Finding Your Own Path with Victor Slagle - U.S. Steel- UPI

 In this episode we welcome Victor Slagle, a former steelworker from US Steel- UPI. His journey demonstrates the power of education, perseverance, and adaptability. After spending three and a half years working in the mill and experiencing both the tragic loss of a mentor and the closure of his workplace, Victor chose to view uncertainty as an opportunity for growth. Using the ICD benefit to support his educational goals, he continued pursuing his passion for engineering, eventually transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied Civil and Environmental Engineering. Victor shares how his hands-on experience in the trades helped shape his academic path, the importance of lifelong learning, and why developing new skills is essential in an ever-changing workforce. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to your favorite podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Van Dyke, with Success with ICD. And I am here with a friend of mine who we've emailed back and forth with things that he's wanted to do. He's from the sunny side, California. And he has taken his life from something awful. I shouldn't say, well, it is kind of awful. And he turned it into something different. So to my guest, will you please introduce yourself to the podcast world?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Hi everyone, I'm Victor Slegel. Thanks for having me on the podcast, Jenny. I'm so happy to be here. Yeah, so uh currently I'm a senior uh at UC Berkeley studying civil and environmental engineering. And I started there after the mill I worked at USS EPI uh shut down uh end of 2022, I believe. Uh so yeah, since then I've uh I was a steel worker for three and a half years, and uh when they closed, I made the career transition. And I've actually been in college for more or less about uh the last 10 years. So I do consider myself like a lifelong learner.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Which that's something that we're definitely gonna hit on, but let's go back to the beginning. So you weren't a steel worker for that long when UPI closed. How long were you how long were you at that facility?

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Um I was there for three and a half years. I started in uh during COVID around 2020, I believe. Okay. Um, but after the mill closed, I was still there for a couple months doing my fire watch.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Now, what did you do before you became a steel worker?

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Uh I really not like any career-wise. I had like small jobs of like you know, cashier here or like work at an auto shop. But that was like my first field job.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

What made you want to okay? So you kind of bounced around trying to figure out maybe what you like to do, where you weren't like not quite sure what your passion was?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Uh I actually started uh they had an electrical trade program at the junior college near where I lived, and I'd actually started that when I was still in high school. So during nights, you know, four days a week, 6 to 10 p.m. I'd go there and learn like ACDC circuits and just basic electrical stuff. Uh so by the time I finished that, I was probably like a year and a half, two years out of high school.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

So there wasn't a large gap between that and my start at the mill.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I was one of the younger people there.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So for our audience listening, he's a youngin'. So you so you were at the junior college, you took a couple of classes, and then after you were done, you completed that course. Did you go to the mill right away, or did you try a couple of things beforehand, trying to figure out what to use your kind of degree with? What was that journey like? What brought you to the mill?

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Uh so funny enough, in the program that I went to was actually started at the mill by US Steel. Okay. So it was an initiative they had probably, you know, 30, 40 years ago where they didn't have enough like technical capacity or you know, people with the knowledge to do like troubleshooting that they needed there. So they started a program where people from the community can come in and learn those skills. It was originally developed to be taken by the workers there, but they later expanded it and made the program at the college. Uh, so a lot of my professors were actually people who had worked at the mill, and I'd even sat at the same desk a lot of them worked at and had the same jobs as them.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Really?

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Definitely really close ties uh the company had with the program.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

But I applied to probably you know 10, 12 places, and they got back to me in like 20, 30 minutes, and how was it?

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Oh, see, okay. So it was kind of like your start right away, the with the mill.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yeah, it worked out really well.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Okay. So after you did you have to apply, or did you kind of get grandfathered in because of the skills that you learned through all of these former steel workers?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Uh they do have uh like a bench test and a written test.

unknown 4:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

That was where a lot of people dropped out. It's if you didn't really have like super specific industry knowledge, it would be hard to pass that test if you didn't take the program.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Okay. So you you had the knowledge and the skills to take that test. You passed it, apparently. Somehow you passed it. And then when you started the mill, when you started to actually work at the mill, what was that experience like? Because you went from kind of high school to the classroom to this major factory job. So, how was that transition?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

