Scaling UP! H2O

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[Music]
welcome to scaling up the podcast for water treaties by water treaters where we’re scaling up on knowledge so we
don’t scale up our systems hi everybody trace Blackmore here and we are continuing our series on how to become a
certified water technologist my guest today is recent CWT Andy Morcom of jtech
now I’ve known Andy since he started his career as a water treat now when Andy started he couldn’t even
spell water treatment but he sure can now and he holds this prestigious
designation of certified water technologist and he told me a long time
ago that he liked being in this industry and he wanted to celebrate that by
getting his CWT well this year he did just that and he got his twt after Andy
passed the examination and yes Angela I called it an examination and not a test
he called me to let me know the good news he also asked if I would write his
letter of recommendation as Angela explained before you need five letters of recommendation and I was honored to
do one of those I gotta say I’m always honored when people ask me to do that
I’ve been very lucky in my career I have been able to teach water treatment it’s
one of my passions to several CW T’s and I absolutely love it I’m humbled by it
I’m honored by it when people that I have taught asked me to write that
letter of designation one of the coolest things that I get to do in my career as
you know there are two ways to take the CWT examination country-and-western
for those whose brothers fans out there Andy took his examination at a Pearson
VUE testing center so he took it very near to his house
is gonna tell us all about that experience so join me as we learn
insights on getting the CWT from new CWT
andy moore from my lab partner today is andy moore command andy just received
his CWT certification a couple of months ago and a lot of people have asked me
questions about the process of getting their certified water technologist designation and you don’t want to hear
me talk about that because it’s been years since I’ve taken that test so I thought why not get it from Andy so Andy
how are you doing today I’m wonderful trace how are you doing I’m doing great
I appreciate you asking thanks so much for coming on the show thanks for letting our listeners know what the
process was like for you but before we get to the actual CWT process I’d like
our listeners to get to know you a little bit better so tell us how you got into the water treatment industry if you
wouldn’t mind sure it’s a good question because like a lot of people I really
had no idea that water treatment was in industry before I got started so like a
lot of others I was introduced to it by a friend so I had a friend I had known for a few years and I knew that he
worked in a family company by doing this whole life and he approached me and said
he was looking for a new sales and service guy and he really liked the idea of hiring someone outside the field so I
asked him what he did and he said industrial water treatment and I said oh so you treat drinking water and he said
no at least he didn’t say pool oh yeah not a pool guy but it was interesting so I did a lot of
research in a short amount of time and as I was doing that they came to mind that my grandfather is a chief boiler
operator for the state of Minnesota you’ve been running steam turbines his whole life so I had no idea and he
helped explain it a bit as well but then he gave me an opportunity to join the
team and it was good timing so I just decided to go for it and jump in and it’s been the best career decision I’ve
ever made you know there’s been a few times I’ve been told and maybe you’ve heard this trace that water treatments a
lot like the Mach once you get in you never get out that’s right you know I’m finding its true it’s
a lot of fun so that’s how I got my start that’s great yeah it’s all fun and games until you get that horse head in
your bed yeah well what is your day-to-day like well day-to-day it’s
getting busier and busier so I’m up here in Minnesota and we’re moving into the
cooling season and it’s a lot more than just service so we end up planning a lot
of time with our customers because when we go out there and we meet with them testing the water is probably easiest
part of what we do so we schedule an extra time to talk with them about their
systems what issues are having changes to their process and we really make it
more of a consultation than we do a service visit so we schedule in each of those and then we spend a lot of time
with industry groups and doing education around the area because so much of what
we do is education and what would you say your favorite thing is about being a
water courier well there’s a lot of things my last job was a desk job so the fact that I get to go out and see places
every day that are new and interesting is is wonderful the people I meet is a
big bonus for me the job it’s always interesting you make a lot of friends in this industry beyond that I would have
to say taking care of bakeries is my favorite thing so I got some kids my son
when I started was 5 years old and I used to come home with boxes full of doughnuts after work every couple of
weeks and he was convinced I worked at the doughnut Factory and in all honesty and I kind of did getting to be a part
of those industries and see how things are made and interact with all the people who are making them it is the
best part of the job and it’s always great when the customers appreciate you so much they give you some of their
wares to take back with you and so right they curries are first breweries are probably a close second
breweries are great and then the the law gets in the way of how much you can take of especially here in the Georgia area
so eventually there was a time where you said I want to become the best in this
industry and I want people to know that I’m the best and I want letters behind my name so what happened for you to say
you know I’m all in this industry I’m all in this career I’m going to go from my CWT yeah well when I started at first
it was a steep learning curve there was so much to absorb and then after about a
year or so I felt like I had a good handle on the testing in the industry and from there I found out about the CWT
through the association and Water Technologies and I found out that it was the highest accreditation that you can
get in the industry and when I made the decision to make this a career and not just a job I knew it’s something that I
just had to go for I can’t imagine being a mountain climber I love to hike and
I’ve climbed a few mountains but being a mountain climber and not trying to climb some of the biggest mountains in the
country just doesn’t make sense so you’ve got to learn you’ve got to grow
and the CWT was a great stepping stone for me to to take that next step so you
figured hey I’m end this I’m in it for every bit I’m going to go for the best
absolutely nice well obviously you couldn’t just decide I’m going to go for
my CWT there’s a process involved and you said there was a learning curve so what are some of the tools and what are
some of the things that you did to prepare yourself to get ready to take that exam well the first thing I did is
I spoke to a few existing DWTS to find out whether some cost to the
exam into the materials and it’s really it’s a time commitment it’s not like some tests you may take or may have
taken in the past where you can go in and study for a couple of days and get
through with it and move on it’s a broad test that covers a lot of different areas of our industry so the first thing
I learned is that I had to get a copy of the AWT technical resource manual and from that manual and it’s a big book I
found ninety-eight percent of all the answers to the questions I needed for the exam so that was the first step
that’s a pretty good endorsement for that yeah it’s got to be at least six inches stick that book and just a tip
for some of the people listening it’s not a book that you’re intended to read from cover to cover it’s a resource
manual just like a resource book from the library so determine what it is you
want to learn about whether it’s pretreatment there’s a section on foiler treatment cooling towers or regulations
and approach it in sections if you sit down and try to read that thing cover to cover and tell yourself you’re not going
to take the exam until you get through it it may be a decade so think it
through what you want to learn and then approach it that way all right anything else that you use you know I went on JWT
website and they actually have a number of training videos and training papers
that you can take test on when you’re done that was a big help the third thing
I did and I’ll tell this to anyone who is about to take any exam is you have to
learn what your learning style is so if you’re a visual learner if you’re hands-on if your audio you’ve got to
make sure that you’re giving yourself that outlet to learn material so when I
was learning about pretreatment I didn’t just read it in the book I went out and
scheduled visits on auto systems on the alkalis errs on software systems and I
played with the valves and I made sure to test all the different components and that really went a long way in helping
