice do you have for people for some ways to explore more some of these concepts you've learned? Yeah.
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So I have a couple of really great books.
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I, I already mentioned Extreme Ownership.
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That's a pretty good one.
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My...
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probably my favorite book to recommend to people is, uh, Leadership and Self-Deception.
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And it- Mm has to do with, uh, with your role in, uh, in what could be a problem state.
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And so there are sever- several examples in the book, uh, but the easiest one is like baby starts crying in the middle of the night.
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You wake up.
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Your wife's not getting out of bed yet.
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And you aren't getting out of bed yet.
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You're kinda waiting on each other, right? And so you're thinking in your mind, "I've gotta do this tomorrow, I've gotta do that tomorrow, I've gotta do this.
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Doesn't she understand? Doesn't it..."
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You're kinda raising yourself up while putting them down.
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Like, "Why don't they get this? Why don't they...
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They don't have as much work to do or whatev-" Right? Yeah.
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And so you're deceiving yourself about how good of a person you are and how terrible, and now you're blaming them for not...
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Whereas if you would've just gotten up at the sound of the cry, it would've been over already, right? And so that's just one, like, real small example from the book, but it's an incredible book about how problems really start based on your actions, not someone else's.
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That is an interesting book Yeah And then any podcasts that you follow or associations that you really- Yeah think are pretty awesome? And maybe- So- conferences too that y- Well- Since you're the man.
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There's a lot of those.
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So I came up on Construction Brothers, so Eddie and Tyler Campbell, still one of my all-time favorites.
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The Contact Crew was one that I, I kinda grew up with as well.
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There are so many podcasts out there, it's really not hard.
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But there's this one called the Megaprojects Podcast.
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I would really recommend that one.
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It's super good.
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The host is, is a lot of fun, and, uh, and does a great, great job with it.
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And then, um, as far as conferences associations I, I've been a part of a lot of them.
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ASPE as an estimator, CMAA, COA Curt.
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There's, again, there's a lot out there, DBIA.
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It kinda depends on what your role is in construction and what makes sense.
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There are tons of great ones.
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I, I would kinda ask around your peer group, back to the people you follow in your peer group.
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See what they're up to and who they're listening to.
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But don't just use that, right? Also do a little bit of searching so that you can expand.
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Be curious about the rest of the industry.
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And then when it comes to conferences, man, there are so many to name, but a lot of those that we just talked about, those associations have their own conferences.
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Curt, DBIA's got multiple.
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COA, CMAA's- CMAE got multiple.
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Yeah.
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AACE.
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Yep.
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There, there are so many different conferences out there that, uh, that you're hard-pressed to not find one.
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My favorite two the one that happens yearly that I really love is Western Winter Workshop.
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It's more networking than conference, which is why I like it.
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And then the one that happens every three years is ConExpo, and it's like the world on steroids for construction.
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100,000 people descend on Las Vegas.
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It only happens every- Yeah three years.
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It can be overwhelming, but if you have the week to spend there, man, can you see some cool stuff, learn some neat things and meet some great people Thanks for those recommendations.
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And then oh, I just wanted to add one little note on that book you mentioned.
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Mm-hmm you know, it reminded me of another book The The The Courage To Be Disliked.
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Oh, yes.
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Which is an...
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it's, it's on Adlerian psychology, which is, like, sort of an offshoot.
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Freud, uh, had a friend, Adler, and...
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Anyway, The Courage To Be Disliked is an interesting psychology book, but it talks about how people tend to, like you were saying on your book they believe they change the way they perceive things to achieve whatever their goals are, basically.
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And so it's kind of like lying to yourself and anyway, that's, uh, just another way to go down that rabbit hole as well.
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Tell us about your podcast.
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Why did you start it? Oh, good question.
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So a couple of years ago, I started a blog.
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It's been a, a little over a year and a half now.
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And, uh, and the reason I started the blog, like, I wrote an article for the company that I worked for, and marketing loved it, and then put it on a shelf.
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And it s- sat on the shelf for, like, nine months, and I was like, "But it's so...
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It's...
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Like, I wanna say this to people."
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So I finally came to the conclusion over a Christmas holiday that I was just gonna...
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I wanted to publish it myself, which means I needed a place to put it, which led to a blog.
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And so I asked if I could have it back, if I could publish it myself, and they were totally fine with that, so I started the blog.
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And after a year of talking at people, I was like, "This...
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I don't like this.
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I don't wanna just talk at people.
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I wanna talk with people.
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I wanna-" Yeah share stories with people.
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I wanna learn from people."
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And that's what led to the podcast.
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And so this year, it transitioned from the blog that it was last year to a podcast.
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We're now dating it...
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I'm dating this episode, but we're recording, this is August, so we're, I'm eight months in to, uh, to having it as a podcast, and it's been a lot of fun.
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I've learned a ton.
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I'm meeting great new people.
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And, uh, and the whole point of the show, the purpose of the show is to talk about someone who has a unique gift when it comes to construction.
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Mm-hmm.
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Whether that be reading contracts, whether it be understanding data, whether it be developing technology.
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And to walk through the journey, like how they found that gift, but at the end, kind of the twist is this isn't a superpower or a unique ability like invisibility or super strength that only one person can have.
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Yeah.
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This is a practical thing that you could go implement tomorrow to make your project better.
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And so every episode ends with some practical takeaways that should help the individual make their next project a little bit better.
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So that's the goal.
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Wow.
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We'll include links to your podcast, of course, on the website and down below so anybody listening to this can, uh, you know, hit the website button and queue up an episode of The Engineer Life Enginerd Life.
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Yeah.
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Um, that sounds great.
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That's good Uh, yep, just make your project a little bit better every day by listening to an episode.
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AJ, thanks for joining us, sharing your expertise, offering up your podcast.
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In s- if the audience wants to find out more about you, is LinkedIn the best way to connect? Yep.
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Yeah, I would reach out on LinkedIn.
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I'm open to messages all the time.
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I love to hear from people.
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I'll respond as fast as I can, so it's usually less than a few days.
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But yeah, hit me up on LinkedIn, AJ Waters, super simple.
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AJ, thanks so much for taking the time to join today.
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Really appreciate it.
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Thank you, Orion.
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This was awesome.
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You did a great job.
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I love your podcast, and I'm super excited to be a part of it.