It was kind of unreal. Just if you've ever been to one of those facilities, just gigantic over a thousand acres. Well, no, some of them are way bigger than that. Uh just big machinery in a total industrial environment. And I really liked it.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

You know, my my father, he he worked in industry for about 35 years or so at an oil refinery in uh Martinez.

unknown 5:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So I kind of have like a little background, at least like a lot of my family has experience in industry. So that it wasn't totally unfamiliar.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

But I I did I did like it. Not so much the like the noise and the chemicals and all the the hazards.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, the dangerous part, not so much, but what what made you like the job? Um was it challenging? Was it the people?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

The people were great. I I do love like STEM, so like science, technology, engineering, math. So but did like instrumentation a lot of the time and like troubleshooting. So working with like automated systems and just the real technical stuff. I was always learning, always uh troubleshooting. Sometimes it's frustrating, you're out in a job for you know a day or two, you got to go home defeated. Uh those times where you you know come in in the middle of the night and save the day.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Okay. So every day was kind of a little bit different.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah, that's the thing. I was I started off in like a field services division where we did a lot of PM work. Uh so it was that's that that got a little boring. It was the same thing week after week.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

So um then I put in a bid to transfer to his art 10 department, where uh that was I definitely learned to think a lot more there.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And that's kind of like I feel like that's kind of your personality is that you like to be presented with challenges. You don't like mundane anything.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

I have to say, well, because I had two job positions while I was there. The first two years I was a uh like a systems repairman in field services, and then the last like year and a half, I was a uh electrical relief foreman in that department. So I I like the my co-workers more in the first department. Uh, but by that point we had gotten news that the plant was gonna shut down, and so it's not really apples to apples, the whole mood of the mill changed after that.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Well, I want to get to that too. Um the whole mood and everything that was like that. But before I do, let's get back to your family a little bit. So you kind of had the industry in your blood based off of your dad. So is this something seeing him work all those years with oil, is this something that you knew the trades was the route that you wanted to go? Or was it something like, you know what, I'll try it, I'll see what happens?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yeah, I never really like throughout high school, I never really gave much thought to the future. I mean, I'd I enrolled in the trade program just because my dad recommended it, but I'd never given much thought to like four-year colleges or anything like beyond that career-wise. Um, but going through that program, I realized I did like like science a lot and like engineering. So by the time I finished, I already knew I'd wanted to you know pursue education further and get in my BS in engineering. Uh yeah, it's uh it's been quite the journey.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

It sounds like it. It sounds like you kind of been bounced around. So you you were in the mill, you kind of settled in, so to speak, and then the rug got pulled out from underneath you and the mill closed. So tell me, tell me how everything shifted from the mood to to everything else. Tell me about your experience.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

So I'd I'd back up just like a tiny bit to get the context. So yeah, please do a month a month or two before the mill we got we got notice. Uh my boss, uh Richard Carlson, he got electrocuted at work. I w he well he he died three days later, so uh electrocution is technically when you get killed on the spot. Uh but this was you know, we hadn't had an incident like that in probably 20, 30 years, and you know, we work with them every day. Uh and you know, that first week or two, no one knows, you know, you're all you're all in shock. Yeah. What could possibly have been going through his head? Like, how could this have happened? Uh so you know, we're already in a state of shock, and when they told us that the mill was closing, it's uh it's just like one thing on top of another.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Oh my goodness. So you're mourning your friend, and then you find out the mill has closed.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah, no, you know, he'd he'd worked there his whole life. He'd he worked 80, 100 hour weeks, crazy, and you know, all that for nothing, it seemed like. And this actually happened on uh it was just a couple days before Thanksgiving, and we had found out the mill was closing, I think like a little after Christmas, so the holidays that year were pretty depressing.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Yeah, Merry Christmas, my word. Um wow, so the whole I mean, did that were you pretty close with this man?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Like you worked with him Yeah, we worked with him every day. Uh he was always big about safety too. Like every you know, we have our safety meetings every morning. You always say, like, oh, it's requirement to be incident-free. And you know, we didn't know anyone who's safer than he was, so the fact that this could happen to him was pretty like baffling. Uh I was actually supposed to go in that day. I I had called off in the morning. Uh but I've but there's a good chance I would have been working with them that day. You know, you think maybe I could have stopped this, maybe things had gone differently, but I don't think you could should think like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Um you can't, because you can't change anything, right? Um, I'm so sorry for your loss, and I'm so sorry that that whole experience happened on top of the mill closing. What was going through your head? If you don't mind me asking, you said you know, he's worked there his whole life, and then all of a sudden the mill is closing. Did this kind of change your mindset on what you wanted to do for your future?

