Above, Anthony H. (left) being instructed on the lathe by John Alexander (right).
Growing up in Homewood and working in his dad’s auto repair shop near their home piqued Anthony’s interest in machines at an early age. As a teen, he also worked in a Penn Hills machine shop.
But his career took a turn when an uncle interested him in a job with Verizon, where he learned telecommunications, IT and structural labeling, later becoming a field construction manager for Dish Wireless supervising a tri-state territory. However, following a series of company mergers, Anthony was laid off.
Ironically, next step in Anthony’s career came from John Alexander, NCC’s facilities and instructor supervisor, who lived across the street from that family’s auto repair shop and is Anthony’s long-time friend. “John always talked about New Century Careers but the possibilities for me didn’t click until I was laid off,” he said.
Anthony enrolled in the August 2023 Manufacturing 2000 cohort. Having already earned three NIMS credentials, he is well on his way to integrating a lifetime of creating things with his hands into a sustainable career in advanced manufacturing. Now working on lathes and mills, Anthony can see crossovers from his auto body work. “My grandfather, dad and uncle all were drag racers at the former Heidelberg Raceway and I worked on their cars,” he explained. “Often, the part we needed for the Chevy Vega was no longer available or we needed it fast. So we made our own brackets, gussets and did bead work,” he added.
Anthony tells anyone considering New Century Careers, “It’s definitely a good opportunity to learn a skill for free. As I was brushing up on my algebra for the math test, I even learned cool things about measurements and decimals that have other applications.”
If you’d like to see success like Anthony, see more about Manufacturing 2000 today!