me understand the material but that’s great advice now as you were studying
you also out did you did you set the date for the exam and work backwards did
ya how did you determine when you were ready to actually take the exam that’s a great question because when I set the
date for the exam I wasn’t ready at all and the reason I did that is because as
I was asking around different people in water treatment so many people had told
me they wanted to take the exam and they just hadn’t done it yet so I figured if
I picked a date six months out and I scheduled it and the company was going to pay for it
that I would force myself in advance to put in my calendar the time I needed to study and I think that’s a real secret
you have to put it on the calendar otherwise it’s hard to take that first step I think that’s great that’s how I
coach people to get ready for this exam and any other exam say I’m going to take
this exam and sign up for it and then now you have a hard date in your calendar you’ve got to work backwards
for so you said it was about six months when you were ready to do it yeah yeah
so the first first month was ignoring the fact I had it on the calendar the second month was I better get studying
and and from there and it was really setting aside time each week and keeping
regimented and as you get through the process and you work through or the
treatment one month cooling treatment next month math equations the next you really feel confident going into it that
you’ve done everything you can well when you decided to register for the actual
date of the exam what was that like and how did you do it sure well so I took the test remotely
through Pearson VUE you mean you don’t have to actually go to a technical training or an AWT training or a
convention to take this exam no you don’t have to sit in the room with 20 of
your competitors where you’re convinced are looking over your shoulder in fact I would recommend that a lot of people
take it remotely because you can do it on your own time and it’s close to your
home and it’s something that is personal for you to do you don’t need everyone looking over
your shoulder when you get the certification it’s for you and your own career it’s not something that you need
to do in front of everybody else you know that’s probably for some reason the best-kept secret that’s not a secret in
the association of Water Technologies that you don’t have to come to an AWT event to take the CWT exam right yeah
and it’s really not hard to sign up for online you go to Pearson VUE you sign up and register you get a code and they’re
very specific about what you need for the test and if you have a second I should really
tell you what that process is like because that was interesting please yeah so when you take the test remotely you
sign up and Pearson VUE is a national company so they really take the testing
process seriously so it was a little intimidating at first and I’ll share
this for everybody so when you take it you’re not quite as intimidated but I
showed up and I met a gentleman and he asked for my IDs so I had two government
IDs and then he took my picture and then he asked for a signature and had to match them to both the ideas and then he
took my palm print to ensure that it was in fact me and not my twin brother or
somebody else so they actually doing biometrics on you at the center absolutely and then he looked me up in
the system and he said certified water technologist I’ve been doing this for
ten years I’ve never heard of anybody ever taking this test must be pretty important so I got a kick out of that
the most important one in the world it is it is so after that was all done he
gave me the materials pen and paper there’s a calculator and then everything else was on the computer but he walked
me into a room where I was under video surveillance the entire time I was taking the test so as this is all
happening so quick you get into the testing center and start to feel like you’re being detained for something that
you did wrong but don’t let it alarm you in fact I think all of that makes
getting your certification have even more credibility there is no way to
cheat this test it has been run through and authenticated and you no trace at
the AWT how much time they spend putting this together sure so once you get
through that and you start taking it it’s really a straightforward test there’s no tricks or turns along the way
and there are a couple of advantages I think to taking it remotely when people
come to the equal training seminars and and specifically my math presentation I have
a little segment in there that I teach people how to use their scratch paper and it’s primarily to make sure that
they’re reading the question all the way through they’re reading each answer all
the way through so there’s not a better answer further down that you didn’t get to and then if you don’t know the answer
to write it down on your scratch paper so you can come back to it but remotely there’s something even better can you
tell our audience about that so when you take the test remotely through Pearson
VUE what’s nice is you’re using your mouse to click on the answer and it is multiple-choice 200 questions so you can
go through and answer the questions there’s a flag where you can flag your questions if you’re not sure about it
and you can run through the entire exam and flag whatever you’re not sure about
and then come back to it later and for the remote exam they give you four hours
which is more than enough time to go through all 200 questions make sure you understand them go through them again
and then edit any answers that you might need to change yeah and it’s four hours standard so
whether you’re taking it there or you’re taking it at a AWT event once you’ve finished how long did it take for you to
get your results I found out on the spot and I’m not sure is that the case when
you do it in person it is not so then it has to be graded it happens fairly quickly but you know you imagine any
time that’s not instant seems like an eternity right no so I I walked out of the room
with the camera and the proctor came to find me and then he sat down and hit a couple buttons and said congratulations
you passed and I about did a backflip right there and then I asked them so
what was my score how’d I do and he says well it doesn’t tell me that it just reports back to your Association Water
Technologies and says that you you passed which is greater than 70% I believe right that is correct so and the
reason that that is the way you know what did I do in various sections is
AWT felt that we didn’t want to pose see WTS against each other and we felt that
there’s so much stuff in that test that you know a CW t is a CW t so anybody
that gets a past and grade is head and shoulders above everybody else out there
in the water treatment industry the second I found out I passed there is nothing better every six months of work
and I was so determined after spending so much time studying and learning that
I were taking it two or three times if I’d had to I’m glad I passed on the first go and it’s been wonderful to have
yeah and you say it took six months to study but then you also said early I
just want to remind our listeners that you know you were really studying for the entire five year period that it
takes to get the exam I would just wanted to follow up with that people not thinking that they cannot do anything
you know not do anything for four years and then wait for the last six months
and go take the exam right you know and really the exam is intended to take your
practical experience in the field and expand it through technical knowledge so
you you really need to use everything that you’ve come across whether working on softeners I’m sure many people
listening sighs softer systems and had to calculate grains per gallon and what’s going through them people have
had to do chemical dosing for feed rates under systems but just so they know it’s
not as math intensive as you might think you’re not going into stoichiometry you
need to know what anionic and cationic resin is but you’re not going to be
required to look at the chemical notation of those types of products so
don’t let it scare you take what you know and read that technical resource
manual and expanded and I think you’ll find you’ll do really well on the test yeah it took a long time for the people
that were involved in developing that exam to make sure that it was an experience based exam and that’s exactly
what you’re telling everybody right now that’s it so you walked out of there you got your CWT what was the first thing
you did I called I called you owner of the company and said I’m glad you paid the
money for you to take the test but it was not way fit you got a nose GWT working for you absolutely outstanding
was the second thing you did oh called my wife and kids and you know
what when you spend this much time working on something you should tell your friends and get that encouragement
just tell your family you should tell your co-workers by the time I went in to take that test I had a whole
cheerleading section so I felt like I just got married and I was calling all my buddies to let him know or something
