Joe Katapish - Maritime work brought him back to Hampton Roads and became his passion.

Our next several interviews are with people that have been working in the industry for a relatively short amount of time. We sat down to talk with Joe Kotapish who grew up a few hours away from here and spent his summers down here as a kid and then came back for the opportunity to work as a marine electrician.

Visit www.maritimejobsva.com to discover what career and training opportunities are right for you in the Hampton Roads maritime industry.

The Regional Maritime Training System (RMTS) was established using a $11 million (41%) Good Jobs Challenge Grant awarded by the Economic Development Administration. It is supported by $12.1 million (46%) provided through BlueForge Alliance in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Navy, $850,000 (3%) from the U.S. Department of Labor/ETA – Community Project Funding, and $3.5 million (10%) from non-federal sources.

Transcript

Our next several interviews are with people that have been working in the industry
for a relatively short amount of time We sat down to talk with Joe Kotapish who
grew up a few hours away from here Spent his summers down here as a kid and then
came back for the opportunity to work as a marine electrician
So Joe we talked before we started recording. You're kind of semi -locally. - Exactly,
transplant, yeah, yeah. So grew up in the D .C. area, but spent my summers down
here. Grandparents had a beach house in Sandbridge and spent most of my summers down
here, but did my high school and middle school up in Northern Virginia in D .C.
area. - So it didn't have a boat, but close enough where you could see people on
boats and kind of develop that kind of sense of adventure, like it'd be cool to be
on one of those absolutely I had some friends family friends that also had boats so
kind of going on their boats as well and kind of just falling in love with it. If
that fueled your interest in in the nautical trades you own a boat now?
I did I did own a boat but I have since gotten rid of it you know I feel like
it's easier as a boat mechanic to own a boat because you already know what you're
working and you know it's it's simple and you know it's ABYC you know so so two
things ABYC what does that mean? American Boat and Yacht Council I believe is what
it means. It's the industry standard for mechanical and electrical systems. Yes here.
Okay two happiest days of a boat owner's life when you when you buy a boat when
you sell a boat exactly. Still true. Exactly. For the most part yeah for the most
part. Do you think you'll end up owning another one another one? I would like to
think so yeah definitely enjoy my time on the water as much as I can. So you've
been out of high school for 10 12 years now? Yep graduated in 2012. What were you
thinking about when you were in high school?
I think I didn't really know what I wanted to do to be quite honest with you
coming right out of high school. I knew I didn't really want to go to school full
-time or you know a four -year degree school just because high school was a little
bit of a struggle for me and wasn't really the best with you know math and
geometry and stuff like that so it I'm going to temper that a little bit because
we talked about this yesterday when it was less that you want a good student and
more maybe you weren't as interested in the stuff that you were for sure that that
was put in front of you absolutely you did well at the stuff that you really enjoy
it right exactly exactly once I kind of moved to the marine field or, you know,
engine stuff, it kind of excelled very quickly, which was nice to see, you know,
happen, 'cause it was, at some point, a little difficult, not knowing what you
wanted to do after school, and, you know, some of your friends, you know, know
exactly what they're gonna do before they even get out of high school, or have a
path, or some sort of mindset of what they wanna do. So it was a little
frustrating, but once I kind of found that, It was definitely a nice little niche
to kind of fall into. And how did you find that?