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Definitely. I you know, you you realize that a lot of the good money that electricians make and trades make is hazard pay. You know, you can't do this your whole life. I have people on my crew who are like 70 years old, like 75, still doing like tough manual labor. Um, yeah, I don't want to be doing that when I'm uh in my 70s. Uh so I just took it as a signal that maybe I should transition and the timing was right to where I'd you know I was out in my coursework where I can transfer to a university. Um but yeah, that was a lot of people were in a tough spot, but I was I think one of the fortunate ones to where I I was pretty comfortable there, and if I hadn't had that push out, I'm who knows, I probably would have stayed.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

So you kind of saw it in a different light than most people you worked with. Yeah. Um do you feel like as the mill was closing within you said the mood was pretty, pretty grim? Do you feel like a lot of people because when I went out to go visit you guys when we heard um everything was closing, I went out to visit, kind of let you guys know what ICD was. And a lot of people were telling me this was a complete shock and they had no idea what the next step was. Do you feel like that's kind of your feeling with the people you were being surrounded with? I know you had a vision, but do you feel like a lot of people were lost around you because this was just a way of life?

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Uh I mean, in the Bay Area, I think we're a lot of industry has been leaving here in the last you know decade or two, but there's still a lot of opportunities for people, especially in the trades, to find new jobs. I think from operations side, it may have been a little tougher. Okay. Um it's hard because we have like very like niche jobs, like very specialized roles. Um then near the end, I remember I'd uh I met a Tesla recruiter and I'd asked him to come out to the to the mill to try to like get some of these people, and uh, you know, a lot of people started to go that route, and then Tesla pulled out and they canceled all those jobs and started moving out of California. So I felt bad for my involvement in that. Uh but it's just known. Yeah, California is a tough place to operate in, and unfortunately a lot of the jobs here, like the good ones, are moving away. Things, especially here, more towards like software side now. But like heavy industrials kind of going away, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

So people kind of have to change their mindset and what their future looks like, you think?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

That's why I CD is so important because you know you have to get new skills to keep yourself in the market and competitive.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

So that sounds kind of like what you're doing. So when did you first hear of ICD?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Uh probably we had like a union briefing, like my first week. So I think it was brought up there. Uh but at least in within my department, a few people had used it, so it wasn't totally unfamiliar. I'd heard about it before you came. I think I'd even been using it since I was at the mill.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

That's great. Um, so you were familiar with it because of the people around you. And what was the first class? What made you dive into it? What was the first thing that you took? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Um well, I've started it's probably like a math class because uh throughout my time at the mill, with the exception of like the first semester, I'd always been enrolled like part-time in school.

unknown 15:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

There's like one or two classes a semester, usually uh like a transfer requirement. So most of those are like physics, math, chemistry. Um why did you do that? So a lot of the universities in California, you could uh transfer for to like a four-year program as a junior. So like you did two years out of uh junior college. So I was just slowly doing that, but instead of taking two years, I took like four.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

All right.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Um, okay, so you started taking one class at a time, one class at a time, and the mill closed. Did you go full force into your education? Like, did you have more of an idea of what you wanted to go for instead of these, you know, taking one class at a time? How did that work?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Uh well the time in worked out really great because by the time I met all the requirements to transfer to a four-year, I uh the mill was gonna shut down.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

So, you know, I was laid off in February and I I was taking classes in, and that next August I started full-time at uh EC Berkeley.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Uh but that last semester was rough because you know, I was doing like fire watch at the mill, like 12 hour shifts from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., then having to get up from like uh physics from like 10 a.m. to what 1 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

I'm not gonna lie, that sounds miserable.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

I mean you you can catch a little shut eye at work somewhere, maybe for a moment.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Don't don't say that now. What what made you keep going? I mean, at the time you didn't know the mill was closing.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

But then we had known for like two years.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