it was a great experience well I know Andy you called me and you and I spoke a
lot through this process and I could not have been more proud and I think one of my proudest moments was when you asked
me if I would send in a letter of recommendation for you that’s right so for people listening know that you
passed the test but that’s really the first step so when you’re done you need
to get letters of recommendation from people who have known you over the years in the industry and they can be water
treaters they can be customers but they have to be a manager level or higher so
it can be anyone who’s known you over the past years that you studied for the exam and really it’s just a testament to
your character that you’re honest and everything that you do because there is a 13 point code of ethics that you sign
as well when you get you CWT so there is an ethical standard but it also shows
that that you’re ready to make a career in the water treatment industry these people can testify that who you are and
that you’re going to make a good name for other water treatment experts yeah I’ll make sure to put links to the
technical training and reference manual that you listed and also the processes that AWT has put together that you’re
actually describing right now now that’s great and there’s so much on UWT website that anyone who is even just
considering taking the test that’s where I tell them to start go to the AWT website look at all the materials there
and they’ve done such a good job that you can really get a good starting amount of information 20 let me ask you
now that you’ve been through the entire process you’ve taken the exam you’ve been weighed and measured by the
committee you put all your of all your forms and all of your letters of recommendation and you have the CWT
designation what do you know now that you maybe wished you knew before that
would have helped you out well I think like I was saying before just knowing the test is very achievable when I speak
with other people in the water treatment industry it’s like this interviewed is a big gargantuan test and you get the
impression that it’s really difficult only a couple of people in the world could pass this test and that couldn’t
be further from the truth if you study and you spend the time in the industry absolutely everybody who
puts your mind to a can pass this test and I think our industry would be better served if we all worked towards this I
know in our company it’s a directive for everybody that we all work towards the
CWT so that was important to find out that it is an achievable test the second
thing that I’m glad that I learned along the way and this is from you Trace is that you can’t wait to fill out the
paperwork so there is a process and even after you pass a test getting that
paperwork together takes time and once you send it in it takes one to two
months before it gets reviewed and approved by the committee so the worst
thing that can happen is that you get to the point where you passed your exam you’re telling all your customers and
then a bid comes up where they require CWT and you don’t have the official
certification yet so you can’t put your name in you know what I can edit you’re telling me that their bids out there
that required a certified water technologist to do the work absolutely have you running Danny
absolutely I have see that was a perfekt for my listeners absolutely so I’m
bidding one right now up here in Minnesota that requires CW T’s on staff
and that the person servicing the account actively and managing the customer is a certified water
technologist and the best part about having that certification though is when
I go to engineering firms mechanical outfits or customers say a regional
commercial real estate firm and I help them write bid specifications I can put
in there that it CWT is required and when I explain it to them that this
isn’t unique to our company I’m not trying to write other water treatment guys out of this bid I’m just trying to
make sure that you get the absolute best care and service and that this is about value for your facilities and not just
about price yeah I’m definitely seeing that more and more here in the state of
Georgia where CWT is a requirement to do any sort of water treatment and I know
with the Legionella of items that are going on in various states that’s a
requirement as well so folks if you haven’t seen that it’s coming yeah and
actually trace you probably already know this but one of the requirements in the New York law right is that your tower is
inspected by either an industrial hygienist or a certified water technologist exactly so when when I
passed the test and Angela pike sent me over the information for the next step
with the AWT I asked her what number CW
TMI how many others have their banner are there currently in the country and
she responded that I was number 309 and I thought wow that’s impractical and I
know it’s going to grow but in the country that’s impressive and she responded one more time and said that
that’s not in the country that’s in the world is this open to everyone well if
it may even more impressive and how many few of us are actually out there mine’s 186 and
I got mine in 2003 oh and what’s important though is you can’t approach it with a chip on your shoulder but it’s
kind of like being a part of a Band of Brothers right or a fellowship of people who are working to carry the industry
forward and so it’s really humbling to be a part of that group many of the paths AWT presidents I know it’s been
cwt some of the biggest consultants in our industry have their credentials so
it’s great for marketing yourself but it’s also great for your career Randy let me ask you there’s a lot of
people that I speak with at AWT that say you know when my customer requires me to
do it then that’s when I’ll do it but I’m not going to do it on my own I want to wait for somebody to make me what
would you say to them well like I was saying before what I would say to
someone who’s waiting to do it you’re really missing out so as I was studying
probably the best part and why I’m glad they make you wait a number of years
before taking this in the industry is because as you study and learn so much
of what you’re learning applies to here and now so as I’m reading about ro
systems I can apply those new pieces of information to my customers that are having problems where I might not have
solved that otherwise or someone who’s worried about not passing the test again
if you view this as your own personal advancement then even if you study hard
and maybe you do fail the first time you’ve learned so much more than any of
your colleagues up until that point that you really are lightyears ahead of them and you can really become a resource to
everyone else in your company that’s a great point and I think I gave you this
advice but if I didn’t I apologize but I tell people all the time don’t put pressure on yourself to pass it make
pressure on yourself to schedule it and then prepare for it as best you can and then take it because worst case scenario
if you don’t pass you now have the experience of what it’s like and now you can go in there the
second time and you’re a lot more relaxed because you know exactly what to expect did I share that with you or is that
something I kept with formula no no actually test taking techniques I’ve heard you speak about that before in
trainings and it does mean I just want to make sure you weren’t mad at me no no no no so you got your CWC you send
everything in its official and now you’re actually out and you’re talking with customers you’re talking with
prospects what does that designation do for your confidence well for me it was
it was amazing there’s a lot of people in water treatment like like you trace that came from a history their parents
were in the industry it’s the Mafia so everyone stays in it and they can fall back on on their
family name or some of the other projects they’ve done over the years but for me I’m new to it so the second I
passed I took that logo and I put it on my letterhead for all my proposals and I
put it on my email signatures and they gave me a pin that I wear in my lapel and they gave me a sticker that I put on
my portfolio everywhere I walk around so everywhere I go people ask me what the
world is the certified water technologist and I get to explain how it
sets us apart and it really gives me confidence when I’m working with customers because one I know that all
the resources exist for me to answer any questions they have and two as a CWT I
know that there’s a community of three or four hundred other people that I could make a phone call to and they
would all be more than happy to help because we we all send a code of ethics we’re all in this for the greater good
and it’s not about competition it’s about doing the best job possible so what are some other benefits that you’ve
realized well there’s a lot of benefits about the CWT really it’s what I found
is it’s just a starting point so when you get your CWT you realize just how
little you know about the industry maybe after two or three or four years you figure hey I’ve got this on lockdown
I’ve got a routine I get a few new customers every few months things are
good but then you start to the exam and you take it and then you’re introduced to all of these people who have made