Honestly, I had some help from my mom because she was looking up some classes for
me and kind of helping me out on what to do. And she knew I love boats and big
machinery and big motors and stuff like that. So she kind of brought this up to
me, and it seemed like a cool opportunity. And there wasn't too many schools In the
area, I guess, TCC was really the one that offered a Marine diesel program, which
is kind of what I really wanted to do, but they also would offer some outboard
classes and smaller engine classes as well. So I mean,
you just kind of described exactly what we want to try to accomplish with this
podcast is introducing the people that are guiding high school students,
right? Certainly it starts with parents, but teachers and guidance counselors, if they
didn't, if they don't know to do the research, if they didn't have some other
exposure to it, they don't really know, they may not know what goes on in this
industry. - Absolutely. - Right, and it's easy to say, well, go to work in the
shipyard, but not really understand what that means. And if you don't have somebody
to tell you what goes on in a shipyard, how do you ever find out about it? It's
kind of a mystery. - Exactly. - But it sounds like your mom was pretty diligent
about doing some research, knew you well enough to know the things that interested
you. - Absolutely. - But she had the time to put into doing that. - 100%. - That
research. - Yep. - But found that thing that she knew you well enough that you would
be interested in doing that and kind of guided you over to Tidewater Community
College. 100%. And we're sitting here at the company you work at now, Solveria,
which is in that industry, but we're not in a shipyard. No. In fact, we're right
around the corner from Topgolf in an industrial park working in a series of big
garage bays. Right. But if somebody were to drive by right now, unless one of the
boats are outside, they don't know it. I would not suspect that we work on military
boats here, no. But there's a lot of industry that supports shipbuilding,
ship repair, boat repair that goes on in places just like this. And it's not by
the water either. Right, and we're not by the water, right? There's a retention pond
over here somewhere, I'm not going to put a boat in there. We got tough to test a
boat in that. So, you were working at another company previously that held this
contract, and when that contract shifted hands, you got introduced to Solvary, and
you've been here for a couple of years now. Yes, sir. What's the work environment
like here? We work in such a tight -knit group of people that it's, it feels like
you can't, you can accomplish anything, I guess, is a great way to say it. You
know, we're always working In a team, there would be two people, three people, four
people, to kind of get a job done on the boat. And it's awesome. I wouldn't trade
this environment for anything else. And to have that, you know, and it's also a
friendship, you know, like every single person in the shop is my friend and I
would, you know, do damn near anything for them and I think they would have to do
the same for me. - Small boat technician is a pretty unique trade. - Absolutely.
- Because you have to do so many things. There's electrical, there's mechanical. At
some point you've got to be able to operate the boats.
It's a little bit like trying to remodel your bathroom, right? Smaller the room,
the harder it is. You talk about kind of working in teams because you can't get
more than two people into really-- really in some places in some of the spaces on
the boats you get to know one another pretty well but you've all everybody that's
involved in working on that boat has to be familiar with all of those systems and
all all the interactions at that percent what's what's the path for somebody to that
that wants to learn about repairing boats what would you recommend that they do Ask
a lot of questions. I think that's you know really first and foremost if you don't
know just ask and I think that's How I really progressed was asking questions. I
didn't really know much about boats when I first started But asking questions and
just saying hey, you know, I don't know is a great way to you know To learn
something and or even just trying it and failing, you know, that's trial and error
is you know, okay? And to a certain extent, to a certain extent, with some of the
more bigger things that's left to the experience, the mechanics, or next YNC.
But asking questions I have found, at least for myself, definitely helped me grow in
this industry a lot. Pretty friendly in this industry. Well, it can be kind of
intimidating seeing big systems like this and the complex wiring and mechanical stuff
in there and then working with you know, dudes like you, get this big beard, you
know, are you really approachable? Well, it turns out, yeah, I really am. (laughing)
- May not be a first look, but you know. - If somebody can get past that and
realize, hey, this is all, it's knowable. - Absolutely. - We built it, we fixed this
boat before, so just because somebody new to the industry doesn't know, it doesn't
mean that they can't learn it. - Exactly. - And is you're working so close to
somebody. It doesn't do you any good to hold all that knowledge yourself because
that person, that teammate you're working with. - 'Cause that's the next generation, I
know. And that's, if you don't have them, what do you have? You know, and. - You
hit on something really important. In fact, I just had this conversation with my
daughter last night, who's in her senior year of high school. And I said,
And that's the ages who would expect somebody to be, to feel like they're supposed
to know something, and they realize they don't, but don't know what to do next.
And are fearful of asking for looking like they don't know something that, there's
an expectation that they do know it. But that's really not the case. And then, as
you mentioned, people in this industry want to transfer that knowledge. And It's a
compliment if somebody says, can you show me how to do this because I'm not sure.