So it definitely had time to prepare and think ahead, at least I did. But a lot of people, you know, they found new jobs when within three, four months.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Okay. And you know you knew that you wanted to go back to college.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Okay. And so physics, oof, that is. I applaud you, my friend, because that was never my my forte. But if that's what you wanted to go for, I mean, you kind of always been interested in that kind of subject, it sounds like like the math and the science part of it. What what made you want to choose this specific degree?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Um so it kind of like changed a little a little bit over time. At first, like I knew I was leaning more like towards civil to like do bridge design and cool stuff like that. And then I started taking structural classes, and I'm like, this is not, I don't like this. Uh but while I was at the mill, I got a lot of experience with like water treatment systems.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

So we worked at like their wastewater treatment plant, uh, and they had a couple more like specialized processes like chrome removal, uh, you know, oil separation, like drink or the influent treatment. So that's where I kind of started with water treatment, and that's really where my interests are now.

unknown 18:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

More on the environmental engineering side and like sanitation.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

And how close are you to graduating?

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Uh next week.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

No way. Oh my goodness, congratulations. So you're done.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, I just got a final exam next week, and uh well, so I'll be starting a master's program in uh in the fall later this year.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

For environmental.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

What is what's the um what are you gonna do with it? What's the plan?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

So the goal is to work in like a water treatment facility. I'm actually doing an internship there at uh East Bay Mud right now. They're the second largest uh water utility in California, and they're are pretty like an industry leader in the like co-digestion and just renewable energy. Uh, so it's a super exciting role. It's kind of demanding on top of school.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

I was gonna say it sounds like you're pretty busy.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Uh but a little I would like to hopefully work for them maybe once I'm done. And it's you know, in the Bay Area, it's a government job, it's safe. Uh one of the biggest employers out here.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

So your plan is to stay in California. Would you ever want to move anywhere else?

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Uh I've thought about it and it's hard. Uh I've you know, a lot of my family lives out here. Okay. Um Bay Area is super expensive and affordability is an issue, but uh, you know, I love where I live, honestly, too.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Okay. So it's kind of the pros outweigh the cons.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah. And you know, through the mill, I was able to buy my own home at 22. I mean, no you no one in the Bay Area is affordability is so hard. I mean, rent out here is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

And I think that's the thing that a lot of people overlook um when it comes to the trades. They think that as soon as you graduate high school, you have to go to a four-year college, you have to do like there's only one line to success. And you're proving with your story right now that you can go throughout high school and not really know what you want to do. Try something, find your passion, and look where you are right now. You own your own home, you're you have a four-year degree, you're about to go get your master's, you have a plan, and you're under 30, correct?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

So I think success looks different for everybody, and you're proving my point. Um, my to kind of bring ICD into the whole mix, did you know? Did I how much did I C D help you achieve this goal?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

To be honest, like I was very determined. I would have made it work out one way or another. But I C D definitely was very helpful. And you know, we get a lot of like encouragement from like professors and our friends, but just having that like financial support and also just like a push from your own company to always continuously improve and gain new knowledge, I think is really beneficial. Because you really don't see that too often. And when a company actually like tries to reinvest in their employees and give them marketable skills, that pays dividends for the company itself and for the community they operate in. So ICD has helped me I'd say quite a bit. Just having support and like someone to talk to and like share your journey with is pretty it it drives you too. Cause it's you know, I have senior it is pretty bad right now. And you know what I mean at the end and like start give giving up a little bit, but just gotta remember where like wow why we're doing it was you ask a lot of people like their favorite class in college and it's never about like the subject it's always about the professor who taught it so you know being around like passionate people who love their subject is just really inspiring and being in like academia taking courses uh I think exposes people to that to like look for their own passion. Okay. And I'd say that's bigger than any benefit you can get from just the knowledge itself but just finding like a passion and something you can see yourself doing but you have to explore it's not you know you won't you won't be the first class you take.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Exactly like would you say throughout your life it was a trial and error to get where you are today uh hard to say I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

