Roadtrip Nation

>>Narrator: How do I know which path is best for me?

Is it possible to take on these challenges and obstacles?

Where do I even start?

What should I do with my life?

Sometimes, the only way to find out is to go see what's possible Since 2001, we've been sharing the stories of people who ventured out and explored different career paths and different possibilities for their futures.

This is one of those stories.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: We just finished interviewing leaders in the healthcare and construction industry, and it was nice learning on how they operate.

>> Michelle: Everything that built the structure literally came from this desert.

>> Melissa: That's really cool.

>> Amelia: Being able to meet somebody who's kinda leaning towards their passion and tell their story of how they got there.

We're going on the Metro?

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

[LAUGH] Say less.

>> Lovely: I'm most excited to explore the different options that I have in San Bernardino County.

>> Ansh: I'm excited to take all the insights from people across San Bernardino County and actually apply it to my life.

>> Narrator: On this episode of Roadtrip Nation Paths Across San Bernardino, the journey continues as the five roadtrippers explore careers in manufacturing, logistics, and government.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Logistics is about efficiency and all things on the go.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: From industrial engineers to logistics analysts, cargo and freight agents, to supply chain managers.

In San Bernardino County, logistics jobs account for 16% of the region's total employment To get an idea of what these jobs look like day-to-day, the roadtrippers met with industry leaders to learn what it takes to forge a path in this fast-paced field.

>> Carrie: I'm Carrie Schindler, I'm Deputy Executive Director for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and the San Bernardino County Council of Governments.

>> Luis: Would you mind sharing exactly what sparked you to wanna take into this career path that you've chosen now?

>> Carrie: I grew up on the very eastern edge of Redlands, which was pretty rural at the time.

When I went to San Diego I got a lot of parking tickets, [LAUGH] parking tickets were very expensive.

And so as I went through an internship and I started working on bike paths, I got exposure to transit.

And I fell in love with this concept of building a public service that was more affordable than having to own a car or have access to a car.

And gave people an opportunity to get to either the doctor's, or college, or even high school.

[MUSIC] >> BJ: Hey, guys, hey.

>> Ansh: Nice to meet you.

>> BJ: Nice to meet you, come on in.

I'm BJ Patterson, I'm the co-founder and CEO of Pacific Mountain Logistics.

>> Lovely: Can you walk us through what it's like in your shoes on a normal day?

>> BJ: The thing I like about my job is no two days are ever the same.

My job, I think of it as primarily problem solving.

For instance, we have a client that ships parts for airports.

I had to get a very specific part to a place that was 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Canada.

You know how many problems we had to solve to try and get a part to just south of the Arctic Circle?

So they placed an order with us within our environment.

These people, they have RF guns, it tells them where to go.

They pick the goods from the shelf, they bring it over here.

And once all these goods are ready, probably Thursday or Friday, they'll all be loaded on a truck and go to the retailer.

We have a lot of different clients shipping different things, from sporting goods, to furniture, to pet treats, you name it, and each one of them have their own sets of requirements.

And again, my job every day is very different every day, which makes it very exciting.

If you like being bored, don't take this job.

It's not a job for people who like to be bored.

>> Lovely: [LAUGH] [MUSIC] >> Narrator: In San Bernardino County, the average annual wage for a job in logistics is $69,732 but this covers a number of different careers within the industry.

The top occupations in the county include everything from truck drivers to supervisors, but not every job in logistics is as hands-on.

If you're interested in the data behind the processes, you might consider a job as a logistics analyst or engineer.

And jobs like inventory clerks and order fillers are a great option for anyone who loves efficiency and organizing big systems.

>> Carrie: So this is run by Metrolink, but we call it Arrow.

So these are engineer conductors, they do both, they're in the train and then they operate the train.

>> Engineer Conductor: I don't have a college degree.

I'm able to provide for my family, and there's a lot of promise, a lot of growth within this industry.

There's so much opportunity in this career.

>> Amelia: We're going on the Metro?

>> Carrie: Metrolink.

>> Amelia: Let's go, freaking love the Metrolink.

>> Melissa: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

>> Amelia: [LAUGH] Say less.

>> [TRAIN SOUND] >> [TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT] >> Carrie: So this is the end of what we call the legacy line.

It's all the San Bernardino line, but we call this the legacy portion.

>> Melissa: I wanted to ask a little bit more about the line that's gonna go all the way to Hesperia.

>> Carrie: So it's called Brightline West.

They're gonna build from Las Vegas to the Rancho Cucamonga station, which is one of the stations on this line, with connections into LA Union Station.

And so it's really focused on bringing people from the LA area up to Las Vegas.

So in lieu of driving through the Cajon Pass on a Friday, which can be pretty hard, or jumping on a plane, time-wise they're competitive, they go 220 mph.