- Absolutely. - What excites you each day, getting up, knowing that you're coming to
work on these really cool boats? - That's an awesome question. And six out of seven
days, I love coming to work. Some days, obviously, I'm not feeling the best or I'm
a little groggy when I wake up, but nine times out of 10, And I pop out of bed
and I, you know, I'm out the door within 10, 15 minutes and at the shop even
early You know, we started six, but I'm here at 530 just because I I enjoy being
here I enjoy this shop and you know, like you said working on these classified
boats and you know, it's It brings me to an immense sense of pride as well you
know to know that the boats that we work on are going out and into harm's way and
knowing that I'm fixing that and making it, you know, still they're able to do
their mission, immense sense of pride. And I think that flows out throughout the
entire shop as well, throughout all the employees. That sense of purpose is, it
seems like it's easy to find here, and when I read the newspaper or listen to the
news, see anything on social media, you see people that feel like their employer or
their job is just that. And there's no loyalty going back either way.
And I just don't see that in this industry. For the people that have passion,
that come in ready to work every day, whether they're welders,
or pipe fitters, or electricians, or small boat techs, I hear that and I feel like
that's such a powerful attractant to this industry that if you're going to spend
most of your adult life each day at work, shouldn't you feel good about that?
Absolutely. You don't have to like it every day. Absolutely. Not every day is fun,
but at least feel like there's a Once you're actually accomplishing something, you're
turning out a good product, it's not unique to this industry,
but I think it's unique in industry at large. Absolutely. What are you doing now
and what do you want to do next? So I started off doing pretty basic stuff on
boats, peeling off non -skid, which is a grueling task in itself,
pulling wires. I was actually lucky enough to have some pretty good mentors when I
first started here that really let me kind of jump right into the whole process.
So when I first started, I was pulling motors, pulling out drives out of boats,
pulling fuel tanks. - So when you're saying that, it's kind of disconnect these
things. - Correct, yeah. - Somebody shows you, hands you a wrench, says use this
wrench to disconnect those things and You're doing what's directed correct and once
you're doing what's told what you're told is that that sounds very negative But you
don't know the boat. You don't know the systems yet. So somebody's
Introducing you to those Showing you the tool showing you what things it disconnects
and you disconnect these four bolts now We can lift that fuel tank out hundred
percent and some of the in some of the tasseries You know for the you could just
be told, you know, hey do this do that
Look for some of the more in -depth things, absolutely, you know, at least a little
bit of guidance. But I was like I said, I was very lucky to be able to kind of
have people that were guiding me or in a position of leadership to kind of really
just shove me into the whole mess of it and you know, I hate to say figure it
out for myself, but honestly that's kind of what they did and I think I'm pretty
appreciative now of that aspect because it really helped me grow as a mechanic and
honestly as a person as well. - I'm gonna guess they probably told you to go figure
it out, but we're watching. - Of course, I'm sure they were looking behind my back
a little bit, yeah. - Or knew that it was a task that they could come back and
check and verify afterwards. - 100%. - But there's great value in trying to struggle
through something on your own the first time, 'cause if you're just doing what
you're told or what you're shown, you're not really learning. - Exactly.
What you do in here is at Salvari on these boats there, it's a maintenance
contract, right? It's not, they don't bring it in when it's broken, they bring it
in on a phased maintenance. Correct. Some of the boats that are brought in are
definitely broken for sure. Some of the boats have been flipped, you know,
motors are blown up or something like that. So for the most part, they do come in
operating and we do a pre -delivery sea trial with the Coast Guard just to look all
over the system, see what's working, what's not working, what can be reused and what
needs to be replaced. And they're also used for anti -terrorism and kind of multi
-mission applications. >> So that is pretty cool, a boat in your shop here now, few
weeks, few months from now, could be on a Coast Guard Cutter somewhere in the
Western Pacific doing its mission. mission. Like I said before it gives you an
immense sense of pride to you know see that those are the boats that I work on
that are out there doing those missions and seeing it real -time. I gotta imagine
when you see a picture of one of these boats in the news somewhere you're looking
at the whole number go did I work on that boat? 100 % and I have seen you know
some TPSB's that are out in service now on missions that I have seen that I've
worked on so again that you know very huge sense of pride. - So the learning
process here has been a bit of hands -on, a little bit of guidance. Anything more
formal than that? - Yeah, so I actually just got back from Hamilton Jet training out
in Seattle last week, which was a really cool experience. To be able to kind of
see the jets that we already work on, but then also the new jets and the size of
the jets that they make. But yeah, so we have training courses that we're slotted
to go to. Some of the guys are going to come in the school. We have some other,
I think, YAMR schools coming up in the future as well. So we do definitely have
some formal trainings as well, even local, just, you know, kind of courses to
practice. And these are all different manufacturers or systems that are on board. And
when you talk about jets, so make sure the audience knows that a couple different
ways to move a boat. Either propellers, you can talk about out -drives there.