careers of the industry and you find out the sky’s the limit so it’s opened me up
to a whole new world to tell you a story a funny thing happened after I got my CWT is I was called in to survey a big
petroleum plant up in our region and they make gasoline and refine it there
so I was called on-site and I got suited up in my flame-retardant suit
they put a hydrogen sulfide monitor on me and I looked like I was straight out of a movie
and if I’m being honest typically I don’t call on big industrial equipment
we have guys in our company that do that but I really am a mid-market guy government and commercial real estate so
I walked through there thinking I’m over my head they’re going to run me into stuff that I have no clue about and as I
walked through the plant there were certainly a lot of stuff in refining industry that was new to me but every
time the chief engineer took me up to a new cooling tower or a boiler system
that it was amazing because I realized through all my studying and through my experience I
knew exactly what was going on in fact I was grinning ear-to-ear about halfway through because the big national company
that was in there national with a capital n was making a lot of mistakes
and that’s why I was there in the first place and I was able to identify the
mistakes and because I had my CWT no one ever called into question my age or my
background they knew that I had the expertise to make a good recommendation so that’s
been amazing to be able to go through that process and really at all levels of
our industry feel confident that I can really help our customers out that’s a
great story I mean the fact that you did all that work at the certification and then instantly
as soon as you got it it gave you that boost of confidence that ultimately translated into more money for you and
your company because you’re able to go after business that you weren’t comfortable going after before and you’re doing it successfully absolutely
outstanding well as everybody knows or they should know that the CWT is not a
life long designation you have five years to do what you need to to qualify
to recertify anything you want to tell our listeners about that yeah the
education portion is really easy they make it easy for you with the Association Water Technologies so you
can go online and this is actually how I studied for the exam in part and if you remember there’s a lot of tests that you
can take just for continuing education you can read about closed loops or biocide applications or pretreatment and
you can take a test at the end in fact I I can admit I made a little mistake in the fact that I took so many
tests before I passed that by the time I passed I thought shoot now I’ve got to
redo those same tests for the the continuing education grant well that’s a great tip I’ve never even thought about
take the certify or the recertification quizzes to help prep you that that’s
I’ve never even thought of that yeah well that and then also I believe you get a number of points for going to
the annual conference maybe it’s 12 or 15 of the 25 I’m going
to have Angela Pike on to tell us exactly how many points I don’t want her fussing at me because we gave the wrong
number and people are calling her so we will get the proverbial horse on and she
will tell us exactly what all those points are perfect but she’s got a
fussing because she’s going to think I just called her a horse isn’t she Angela I did not call you a horse I was using a metaphor yeah I wouldn’t get under
bedside tray salutely you know you actually called me and asked if this
show qualified for continuing education units and the funny thing is you’re not the only one I’ve had emails about that
so we’ll have to ask Angela about that one that would be great so anything else
that you want to share with our listeners about the CWT or the process well taking the test is is achievable
that the moral of the story I think everyone should do it and I know in our company
and our company is not the only one there’s an expectation that you continue
to grow and learn so I’ve always believed that leaders are learners you should always have a book on your end
table you should always be asking questions you should always be curious for yourself or within your customers
accounts because in the end we’re water treatment guides and yes there’s a sales component to what we do but sales is not
what we should be focusing on we should be focusing on finding every possible
problem that our customers have and then working towards a solution and I’ve only been doing this a little over five years
and it amazes me how unique every problem is that I run into so if you
continue to dig and keep your curiosity you’re going to keep finding problems and if you don’t work toward something
greater like you CWT you’re just going to deadhead you’re going to run out of capacity you’re going to stop being able
to find these solutions and then you’re just going to stop finding new customers
to be honest so it’s in your best interest to go ahead schedule the time do the work and become certified join
the club I can’t think of better advice well I think you did a great job summing
up what people should expect if they go for their CWT and from your previous
words there’s every reason that they should absolutely
alright well my next couple of questions are just to get to know you a little bit better and I call them the lightning
round are you ready for this yes sir I’m ready my caller ID pleasure all right so
what was the last book that you read the last book that I read is a series of
books called flash fiction which is a series of short stories so Tim O’Brien
things they carry ursula Caleb wine I like a mix of fiction history and
fantasy so I’ve been reading through that
alright fourth before that I was I was reading a book called the name of the
wind by an amazing author Patrick Rothfuss in
Wisconsin was a fancy writer and at the same time I’ve been reading about
compared to public administration so I try to keep it broad whoever is working
all right so obviously they’re going to make a movie about your life so when they do who plays the part of an
immortal huh I don’t know if I told you
this trace I do have an identical twin brother I don’t think I knew that no they would add there would have to be two of me he’s not in water treatment
but he’s a counselor so on it’s really not too far off from what we do day-to-day right so that’s why you made
the comment earlier that they had to make sure it wasn’t actually your brother yeah yeah so we’ve tried to
trick the system before but it hasn’t worked yet but if someone were to play
me in a movie it would have to be Harrison Ford’s so
Indiana Jones is my all-time favorite movie growing up he was smart he was
adventurous he was curious he was always learning and leather jacket motorcycle
is James Dean level cool so that’s without a doubt if they could bring them
back to Harrison Ford from the 70s that would be great why did it have to be snakes oh I hate
snakes awesome I love it alright so now we’re going to talk about back to the future
because everybody loves that movie right so you’re getting the DeLorean you set the flux capacitor to take you back to
the very day where you start as a water treat what advice do you give yourself so ah
yeah I don’t know about you Trey’s but the first few weeks seem like a blur especially if you’re not familiar with
the industry but what I would probably go back and tell myself is what I think
I did fairly well is just make friends with absolutely everybody along the way
because the more you spend time in the field the more you find out it’s a small
industry everybody knows each other and you take care of the janitor all the way up to
the guy in charge and people move up the ladder and they they take you along with
them and you’re going to call on friends for favors countless times down the road
so don’t be in too big a hurry I would tell myself to get your service done to write your reports make sure that the
most important part of every visit is really spending time with the people you’re there to see because they’re what
make the job fun but they’re also the people that that you need to to make sure are happy with the results
great advice all right so now you have the ability to talk to anybody
throughout history who would it be and why
oh man does it have to be a real person I’ve never had anybody asked me that
before so no I want to hear what you say oh man well see I can’t take the same question twice right cuz Indiana Jones
is right up there and that that’d be great but tried to talk to anyone throughout
time remember Tom had said Ben Franklin he’s pretty good one yeah we found a lot
of people talk about American historical figures I don’t know if I’ve set this on
a previous show and I’m trying to stall to give you some more time to think but I got a I got a call are not a call but
an email in and they said why is everybody picking American presidents
and most everybody just picked Ben Franklin so I’m glad we’re better at chemistry as DWTS than we are at history
right one of my hobbies has always been astronomy in outer space I worked at a
