As we begin to move toward October and the celebration of our 40 years in business, we plan to have conversations with several of our team leaders. Today, we’re meeting with Kevin Brookshire, our longest tenured teammate, currently. Kevin joined the company in 1994 and will celebrate his 28th anniversary with us in November.
Kevin’s official title is Programmer. He works with temperature controls and building automation. In his day-to-day work he develops applications that control equipment provided by engineering community. Basically, the customer tells him what they want it to do, he makes it happen. This kind of custom programming makes it easy for a building manager to monitor thee facility. He’s as comfortable testing operations as he is meeting with customers.
I asked Kevin about some of the changes he’s seen through the years at ECT. Below are his top answers:
This is the second set of owners of ECT Services.
He has done almost every job there is in the industry. When he started in 1994, he was pulling wire on an installation crew.
He’s seen everything go web-based. Today, customers check systems through a phone/tablet. Technology has gotten more advanced in very quick succession, as it has everywhere. Having remote access makes it easy to monitor for equipment failures. The challenge of this, of course, is always learning new things. In addition, he’s seen changes in security – especially as related to the security of IT infrastructure. “Everything in the world impacts security of products. Complications of network security is a real thing,” he said. The boom of internet has impacted the industry and with everything changing so quickly, this can affect security. Many of his customers want things hard-wired and not web-based… so he’s able to work both ways.
One of the biggest things he looks back on at this anniversary is all of the many personalities he’s known through the years. So many have retired from the industry and as with a lot of related industries, looking for young talent and getting them to stay is a challenge. Today, we need to entice younger people to want to join the construction industry. “There’s a lot of good talent out there,” he said.
“A career is something different than a job,” Kevin said. Being a part of ECT has been a major part of his life. “I’ve had a child and a grandchild all while sitting at the same desk.” What started as a job for Kevin nearly 28 years ago certainly bloomed into a full-fledged career, and more.