- That's correct. - Which is what most people probably think of, but people may not
be aware that there's actually water jets. It functions just like an airplane jet
engine. Instead of drawing air through though, it's drawing water through the engine.
- Exactly, it's almost like a huge jet ski, you know, in a way where it's sucking
up water and then forcing it out through the with an impeller and at a high rate
of speed which would move the boat forward. So that's pretty sophisticated stuff.
There's a lot of things involved in how that engine operates, how that how that
propulsion system functions. 100%. And you're working on different classes of boats
and you need to be familiar with each of them. So each of those manufacturers have
got courses that you get to take advantage of how about for somebody that's just
kind of starting out in the industry where where do they go to get that first
introduction I was you come and submit a resume in some place like some place like
Salvarian ask a organic jobs open but what what could position somebody better where
would they start sure would you tell yourself 12 years ago if you knew you wanted
to come and do something like this. What would you do the same or different?
- Honestly, I think I would do most of what I did the same because I feel like I
really got the best of both worlds with school and work at the same time.
I wouldn't deter from jumping right into the field per se 'cause hands on I've
always felt is the best experience in the workforce, but it couldn't hurt to do
some training, you know TCC offers some marine classes, there's ABYC certifications
that you can take, electrical courses you can take, you familiarize yourself with you
know boat systems and how they work and operate, but there's also some local
classes, so there's an ample amount of resources in this area. So one of the places
you talked about was the Maritime Institute, which is right here in Norfolk, pretty
close by over on Robin Hood Road. They've got a full spectrum of courses,
everything from introductory to electrical and mechanical systems, all the way up
through-- Captain's courses as well. --well -limited masters, captain's licenses. You're
right, that's a great resource for somebody that wants to find an entry into the
industry. Absolutely, and even not so much on the small boats too, but also on the
larger ships as well. You know, you have MSC, military sea lift command, and they
offer, you know, merchant marine classes that, you know, to be able to go on those
ships as well. Like Salki said, a wide variety of subjects that they offer. - Pretty
well versed in that. Have you considered sailing? - No, so with,
well, no, I haven't. - I like the smaller boats definitely better than I do the
larger ships. But with one of my previous jobs, we had a contract with the MSC.
So it was with the safety of, or SOLIS, which is called Safety of Life at Sea,
which is a rescue boat that they have on pretty much every one of those ships. And
I would go pretty much anywhere in the world those ships were and do a inspection
on those boats. - So you - You're traveling at the time, you're on a travel repair
team? - Yes sir, yes sir. I have almost clocked about two times around the world.
- Really? - With my friends. - How old were you when you were doing that? - This was
while I was in school as well. This was kind of give or take, probably a couple
months after I first started was when I did my first travel trip, but yeah.
- So, I mean I've seen-- - 20, 21 years old? - I would say about that,
yeah. 20, 21 years old and going to Japan, Singapore, Dubai,
like I said, I've been a lot of different places. - Was it all work? - All work,
all work. - Yeah, we hang on, was it all work or did you get to go and see some
of the others? - Oh, okay, okay. We'll say we definitely had a little bit of
downtime, but for the most part it was all work, yeah. - I joined the Navy to get
that kind of experience. Right, 'cause that, you know, I grew up in Long Island and
I wanted to get out and see the world. And that was one of, absolutely one of the
things that really attracted me to it, right? To be dishonest, say I didn't want to
get out and see the world and experience some stuff too. >> There's other ways to
do that. >> Absolutely. >> And you found one of them at a young age, not a whole
lot of experience yet, but a lot of trust. I mean, obviously, if a company is
relying on staying in business-- - And to have a young kid come out and do that,
you know, help you with that work, absolutely. A lot of trust. - To fly halfway
around the world and back to repair a critical vessel, right? - 100%. - Yeah. - That
lifeboat doesn't work. They're not leaving the ship. - That ship will not leave the
port unless that lifeboat is working inoperable. Absolutely. - And you do get to get
out and see a little bit of stuff. - A little bit, yeah. - At a pretty young age,
Which is pretty cool. It was. I think. Absolutely. It definitely opened my eyes to
a lot of different cultures. But it was also cool to see that, because we got to
work with some of the local people and see how they work, and to kind of see the
work at the foreign shipyards and stuff like that. So it was very cool to see kind
of the way other shipyards and other companies work on boats and stuff like that.