planetarium in college that’s where I met my wife I’m a member of the Minnesota astronomical guild up here in
Minnesota so I was think if I had the opportunity I would want to meet Jim
Lovell from Apollo 13 mmm to anyone who has the courage to launch himself out
into space for the sake of so many other people for exploration and then to come
through so much adversity and and to work through it this probably got just
light years of experience and wisdom and things that he can share so I think he
would be the one I’d want to spend my time with great answer you know when I was preparing for the project management
certification they actually showed a clip from that movie when they had to
figure out how to get the air scrubbers to work and they said you got to get this round thing into the square hole and you got 45 minutes to do it that’s
every day in my life that’s your job that’s what a water trader does how do you get this round thing in this square
hole and you got 45 minutes to do it well I definitely appreciate you taking
the last 45 minutes spending it with us and letting us know what to expect with a CWT and having the audience getting to
know you a little bit better so thanks so much for coming on the show we really appreciate it absolutely it’s an honor
to be on I hope you have a better perspective now on what it’s like to take the CWT examination at a remote
location now we’re going to hear from Andy on what it’s like to take the
examination at a technical training seminar no Andy Morcom didn’t take the
test twice although many have now we’re going to speak with Andy Williams of
southeastern laboratories and he’s going to tell us about his experiences on how
he took the test so join me as I interview Andy Williams
CWT my lab partner today is andy williams of southeastern laboratories
and new certified water technologist congratulations Andy how are you I’m
doing well trace thanks I appreciate you having me on your show absolutely I know a lot of people call
in and they have questions about getting their CWT and what they need to know and
how do they start and what is the process like so I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your experience
with us no problem at all well before we get to that how about we introduce you
to our studio audience so if you will let us know a little bit about yourself
sure well I’ve been in the water treatment industry for close to 12 years now like you mentioned I currently
work with a WT member company southeastern laboratories in North Carolina I’m also married I have a
couple kids I live on a barrier island off of the coast of North Carolina so we did quite
a bit of outdoor water activities uh boating fishing hiking I also like to do
some golf and downhill skiing in the wintertime well nice well let me ask you because
I’m always curious to how people find the water treatment industry and you’ve been in it for 12 years so obviously you
like it and it stuck how did you find your way into water treatment well that’s a great question
I actually kind of stumbled into it after I graduated college and I may be
dating myself when I say this but I looked through the newspaper for the job openings I found one with a company
called industrial water engineering in Albuquerque New Mexico and had a great
interview with with ìwe and I didn’t get the job initially but they called me
back about a year later and asked me if I was still interested and that’s how it began well how about that and then how
long were you at that company I was with iwe close to six years so I know
Bernadette combs who is a fan of scaling up and a good friend of mine I can’t think of anybody nicer in the water
treatment industry so what brought you over to southeastern laboratories well I ended up leaving industrial water
engineering to go to work in Phoenix Arizona with another AWT member company
ch2oh the wife and I were basically just looking for a change we had been in New Mexico our entire
life so I had an opportunity to go work with chto in the Phoenix area and
decided that it would be a good move for us at that point in time shortly after you know working with chto I kind of was
getting sick of the Phoenix summers of you know 100 30 days or 30 days of a
hundred and ten plus degrees kind of wears on you after a while being outside but they say no humidity
like that matters right right hot is hot well it’s you get above 110 so I actually ran into another opportunity to
work with commodity chemical distributor you Navarre and I decided to take that
position kinda to expand on my sales experience and although I wasn’t directly in the water treatment industry
I did deal with a lot of customers that had water treatment issues or different
aspects of water treatment that they were doing like zero liquid discharge at power plants and a lot of different
water treatments in the mining industry which were my primary customers with you
Navarre so I did that for about a year and then the economy kind of went down
in 2009 and I found myself laid off in Phoenix Arizona looking for work and a
friend of mine that works in the mining industry offered me a position to be a
project manager in West Virginia of all places so with the family and I decided
that that would be an interesting endeavor so we we packed up and moved to southern West Virginia and I worked in
the mining industry for about another year until I late got laid off again and I said you know what alright I need
something with a little bit more stability so my true passion has always been in the water treatment industry and
so I jumped right back into it and we actually had moved to North Carolina
shortly after I would been laid off with the mining industry company I was
working for so that’s kind of how we got to North Carolina and I was working for
a small water treatment company that I had found out here they kind of did
water treatment on the side it wasn’t their primary focus of business and I found southeastern laboratories you know
we interviewed with them and decided to make the change and moved to southeastern laboratories which was a great move as they there are strong AWT
member company and their sole focuses water treatment which is exactly what I was looking for I always find people’s
journey in the water industry very interesting to listen to and yours of course is no exception to
that so thank you for sharing that no problem so obviously you said I’m this is the industry I want to be in there’s some
rewards for it that I like you know I normally don’t hear of AWT companies laying people off I know that could
happen but normally you don’t you don’t hear that so normally I think you’re right that is a it is a good place for
water treaties to be because we normally have jobs and we don’t have to we don’t have to worry about stuff like that
normally normally that being said you decided to go and get your certified
water technologist designation what was the reason you decided to go for that
well and you may not know this about me trace but I actually did obtain the CWT
designation in 2005 when I was working with industrial water engineering no I
did not know that I did and when I was working in the mining industry it was
during that five-year expiration period and and I let it expire unfortunately I
guess that’s kind of there’s two sides to that question initially when I was
with iwe the reason I wanted to get the CWT was not only to expand my depth of knowledge
in the field but also to be able to demonstrate to customers that I do have the knowledge that it takes to properly
treat their their industrial water systems and not to mention there was a little bit of a financial incentive from
from industrial water engineering to get that certification as well now fast
forward to 2016 my primary reason for getting the CWT was was because I was
disappointed that I had let it expire and so I wanted to get that
certification as quickly as possible back back in my repertoire so well I
didn’t know that so for those listeners out there you know don’t let that thing expire because you got to take the
freaking tests over again don’t you that’s right and it was just as hard the second time so well I tell you well
let’s let’s go two the first time when you got your CWT okay what were some of the things that
you did to prepare to go and take that examination quite a few things I think
about I guess I was probably about a year and a half into into the industry and attended a AWT water treatment
training seminar and that was really good for me at that point in my career
because it it kind of showed me you know where I was at in those areas that I
needed to work on as far as my knowledge base to to take and pass the exam so
attending the the water treatment seminar at an AWT Convention was was the
initial part and then I began to study study study and in particular I went
into depth into the technical reference and training manual all right and then anything different you did on the second
time as far as your preparation well not really I mean I had to refresh
everything I had learned previously you know I went right back back to the technical reference and training manual
and fortunately I had highlighted quite a bit of information that I committed to memory earlier so I basically reviewed