I mean my my career objectives have shifted a little bit but I didn't feel like I'd wasted a lot of time.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Like by the time I started with the mill I uh I knew I wanted to go engineering and I started taking classes right then but at the time you know I wanted to buy a home I wanted to get established and I think that experience definitely like set me apart in terms of my peers okay just especially at work we do a lot of uh like instrumentation electrical stuff so these are like process engineers and I have that background so you can kind of bring your other skills to the table too do you think it's important based off of what you just said do you think it's important for someone to gain multiple skills not just focus on one line of vision yeah and it's hard to say like what multiple skills even just people's diverse experience or background gives them you know perspective that other people might not have so just finding ways to leverage that and like add value to your company you always try to look for a way to make yourself like indisposable. Which do you feel like that's something that a lot of people forget that I mean you kind of are different in the sense of you never lost sight of what you wanted to do. You wanted to own your own home you still wanted to go after this certain degree you still kind of had this passion.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Do you think more often than not people settle for a certain I lack of a better way of saying it way of life you get comfortable you get in your routine you know you get home from work you're tired let's see if you have a family you gotta cook dinner and you have chores to do and the last thing you want when you get home is to break out a textbook and start studying.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

I mean a lot of a pretty substantial portion of like college transfers I think like 25% are actually like parents.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Which is a lot higher than I initially thought and the timing's never right it's always gonna you know be a little overwhelming but if you make it a priority you'll find time for it.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

But it does come with sacrifices you know might not be able to go with your friends out as much or you know when you're 30 it kind of sucks to say uh homework sorry you can't go out I was gonna say now that you're going after your masters that that part's not necessarily done yet I do think it gets a little harder the older you get just you know the commitments you have having a family is tough too but people make it work uh but you have to sacrifice and I think that's something that kind of travels and goes along with you throughout your whole life if you want something bad enough you'll make it happen but you might have to sacrifice something um and I and I think that's great that you are going after your masters what makes you want to continue why not just be done now um so my degree in like civil engineering it's it's a very broad field yeah like transportation structural like a little bit of environmental uh like geotechnical just so many different fields so if you if you want to like specialize in one and you you probably you won't like a few of them but you'll probably be like more attracted to one than the others.

unknown 26:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

So for me that was like water treatment so more like chemistry intensive than the other ones.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Okay. So that's what I've kind of gravitated towards but even today and a lot of employers do look for uh people that have a master's it's an extra year and you know the return you get on it is pretty beneficial that helps you towards getting like your professional engineering license if you want that and it's uh I don't know it just made sense for me to do it now because I was already in school what's the point of waiting longer to do it I agree and I think um if you've got the the drive to do it go for it and I'm excited so we're gonna have to do a podcast number two on when you graduate with your masters and figure out where you ended up um I think the last question I have for you Victor is if someone came up to you today so we have a lot of people a lot of participants that tell us they just don't have the time for ICD and it doesn't apply to their life as someone who's used ICD to gain this degree what would you tell them you know you you have to have a like a a motivation to do these things like if you don't have a good understanding of like why you're doing it you you won't last long because you know like it's well like why am I doing this?

SPEAKER_01 27:47

I have other things I'd rather be doing so just finding the motivation is the hard part like what are you doing this for you have to have a vision for like how this will improve your life or like what you'll can do with this knowledge. Without that, you know it'll feel like torture.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Which I'm glad you're being honest about it. Which I mean I feel like the passion you have to take the time to find your passion and once you do you're you're kind of unstoppable. But I think it's the when people don't sit down and try to figure out what they're actually passionate about or what their goal is, IT won't mean that much to them um or any new knowledge won't mean that much because it really doesn't they're not going to be able to apply it to their life. So I I completely agree when you say it's gonna be torture that's that's the first time a participant ever said that.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Well you have to I mean I TD can help you along the path but it can't like you know block it down it for you. You have to do it yourself.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Exactly exactly and sometimes it might be a little painful but you you got to go for it. I'm so excited thank you so much for telling us your story and for kind of walking us through mill life and where you come from and um where you're going. And I'm excited after you graduate with your masters we will do a part two and we'll talk about what that was like and where you ended up and maybe how your goals changed. So um if anybody online has any questions for Victor about the MIL closing or how we got started with ICD or even about his specific degree, go ahead and email me at jvandyck at icdlearning.org or you can contact me on any of our social media outlets. We would be happy to connect you with Victor with any of your questions and be prepared for a part two. So thank you so much Victor for your time I really appreciate it and uh we will see you soon