So it'll be high speed rail right down the middle of I-15, it's gonna be pretty amazing for this area.

>> Amelia: That's the fun thing about taking trains.

You can do your homework, you can read, you can do all sorts of things and it's really efficient.

I'm all for public transportation.

Thank you.

>> Melissa: Thank you.

>> [MUSIC] >> [MUSIC] >> Melissa: What advice would you have for someone who is interested in possibly becoming a civil engineer?

How would you encourage them to navigate their career pathway?

>> Carrie: Someone that wants to be a civil engineer, I mean we need them, civil engineers are in demand.

But the way you get started is you take science and math in high school, and you make sure you meet the requirements to get into a school that has civil engineering as a major.

The other way is to go to a junior college, get an AA in engineering and go that way.

Both are perfectly fine, you don't need to go to an Ivy League to be a great engineer, right?

Cal Poly Pomona has a fantastic civil engineering program.

And most of the civil engineers I work with in this area have gone to Cal Poly Pomona, and they're very good engineers.

So there's a lot of options to actually take action and become not just a civil engineer but a licensed civil engineer.

>> Narrator: If engineering isn't the path you want to pursue, there are still plenty of other ways you can get involved in logistics.

In fact, many people in this field actually have more experience in sales and marketing, since customer service and communication play a big role in the industry.

>> BJ: Just the logistics is a big bucket.

There's a lot in that bucket, and a lot of different career paths, a lot of different ways you can go regardless of your degree.

I mean, regardless of your education, I mean I know plenty of people making six figure salaries that only have a high school diploma.

So it's not to devalue the college education, it's just to say that there's a lot of different paths.

[MUSIC] >> Melissa: So we're going to the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum.

>> [TRAIN CROSSING BELL] >> Ansh: It's loud.

[SOUND] >> Amelia: We got to kind of see the progression of the train, how it went from no steam to gas powered trains.

I don't know why, I'm fascinated with like trains, I love trains.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Up next, the roadtrippers are on their way to explore different career opportunities in government.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: A career in government can look like many different things, because there are a number of ways to serve your community.

You might be most familiar with government jobs like politicians, judges, or legislators but government work also includes law enforcement, public health, science, and engineering.

So what do some of these jobs look like on a day-to-day basis?

Let's find out what the roadtrippers learned from government leaders across San Bernardino County.

[MUSIC] >> Marisa: I'm Marisa Yeager.

I'm the Associate Vice President for Government Community Relations.

It's a big title, but really what it is, is I'm under the section of university advancement.

>> Priscilla: My name is Priscilla Reyes, and I work for San Bernardino County Fire Department at the Office of the Fire Marshal and I'm a fire prevention officer.

[MUSIC] >> Ansh: Could you dive a little bit deeper into what you do on a day-to-day basis.

>> Priscilla: As a fire prevention officer, every day is a different day, and that's the part that I enjoy the most.

I could start my day up in the mountains, or I can be in the valley, or I can be at a school inspection.

I can be on a construction site, I could be called for an emergency if there's any type of natural disaster whether it's earthquake, storm.

And I'm part of the damage assessment team, so we will assess the damage after a fire or a storm.

>> Amelia: I also would like to ask kind of like how you got to where you were, was it something you always wanted to do?

>> Priscilla: I actually started as a secretary here with the county and I was assigned to the office of the fire marshal.

Didn't know too much about it, it just interested me.

So I started to think seriously about it.

I talked to our fire marshal and he encouraged me hey, if you're really interested, you can start taking classes, start volunteering, start taking some college courses, so that's exactly what I started doing.

I started working as a front counter tech.

And that helped me become more familiar with the California Fire Code and starting to understand what the inspectors went out to do and how their day was and what they're looking at on a daily basis.

So that really started my background for community safety.

>> Melissa: Aside from just the usual, doing meetings or going to meetings, responding to emails, helping out students, what is your typical day-to-day look like or your typical week?

>> Marisa: It's different every day, it's different every week, I'll say.

I could be in Coachella Valley one day or I could be here for our two campuses, or I could be in Washington, DC or Sacramento, with either a advocacy group that we're joining.

I'm under the section of university advancement.

We really are the fundraising arm for the foundation.

And our role is to see what funding is available, for example, in the county in the city that could be possibly be aligned with some of the programs and services we offer here at the university.

And making those connections and making that ask.

So we pretty much run on like a quarterly so each quarter we know what's coming at us, the US President just dropped his budget proposal yesterday.

So reviewing that, what does that mean for us?

What's the impact to our campus specifically if we can obtain that information, and then share that information with our federal delegation members.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: The average annual wage for government workers in San Bernardino County is $73,553.

And this spans a number of different pathways.

If you're more interested in studying the law rather than enforcing it, becoming a political scientist could be the right path for you.