all of that and attended another water treatment seminar prior to taking the exam so let me ask how important do you
think attending the technical training seminar prior to taking the exam was for
you I think it was very important like I said it gave me an idea of where I was
at as a water Trier and those areas that I needed to work on and and focus on a
little bit more to successfully pass the exam yeah I get questioned about that
quite a bit you know if I take the technical training am I ready to go take the exam and it’s interesting that you
say it really does help prepare you but that’s where I think I would stop that statement because specifically as the
educational committee co-chairman I am here to tell everybody miss Gavin up nation that we do not teach the exam
what we do is we talk about what you need to know as a seasoned water treater as a multi-dimensional water treater
and it just so happens to be that that’s what the CWT tests as well yep and I
agree without a hundred percent there’s definitely additional materials that that need to be looked at in
addition to going to a water treatment training seminar so there are a lot of people out there that are really good
readers and they can read something and take a test you taking the test twice
and it was two different versions but still you’ve got more experience than both that passing the test successfully
two times would you think somebody could actually just read a book and go and
pass that test no in my experience there was a lot of I guess you could say
experience based questions so you know if you haven’t encountered a certain
situation in the field then you probably wouldn’t know the answer to that particular question on the test if that
makes sense I think that makes perfect sense I remember there were a couple when I was I had my CWT but we were
trying to get cut scores and trying to get so many CW T’s to actually take the
test when we did the new version that there were some things on there that I had never seen before and even though I
knew what they were I was not answering those questions correctly so I know exactly what you’re talking about
yep so yeah I mean what I did was I would take the the knowledge I gained from the reading and then try to apply
it to my field experience for that week or that month and I just kind of reinforced you know what I had learned
in the book and was able to a part I apply it practically in the field so
other listeners asked me the question when do I know when it’s the right time to take the exam how did you know when
it was the right time to take you and that’s a difficult question initially I was very nervous about the calculations
portion of the exam I only had about three and a half years of experience it’s difficult you know so if I figured
I needed some help with a certain area I would ask fortunately at industrial water engineering they had pretty good
training where we would cover different topics like on a Monday morning meeting
and then we had the chance to go back out into the field that week and and kind of see how it applies to the field
work we were doing I think that you know the combination of experience in the end of book learning is gives you a giving
it will give you an idea of if you’re ready or not and if you’re not then definitely explore those areas that
you’re not if if you’ve never dealt with like an RO for example and you have
maybe another rep in the same company that deals with one and asked if you can get involved in those types of
situations and that definitely will will help solidify the knowledge and make you
feel a little bit more comfortable about being ready for the exam and I will say that something that you did that I think
a lot of people are successful because they do it that way is they take the test right I’m sorry I can’t just call
it a test Angela Pike will get mad at me and say Examination that’s right though a lot of people will take the examination
directly after the technical training on that Sunday and not only is there a
little review there but I think the more important thing is you now have a rock-solid date that you’re working
towards that you now can work backwards and figure out how am I going to study
for this in little bite-size pieces so I can successfully pass it on that date was that helpful for you absolutely I
mean that I think that was key so when you decided to get your CWT and we’ll
say the the first time or even the second time you’ve been through the process twice so so you’re a very good
person ask about this so somebody out there listening that knows nothing about the process other than they want to
start to get their CWT can you explain what the process was that you went
through you mean like the day of the exam process actually before that so how did
you sign up for the exam what did you have to fill any forms out all that sort of stuff if you can remember well
fortunately people in the office both both at industrial water engineering in
southeastern laboratories I told them I said okay I’m ready I want to set a date and let’s get me scale
for the next water treatment training seminar and get me scheduled for the exam and so they kind of took care of
the the signing up process for me which was nice but then like you said I had a date to work towards and was able to
devote the time I needed to to refresh those items the second time and focus on
the items I wasn’t sure of the first go around alright so what was the actual
day like when you went to go sit down in that huge room with all those different
shaders and they were checking your ID and telling you to sit in an assigned spot what was that like well you know
it’s very formal I made sure to get plenty of sleep the night before and arrived at the exam
room early and then you know after everyone was checked in and Angela was
very thorough in the instructions for the exam so she explained everything and
answered any questions that we had before we actually started the test so then the time begins and I just worked
through the exam I skipped questions that I wasn’t exactly a hundred percent sure about I
made sure to read the supplemental little packet that came with the exam first so I could identify those
questions that were related to the information and in the Supplemental packet and just worked through the exam
I spent the entire time on it I did have a little bit of time to go back in and
do a quick review of my answers before I did turn in the exam but I used every
bit of time that that we were allowed well I got to say I commend you for
looking through the supplement a lot of people don’t do that and I know Angela’s told me that a lot
of people don’t open up all their materials and like it’s a great piece of advice if you’re gonna be given
something on the exam make sure you know what’s there exactly exactly
did you use your scratch paper I did I did it was very useful not only for working out some of the calculations but
also to jot down notes for questions that I might have skipped and that sort
of thing yeah we’re going to do a this is all going to be in a series so you’re going to be part probably two of three and in
the wrap-up I’m going to explain how I tell people in the math section how to use their scratch paper but you’re gonna
have to wait for that alright so what would you tell listeners that are on the
fence thinking well I’d like to get my CWT but I’m not really sure I’m gonna put it off a little bit longer what
would you tell them I would say go for it the benefits are rewarding from the
knowledge that that you gain from obtaining the CWT designation I’ve found
that I can solve a lot of customer problems that not all water treaters can do so you felt that studying for the
exam opened your eyes to get more experience while you’re out in the field is that what you’re saying absolutely yep so you mentioned working with
customers how did the opinion of you with your prospects and customers change
once you got that designation well it’s interesting because a lot of at least my
customers don’t really know what the certified water technologist designation
means so it kind of gives you an opportunity to opportunity to explain to
current customers hey this is what it means and this is what I’ve got to go through and you know I’ve got to got to
agree to the the ethics and you can see once once you explain to so and what it
means they kind of look at you a little different so you’re you’re the real deal is the kind of response I think I get
what happened to your confidence level when she got your CWT it went up
drastically especially initially in 2005 I just felt more confident about
different scenarios that that we as water treaters run to in our day-to-day work
were there any accounts you were scared to call on and then after you got your CWT you’re like hey I can handle this
yeah yeah you know some of the electronics industry accounts seemed a
little intimidating you know they’ve got all these different processes and you know how do i how do I treat an aluminum
boiler and and after getting the CWT I felt Bear in addressing some of these customers
that may have a little bit more intricate processes than a typical HVAC tower or simple steam boiler so let’s go
back to the testing procedure after you finished your test and you turned it in about how long was it until you found
