Brendan Witherspoon’s schedule is pretty full these days. He works the night shift as a maintenance technician at Rosina Food Products in West Seneca, dabbles part-time for a plumbing and HVAC company in Cheektowaga, and volunteers as a first responder.
Oh, he also regularly makes the 2 1/2-hour round trip from his home in Derby to the SUNY Jamestown Community College Jamestown Campus for classes.
It’s a lot, but it’s better than the alternative.
“I actually took the first layoff of my life (in 2023), and I was committed to going back to school and getting my career in a different path than construction,” Witherspoon said. “Construction has burnt me out in multiple ways.”
Witherspoon has taken advantage of JCC’s Workforce Development short-term advanced manufacturing trainings, which are offered for free or at reduced costs thanks to grant funding. He completed a 12-week Industrial Maintenance Technician training at JCC’s Dunkirk North County Center in May, helping him land a full-time job at Rosina.
A human resources person advised Witherspoon to continue to build his knowledge and expertise in heating, ventilation, and cooling systems for larger buildings. With the goal of making his resume more attractive to regional manufacturing employers, Witherspoon enrolled in JCC’s Building Automation Systems program in June. He will finish the training in November.
“When it comes to installing an AC compressor in a house and a furnace system, I can do all that, and I can do commercial stuff,” Witherspoon said. “But when it comes to maintaining big boiler systems and stuff like that, those are more acquired skills that are hard to get.”
Witherspoon would like to continue his education even further, hoping to earn a degree in mechatronics or in a similar field. He talked about working more “on the computer side of things” in a factory setting, using programming skills to control machinery and processes.
Witherspoon first became aware of JCC’s free advanced manufacturing training offerings after stumbling upon a post on social media. He is thankful for the instructors he’s had – Mark Blair for Industrial Maintenance Technician and James Weiss for Building Automation Systems – and is surprised more people don’t take advantage of the trainings.
“I just think it's an awesome thing,” Witherspoon said.
Visit sunyjcc.edu/Workforce to learn more about JCC’s Workforce development and advanced manufacturing training opportunities.