Computer Technology teacher Paul Herrmann recently invited past graduates, Dylan Ruffini and Nate Wolf, to talk to his current students about their career path with KJ Motorsports. KJ Motorsports is an e-commerce retailer and part of Brent Industries in Middleport, NY. KJ Motorsports specializes in parts & accessories for ATVs, UTVs, golf carts, and snowmobiles.
The two former students visited the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center with their Human Resource Manager Gail Luckman, to talk about how their co-op/shadowing experience in the program led them to being hired in full-time IT positions for the company. Dylan, who has worked at KJ Motorsports for five years, mentioned to Gail that he really needed help and recommended Mr. Herrmann’s class to try to find someone. “I was overwhelmed, and I needed more help. For me, the shadowing was great to really see how the company works and have them have a chance to see my skillset,” he explains. “We wanted to give someone else that same opportunity.” Nate, who was another one of Mr. Herrmann’s superstars and a SkillsUSA champion, was a perfect fit. “I am not really a big fan of colleges,” says Nate. “I wanted to find a company that had competitive wages and benefits, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to advance there.”
Mrs. Luckman told the students that KJ Motorsports would be looking to hire more IT positions in the future and hopes that some of them might be interested in the shadowing experience and future employment. “We pay competitive wages and we are local,” she says. “We take care of our employees with 401Ks, a Pension, and medical insurance. We give yearly raises based on performance and annual reviews. We meet with our new employees every month to make sure they are on track with where they want to be.”
Nate and Dylan talked to the classes about their day-to-day workload, which includes overseeing MiRs (Mobile Industrial Robots). The MiRs function as a conveyor system in the warehouse, and the two men support the hardware and software that keeps things running smoothly. Dylan talked about developing App systems and working with Google Sheets and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming language, as well as generating reports for management. They told the classes that they do not really spend much time behind a desk and do a lot of interfacing and troubleshooting with systems and employees.
The former students gave Mr. Herrmann and his class credit for helping them get their foot in the door at KJ Motorsports. “Here is where I learned what I wanted to do,” says Dylan. “You should take advantage of being here to learn what you want to do with your career. Even though I went to Genesee Community College; I really didn’t need it because of what I learned in this program.” Nate added, “I would not have had this job without this class. Mr. Herrmann is a great teacher.”