Or, if you like collecting data that can inform the creation of new laws, you might want to learn what it takes to become a financial analyst.

No matter what path you choose, you can always tailor it to your interests.

[MUSIC] >> Amelia: What is sort of the skill set that you need to be a fire marshal or work in the Fire Department?

>> Priscilla: If you're kind of interested in wanting to be a fire prevention officer, I would recommend taking some fire technology classes to get the introduction of what is to be expected, actually volunteering as well.

I volunteered at a fire station, a lot of fire stations, either city or county, have a volunteer program where you kind of can see what the day to day is.

But yeah, there's just so much room to grow within this department.

We also have arson investigations too, which that really piqued my interest as well, so they're responsible to investigate fires after they happen and they're part of our department as well.

>> Ansh: From someone in your shoes to someone in our shoes, is there a way that you recommend looking out for mentors, searching for them, taking any steps to provide mentorship in our own life?

>> Marisa: Absolutely, I think don't be afraid to ask for a meeting.

Don't be afraid to say, hey, can you meet up for a tea or coffee or a walk?

Or, I'm so and so I'm interested in going into your field and I'd like, if not you, do have someone else that you'd recommend.

Also, let your network know, you've just graduated.

You guys have an alumni network.

Who of the alumni network is in this field that I'm interested in?

Can I reach out?

Is there a mechanism, platform that I can do that?

LinkedIn is a great way to do that.

Don't be afraid to ask the questions.

Don't be afraid to seek out people that you see yourself to be.

>> Melissa: I like that she puts San Bernardino in such a good light.

>> Melissa: I like that she's like, but this is a place for opportunity rather than kinda looking down on it, because she is right.

There is a lot of opportunity, we just have to figure out how to get there.

>> Ansh: If people start putting the attention towards San Bernardino now, people in the future will also recognize it, right, like it won't grow if we're not the ones who like go and do something about it.

[MUSIC] >> Amelia: I just thought it would be a fun experience to take everybody to the breezeway in downtown San Bernardino and get boba.

We have a big huge map in our lobby of San Bernardino.

My house is on the map.

>> Lovely: Right there.

>> Luis: I live over there.

>> Amelia: I really like this burger joint.

This museum, I went here once.

It's the original McDonald's.

It's one of my favorite places to go.

I recommended my personal favorite drink, it's called our IE Sunset and it is absolutely delicious.

>> Luis: Cheers y'all.

Very sunsetty.

>> Amelia: [LAUGH] It was just a lot of fun rallying back and forth, making jokes together.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: Next, the roadtrippers are going to visit Walker Manufacturing Group as well as Technical Employment Training Inc to interview leaders in the field of manufacturing [MUSIC] >> Narrator: Manufacturing is all about understanding how things get made, and you might be surprised to learn just how many different career paths there are in this industry, from engineers to sales representatives.

The manufacturing industry as a whole offers plenty of opportunities for anyone interested in contributing to the world of global commerce.

To get an idea of what these jobs look like day to day, our roadtrippers met with industry leaders to learn about this growing field.

[MUSIC] >> Erwin: My name is Erwin Dominguez, I'm a plant manager here at Walker Manufacturing Group.

>> Virginia: My name is Virginia Martinez, I'm President of Operations for Technical Employment Training.

[MUSIC] >> Virginia: I went from being in manufacturing industry to being into a trade program today because it provided me opportunities.

It gave me an opportunity to grow and really learn, and our day to day really is including myself is ensuring that we provide that quality training program for our students.

So what we have here is some samples of parts and projects that our students and everything from 3D printing projects that we've done to window hinges from a local company right here in Ontario.

These are just kind of a showcase of what our students are exposed to because that's part of the training program when they go through our program is getting that on the job experience while they're with us.

>> Erwin: Now, progressive stamping this is what we do here.

It all begins from a big master coil.

From there it'll go to a section where we call it the feeder, it'll start feeding the material into the tool, into the dye and to a set progression.

As you're seeing, it all starts from the beginning, making just basic holes.

From there, it'll progress all the way until the part is shaped as it should be.

Keep in mind, this is what's flat.

They started piercing around it, then it'll start forming, doing the forming.

[MUSIC] >> Narrator: In San Bernardino County, the average hourly wage for a job in manufacturing is $27, but this includes a variety of careers across the industry.

Right now, the top occupations in the county range from truck drivers and inspectors to welders and production supervisors.

And with more than 2,100 manufacturers in San Bernardino County alone, there's plenty of demand for each.

[MUSIC] >> Virginia: As president of operations, I'm responsible for overseeing our training program that we offer here.

So we offer a 630 hour training program that takes students through a curriculum that is pretty comprehensive because it aligns with a national certification.

So when they're done with our training program, they have stackable credentials.