out that she passed I think it took about a month maybe maybe a little bit
longer and then what was that process like how did you find out I received an email from Angela Pike and that it
basically just said congratulations you have passed your CV CWT and here are the
next steps on the road to actually obtaining the designation I guess
there’s another letter that says we’re sorry you didn’t pass but we didn’t get those so we don’t know what that was right all right all right so um so yeah
it’s like when you when you go into college and you don’t get into where you want to go and write written insert away I don’t know why I’m talking about that
we’re gonna move on so what what else do you think you can let our listeners know
about your experience with CWT well it’s worked out well for me
I have a few customers that obviously they go out to bid periodically and
because of the work I’ve done and what the customers see in their efficiency
you know they don’t want to necessarily lose me as their vendor for water
treatment and so some of the customers will actually put language into the bid
spec saying hey we would prefer that the successful vendor have a certified water
technologist designation from a WT and that that’s very helpful because not a
lot of people have it and I would be actually comfortable losing account to another CWT because I know they’re going
to do the treatment correct what a great thing to say I as a water trader I
appreciate that well good well you know I hate losing business because somebody was cheaper
than I was come on folks that’s no way to do water treatment take business from me all day long but teach me something
the process tell me I’m doing something wrong yeah I mean I sell it on your merit so I appreciate you saying that well it’s
true I think so and then more over to that I see certified water technologists in
specifications more and more in the Atlanta area so if you’re in an area
where you haven’t seen that I think it’s coming with ASHRAE is is recognizing it
I think boma is recognized and there’s all sorts of these groups that our customers are going to that are talking
about the certified water technologist designation so if you haven’t seen that
you will see that it is coming so let’s talk about one more thing before we move
on to some other questions now you had an experience where you did not keep up
with your CWT because you went to another industry and then you let it lapse but what is the recertification
process like you’ve got to obtain 25 continuing education units so and that’s
over I guess a five year period there’s different ways to do that you can attend
another water treatment training seminar and I think that’s good for 15 which that’s a big chunk of it right there
yeah that’s 15 and then also the the fundamentals and applications class was
just approved to get five some use there we wanted to go go through that you
could get that as well yep and then there of course there’s the webinars through AWT which count as one
and then there’s other things you can do like if I have a customer that wanted me
to do a presentation on just basic water treatment so that people who’ve not
aren’t necessarily involved with it but maybe management wanted to know why we
do what we do so I put together a PowerPoint and and did about an hour and a half long
training seminar for a customer in their management group and then I can submit that that roster to Angela and yet I
think it’s worth another additional CEU so there’s there’s different ways to
accumulate those have you ever had any issues finding enough CEUs no I haven’t
I think you know with with the sales meetings we have at Southeastern Laboratory – we go through
quite a bit of topics for training at these meetings in I think Mark Lewis
submits those to Angela and we also get credit for those so it’s it’s fairly
easy to to accumulate them but it’s definitely worthwhile to log into the
website a WT website and see where you’re at and know where you need to be so it does not expire because I do not
plan on taking the test at there you’ve done that you’re done with it that’s right so I know for myself I try to get
all the CEUs out of the way in the beginning of the five years so that way I don’t have to in the last six months
so where am I going to get 25 units right and I think I’m willing to bet that that’s where most people have their
downfalls they just don’t keep up with it and if they do it’s not that big of a deal if we do it from that first year so
so advice from both you and I as CW T’s do it today don’t wait til tomorrow very
good advice alright so let’s talk about some other questions about water treatment who would you say has helped
you most in the water treatment industry oh that’s another tough question it’s really hard to just nail down one
specific person it could be a village that’s okay okay well I have a village so I got to
give a lot of credit to the the group at industrial water engineering because they took the time to do like these
weekly trainings you know company meeting Monday morning we’re gonna go over this topic and they would quiz us
about it and then like I said that gave me the opportunity to go out and apply it to the field in a practical sense
before Bernadette Norman her dad les Norman was running the company when I
worked for them and so he was a great mentor in training me on AWT topics for
treatment of different industrial water systems so I think he was instrumental and the company together as a whole with
my initial experience and you know now that I work with southeastern Laboratories I’ve got quite a few
go to people my district manager Steve tuning has been really great in helping
me with any technical issues that I have that may pop up of course I can always rely on mark Lewis which you know he’s a
former president of a WT so there’s a lot of knowledge there and even though
bill Pearson doesn’t work with us anymore he’s had special pathogens he is on my speed dial so if I have any
questions about Legionella I can certainly rely on on mr. Gerson to help
me out there well excellent and you know you mentioned some great people and you
happen to be very lucky and work with them but some of us might not be lucky and work with those people I’m gonna do
a show later on about finding a mentor and and and how those people can have the same experience that you did even
though they don’t work for your company yeah having a mentor I think is key that getting into the industry initially and
then also down the road because it’s just an ever-changing field and so
there’s that’s what fascinates me about it is something new happens almost on the daily basis so it never gets boring
that’s right it’s nice to have those people to go hey I’ve never seen this before what the heck’s going on exactly
so how do you go out and find new water treatment business well there’s kind of
two two ways to that I think initially when I moved to North Carolina I didn’t have a network per se I had to do a lot
of cold callin knocking on doors and just trying to get in front of people and that’s that’s kind of a hard way to
do it I think but it worked because you know once I started building on that that network and started getting to know
different contacts in the area it seems like the new business just you know not
necessarily fell in my lap but it would be word-of-mouth like customer X would
talk to customer Y and say hey this is who we’re using then and he’s doing an excellent job and then the next thing
you know customer wise given me a call or wanted to set up a meeting to talk about their water treatment issues so
get out there and do it is that pretty much what you’re saying yeah I mean get out there and do it don’t be afraid to
make a sales call or walk in and just try to gain a contact at a prospect but
I think the the biggest advice I could give in that aspect is to listen for problems and offer solutions based on
the knowledge that you gain from association of Water Technologies as well as taking the certified water
technologist exam all right so one of the key themes of scaling up
is to be a better water treater tomorrow than we are today what advice can you
give to our listeners to that end well never stop learning the field is
changing there’s new technologies that’s to me is is what makes it exciting is to
keep up with all of these changes and and to dive into something new if you like I mentioned earlier if you’ve never
dealt with an RO and and you know there’s one available for you to to work with someone at go for it gain that
knowledge you know dive into different different processes that that maybe you
haven’t looked at before maybe you know treating process molding loops that that
are made out of aluminum or there’s a variety of different different things but I would just encourage encourage
everyone to just keep learning and I think that that helps you kind of stay motivated and keeps the excitement going
for the career I think that’s great advice and I would also add to that that
if any listeners out there are bored with their job and you’re a water treat or you’re doing it wrong perhaps you
need to redo something or you need to rethink your career because it’s never boring I would agree a hundred percent with