What a great experience. It was. And at the ideal age to go and do that 100 % and
that's and that's what keeps me coming back You know, that's why I come to work
every day loving it because it's you know I get to do stuff like that and Yeah,
I was you know, there's some young kid just like you exactly on one of these
cutter boats I have way around the world. I'm looking for a little adventure in my
life 100 % that's great So You've been here for a couple years now,
you've been in the industry for a while, what's the next step for you? What do you
want to do next? That's a great question. I've really kind of been thinking about
that more throughout the years, but definitely more probably in a leadership role in
a shop setting like this. It's hard for me to get away from turning wrenches,
you know, I'm very hands -on, I like to I drive these boats. So it's I'd like to
see some sort of happy medium between turning wrenches and management position role.
Like I said, I also love to travel. Traveling is kind of one of my number one
reasons I've been in this industry. So hopefully kind of maybe something meshed
between all those three turning wrenches. We've been trying to make
This this is these are career opportunities. Like just where you start in this
industry doesn't dictate where you end up So you've been you've been on a travel
team You've worked on various different kinds of vessels. You're still on your tools
now, but you can see a time ahead where You're ready to or you might want to
transition into like you said from instead of being the guy on the tools But maybe
the one leading the the people on the tools. Is that a realistic goal? Even if
you're at a position like I am where I've been in the industry multiple years,
there's always room to move up. Even if it's with a different company, there's
always room to further your knowledge and kind of boost your career even more. What
does it take to advance to the next level? Do you think you could be in a job
that's not on your tools right now if you wanted to be? If I wanted that to be
for sure, for sure. But like I said, I enjoy turning wrenches a lot and being
hands -on, but even here, all you have to do is ask,
hey, what can I do? How can I improve the company? What can I do for the company?
What can I do for myself to help improve myself? Is there any classes I could
take? Is there anything that you would like to see out of me as a company owner
business owner. >> I really like hearing you say that, that you know that there's
opportunity within the company. There's always opportunity to go somewhere else to
seek other opportunity, but you're stating it pretty clearly that where you are now,
there's opportunity here. And I kind of anchor on that, 'cause I want people to
understand that this industry has got decades of business.
It's never going to go away, but the opportunity is going to be there and a
company that's successful now just has to keep being successful and part of that is
growing people up in those positions within the company. People should realize that
it is in fact possible to start in one company and stay there and grow with that
company. It doesn't mean you have to make a big leap to go somewhere else
absolutely because that that's intimate that's not that's intimidating process. >> Yes,
it is taking that leap to go to something completely new you don't you know may or
may not know what you're you know going to be working on absolutely it's it's it's
it's a big leap to go do something like that. >> Certainly in the small boat world
because there aren't that many everybody kind of knows everybody in this industry
like somebody so many changes jobs. >> I've heard the small boat industry called the
small boat mafia is how it's how it's I've heard described before but yes It's a
very tight -knit very tight -knit group. Everybody knows everybody You know even if
you don't think somebody knows you they probably do know who you are and your name
and where you work Yeah, there's not more in a couple degrees of separation
Absolutely, you know your company they work with your supervisor or somebody else But
but you But that's also great for a career in this industry because if somebody
hears your name out there and you're doing a great job, they might reach out to
you and offer you an even better opportunity than you have right now. So I
definitely think that works for, you know, most everybody's favor in this industry.
- So we're talking here on a Friday afternoon. It's a pretty nice weekend. What do
you got planned? - That's a great question. - Is it water related at all? Probably
water related, there's some good ways right now. So I'll probably go surfing at some
point. May do a little fishing, not quite sure. I got some side projects that I'm
working on as well. So always, always something with the water, you know, always
boats surfing or something with the water going on. - The salt water really does get
in your blood, doesn't it? - Absolutely, absolutely. I live and breathe salt water.
- Thank you so much for your time today. - Thank you. - Have a great conversation.
- Appreciate it.