>> Lovely: What are some advantages or opportunities of growth that are here within San Bernardino County?

>> Virginia: I'm so glad you asked that, because we purposely said we wanna stay in San Bernardino because there is such a need here for skilled machinists in our region.

We have a lot of people who are retiring in the workforce.

They've termed it all kinds of things, skills gap, a silver tsunami.

It's just really referring to an older individual who's now hit retirement and there's nobody else to fill those jobs and they're not jobs that you can just walk into and do it on the spot.

>> Erwin: This company gave me a chance to start here.

I did obviously start from the bottom up.

I started as a packer and then from there I started growing up as much as I could.

There was openings as I was progressing and I took the chance.

I applied for those positions that were open, I've been here for 26 years now doing this, and now I'm right here, plant manager.

>> Ansh: With that, is there anything that you would like to say to other people who are also striving to accomplish goals similar to yours, or people I think in our shoes?

Any pieces of advice or anything that you would say as parting words of wisdom or motivation to anyone.

>> Erwin: So what I would say is as you're going out there in the world to figure out what you're trying to accomplish, don't give up.

Sometimes you change your mind and you will change it again.

It doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong.

As long as you're doing what you love and pursue it.

And do not stop, you'll be fine.

So don't let the outside people telling you are already 19 or 20, you don't have a career why?

Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, but as long as you keep on doing what you love, you'll be fine.

>> Virginia: I started really young in the industry and it was a male dominated industry, so I had to ride a lot of other women's coattails who were pioneering and paving paths for other women in the industry.

I also had to pave my own paths along the way.

And so that was challenging.

Those were moments where I felt like, do I really wanna do this?

But I like challenges.

I like being a champion of the underdog and sometimes I had to be a champion of myself.

And so I would say do it.

Do it and don't be fearful of it.

And when you feel like you're the only one in the room, it's okay.

You're the only one that needs to be in the room at that time.

There's a reason why you're there.

Keep your confidence.

You're in the room for a reason.

Do what you're here to do.

Don't let anybody get in your way.

[MUSIC] >> Lovely: My favorite thing that Virginia said was, don't give up, finish what you started, and also that you belong in the room.

So I think that really stuck with me that you belong in the room [MUSIC] >> Lovely: It's the end of our road trip, and it's been great.

I'm kinda sad that it's over.

[LAUGH] But I'm also happy because I learned a lot.

And I'm happy because I met people from the area that I'm from.

I feel I'm more willing to explore the different options that I have in San Bernardino County.

And there's so many different educational pathways that you can take, depending on what you're interested in.

>> Dora: There's not one trajectory.

There are things that you can do outside of a four year or an advanced degree.

Strengthen what you have and what the world needs and find that match.

>> Michelle: Create what's right for you.

The only limitations is your imagination.

If there's sparks then follow it, and I guarantee you're just scratching the surface.

[MUSIC] >> Luis: San Bernardino County is big with opportunities.

I feel like just putting yourself out there, outside in the real world and actually meeting leaders is a great way for this new generation to really see what they like.

My biggest takeaway from all the leaders is that if you have something that you're really passionate about, take that chance to do it.

>> Angel: What you lack in knowledge, just make up in hustle.

Be all in.

It starts today.

[MUSIC] >> Amelia: Everybody's path is different.

No one's gonna take the same path.

Honestly, the opportunities are limitless.

As long as you have an idea of where and what direction you wanna go into, there's always a way to get there.

Are you willing to take that leap of faith?

>> Carrie: Debunk the imposter syndrome.

It's just a waste of worry.

There will always be challenges, and it's really your response to the challenges that determine where you end up.

>> BJ: In the midst of difficulty, there's opportunity.

When you look at those difficult times as an opportunity to solve another problem.

Boom, you win.

>> Carrie: Rarely is there a prize for getting there first.

But there are so many prizes and rewards for actually achieving your goal.

Just don't give up.

>> Melissa: These leaders really emphasize that you don't have to go all the way to LA or Orange County.

You can find a job here locally as long as you utilize your resources.

There is a lot of potential for growth here.

These people that we interviewed, these leaders that we all met with, they are prime examples as to how we can make San Bernardino better.

Because there's people like that that are willing to make it better.

>> Dora: Be who you are and bring that authenticity to your leadership and to your career, because that's what the world needs is you.

>> Ansh: I'm leaving this experience with an open mind and even more open possibilities.

San Bernardino has a lot to offer and having grown up in San Bernardino, having grown up in Chino, my ideas are changing.

There's a reason why San Bernardino is the future, and that reason is us.

[MUSIC] Wondering what to do with your life?

Well we've been there and we're here to help Our website has some awesome tools to help you find your path And you can check out all our documentaries, interviews and more Start exploring at roadtripnation.com