that all right well thanks for Sarah sharing all your knowledge with with CWT
and a little bit about you but now let’s go into some of the lightning round questions if you’re ready for those sure all right so if you could go back in
time and visit yourself on the first day you started as a water treat
what advice would you give yourself I think I would tell myself not to be intimidated you know for example by
larger systems I remember the first time I saw a large water tube steam boiler I
was like oh my god but you know once you you break it all down it’s it’s works the same as a small
boiler so don’t let larger systems intimidate me I think is what I would
tell myself if I could go back all right so what were the last three books that
you’ve read well and I have read several I do read a lot of technical articles
and publications like the analyst I just started diving into the bats handbook of
industrial water conditioning since James McDonald pointed out on LinkedIn
that there you can access it for free so I was like hey well that’s pretty cool I’ll check it out I think on the kind of
entertainment or personal side starting book one of the game of Thrones series
so have you watched the shows I have been watching the shows and my wife read
the books and she’s like he got to read the book and she didn’t tell me a lot more than that but you know how the
saying goes the books are always better than the the movies well I am a huge fan of those shows
they’ve been brought up several times on scaling-up I’ve read the first two books they they
follow the show pretty well and they give you an appreciation of what’s going on in the backstory that you just don’t
get with the television show Oh interesting yeah I’m looking forward to it excellent
excellent all right so with with all the excitement that you’ve had in your life eventually they’re gonna make a movie
about your life plays you uh-oh that’s a tough question too
and I did put a little forethought into this question but I don’t know if you
know who Thomas Gibson is I don’t think I do Thomas Gibson plays agent Hotchner from
Criminal Minds okay and I think he would
be a good person to play me because he is the serious problem solver and never
never loses a case so you know I used to always to think he was the same guy that
was the lead on Will and Grace that he was will and somebody said no that wasn’t yeah so what do I know there for good
well if he’s not available can the will guy play you sure why not other there you go we’re taken we’re taking scripts
now all right so you can talk to anybody throughout history who would it be with
and why well this one was fairly easy for me I would talk to Wilfred F Langley er the
reason being is I would like to know his perspective on the risen ER and acorrea
syntheses and I know there’s been a some debate back and forth on which one is the most correct so I’d like to talk to
mr. Langley and get his perspective on those ideas I gotta tell you I don’t give points during the lightning round
but if I did that’s an awesome answer how about that John I will tell you and Paul if you are listening I have emailed
you I have called you you are not returning my calls I want to get Paul back Laureus on my show primarily
because I’m the math guy with a WT and I know you’ve taken my math class and I try to prove all of the formulas that we
have so who cares if you can run em or not it’s math you can run them I want you to know where they came from so they
make sense and I think I can do that for pretty much all the equations we have out there except for the pH of
equilibrium equation that he has in the psi I don’t know where those numbers
came from so I’m desperately trying to get ahold of Paul so anybody out there in the scaling up nation that knows Paul
please have him call me I want to get him on the show that would be all so well great answers I got to tell you I
thanks so much for coming on the show great advice I know you’ve probably motivated some of
our listeners to take some action so thank you for doing that and thanks for listening to the show and thanks for
being on scaling-up absolutely trace I appreciate you having me on folks above all else I hope that this
episode has inspired you to get your certified water technologist designation
you know everything you possibly could about the logistics of getting the CWT
from Angela and I hope you’ve gotten some insight and some inspiration from
the Andes it is my hope that this episode nudges you to saying yes I am
going to get my certified water technologist designation I assure you everybody who has set out
on that goal has felt that this is just an incredible challenge and they had no
idea how to maneuver their way through this journey so we’re gonna help each
other with that I want you to know that you’re not alone I felt the same way
when I decided to get my CWT unfortunately I did not have the
resources that you all have in the scaling-up nation you’re wondering what
the heck am I talking about so I want to tell you about that but first I want you to know that you fall into one of three
categories you’re either don’t have all your five
years of experience and you’ve got to study a lot and you need to practice a
lot don’t be ashamed of that we all start at the same point the difference is few of us actually
decide to make the journey to get the CWT so if you’re in that category be
loud be proud some people just haven’t decided they’re
going to get their CWT and they have enough experience they have the
proficiency of a water treated a can just go and take the exam right now they
just haven’t done that and then all the rest of us fall somewhere in between so
no matter where you fall on that the journey starts the same exact way you
have to commit to getting your CWT now as we learn on episode 23 the one with
Tim Fulton when you publicly announce to somebody that you are going to do
something you’re not only accountable to yourself but now others are holding you
accountable to get that thing so to help with this I have started a
LinkedIn group the LinkedIn group is scaling up nation I encourage you to
join the scaling up nation LinkedIn group and I’m going to give you your first homework assignment your first
homework assignment is to post the date that you are going to take the certified
water technologist examination now all of your peers know that you are going to
do that and you have publicly announced to the scaling-up nation that you’re going to get this done and folks I know
that you can do this now you might be having some trouble coming up with a
date so here’s what I want you to do I want you to assess your experience level
now the best way to do that if you don’t have five years experience is just
simply say when will I have my five years of industry experience you can go
ahead and put your date on there if you’re unclear about what knowledge that
you need in order to pass the examination everybody feels that way so
realistically if you have a very short timeframe to take the exam think about
all the things that you need to know in order to feel comfortable sitting for that examination and pick that date then
I want you to write it in your calendar write it in your calendar because we’re going to create a study plan by working
backwards from that and then that date you are going to post on the scaling-up
nation group LinkedIn page now look what you did you got a date in your calendar
so you committed to yourself and you posted it to the scaling-up nation page on LinkedIn and you are accountable to
all these other people that have the same common goal that you do I know
whenever I set a goal it always helps me to set a date that I’m going to do something by and then I work backwards
to make sure that I get it done that might be the part that you’re having a little bit of problems with so here’s
what I want you to do with that I want you to assess where you are now what you can do you can go on the AWT website you can take some
practice exams and you can see where you are also if you know a CWT get them to
assess you ask them some questions and see if they can help assess where you
are in that process I think it’s good that you share your experience on how
you’re doing these things on the scaling up nation grouped in fact it’s hard to
say the scaling up nation LinkedIn group page so that way others can learn from
what you’re doing and vice versa so share what your study plan is share the
successes that you’re having but also share the roadblocks you might discover
something that could help somebody else so if you run into a roadblock don’t be
embarrassed about that share that and maybe somebody else in the scaling up nation can help you get over that I also
recommend that you share this date with the people that you work with they’re
going to be ecstatic that you’re committed to getting the certified water technologist designation and now you’ve
committed to them that you’re going to do this I know you’ve heard me say several times a rising tide raises all
boats so let’s help each other by being that rising tide so we can all get our C
WTS and by that we will collectively raise the industry have a great leap of
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