Josh’s interest in maintenance started at a young age when he would listen to his older brother’s stories about work. He shared, 

“Whenever my brother talked about what he did at work, it would always intrigue me. And, it was through him that I knew at a very young age that I wanted to get into maintenance too. I never wanted to do anything else.”

His Journey

To kick off his journey, Josh started delving into industrial electronics, and he went to a school in South Carolina to learn about this side of the industry. From there, he moved to Chattanooga and started working at a carpet mill as a forklift driver. But, within a few months, he was given the opportunity to move into his first maintenance role. In this position, he gained a ton of experience working with PLCs, electricians, mechanics, and loved coming across the full facet of the industry.

After moving up in the maintenance space, from working as a technician in the textiles sector to even the oil and gas sector, Josh landed a reliability role at Mueller Water Products, where he is working now. Josh shared,

“Having a new role in reliability completely changed my outlook on everything. I went from being a fully engaged technician deeply immersed in maintenance, to suddenly having to pivot and understand more about the reliability side of things.”

Despite the big challenge, Josh seized his chance to learn and grow in this new endeavor. ISO standards, vibration analysis, infrared training, ultrasound training – he tried to soak in all the information that was presented to him. He even took and got his CMRP Certification! Josh said this,

“I really grew in this role and was just thriving. But, I also had a mentor who was the biggest reason why I was successful. It was because of him that I got a position as a reliability engineer at Mueller! 

Committed to His Journey Through Thick and Thin

Although Josh’s journey into the maintenance and reliability space might have appeared to be smooth sailing, he encountered many bumps along the way. In fact, to Josh, there were, and still are, challenges every single day. But, one of the biggest challenges he had to overcome was the initial years of his career.

Even though he knew this is what he wanted to do even before he even entered high school, there were times when he was discouraged, overwhelmed, and confused. Meeting many different people, applying the material he learned at school to real life situations, and just being young – it was all so new to him and took some time to adjust. But, Josh closed with this,

“I’m so glad I got through those initial stages. I’m very grateful I stuck through the grind of it because it made me who I am today, and I love where I am.”