Pop Quizzes & Mexican Food: Internships at Graniterock with Jacquie Borges and Ryan Becker
Jul 28, 2023Season 4Episode 65
Graniterock
Ever wondered what it’s like to be an intern at Graniterock? We've got two of the best to tell you all about it! Meet Jacquie Borges and Ryan Becker, two-time returning interns at Graniterock, who share their personal experiences working in soil distribution and construction management. As they lead us through a day in the life, memorable projects, and the support they've received from their colleagues, you'll get a real sense of the culture and camaraderie here at Graniterock. Hear them discuss the mentors who've shaped their career paths, their plans for the future, and why they can't get enough of Graniterock. Jackie and Ryan aren't just all about work, though. They also clue us in on their personal passions, from Jackie's love for horse riding and marathon training to Ryan's enthusiasm for snowboarding and fishing.
If you're considering an internship opportunity at Graniterock, you won't want to miss this!
Ever wondered what it’s like to be an intern at Graniterock? We've got two of the best to tell you all about it! Meet Jacquie Borges and Ryan Becker, two-time returning interns at Graniterock, who share their personal experiences working in soil distribution and construction management. As they lead us through a day in the life, memorable projects, and the support they've received from their colleagues, you'll get a real sense of the culture and camaraderie here at Graniterock. Hear them discuss the mentors who've shaped their career paths, their plans for the future, and why they can't get enough of Graniterock. Jackie and Ryan aren't just all about work, though. They also clue us in on their personal passions, from Jackie's love for horse riding and marathon training to Ryan's enthusiasm for snowboarding and fishing.
If you're considering an internship opportunity at Graniterock, you won't want to miss this!
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Rock Talk, the podcast Intern Edition. My name is Francesca Giannata and I will be your host for today's segment. I am a senior at the University of California, santa Barbara, where I study communication and technology management. Much like our guests here today, I'm a two-time returning intern at good old Granite Rock, where I've had the pleasure of working under Reed Carter and the environmental team and Keith Severson and the marketing team. I would now like to introduce our guests for today. We have Jackie Borges and Ryan Becker.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello, how are you?
Speaker 1:
All right, now that you've heard a little bit about me, tell me about yourself, jackie, let's start with you.
Speaker 3:
My name is Jacqueline Borges, but everyone calls me Jackie. I graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Studies from San Jose State University and I'm working in soil distribution for the second summer with Lisa Persaud.
Speaker 1:
Awesome Ryan. How about you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I'm Ryan. I go to Chico State and I'm studying CM construction management. I've recently transferred over from civil engineering. I've been working in the Bay Area Private Division for the last two summers and last winter as well. I've worked under John Torres, but with a lot of different project management teams as well. Yeah, it's been pretty cool.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, a lot of big projects, fun stuff. What job are you working on right now, in particular?
Speaker 2:
Right now we're getting Union Road started. I'm over with Mark Zabel and then I'm going to dabble in a little bit of the Apple projects with Terry McIntyre. It doesn't mean pretty cool.
Speaker 1:
Sounds like fun.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, it's going to be cool.
Speaker 1:
So, jackie, can you tell me a little bit about your hobbies outside of?
Speaker 3:
work. Sure, I have been riding horses for 15 years and I still do ride and compete at four different barns right now. Wow, yeah. So I have one horse, her name is Becky, and we're getting her ready to show. And then I'm also training for a half marathon. Awesome, which half marathon? The Rock and Roll San Jose half marathon in September.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Awesome Ryan. What are your hobbies looking like?
Speaker 2:
Fishing, snowboarding, anything outdoors in the mountains Love to do that. But yeah, up in Chico you're two hours away from Tahoe, so you've got a lot of good snowboarding up there. Fishing Lake Orville's 30 minutes from Chico, so it's I mean it's right there. Great practice lake.
Speaker 1:
Amen brother.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, a lot of good fishing up there, then down in the bay also when I'm home.
Speaker 1:
When you were looking to apply for internships. What was it about Granite Rock that kind of struck you, made you want to apply.
Speaker 3:
Paul Tentrillo is a really good family friend and I was kind of looking for an internship but didn't really know where to look and he was like, hey, you should look into Granite Rock and apply. And I was like construction, I don't know alright. So I looked into it and program sounded like a good fit so I applied Awesome.
Speaker 1:
Ryan, what about you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so John Torres Barry, a private manager. These kids go to the elementary school that I went to, but they're obviously a lot younger than me, so but we just know him from around Redwood City and I believe my dad, who's a project manager at Vance Brown, worked with him on a Robly Gym over in Stanford, and so we saw him in the winter middle of my freshman year and he goes hey, I was civil at Chico also, you should. You know, I started out as an intern at Granite Rock. You should try doing it. Yeah, alright, I'll apply. And so I ended up getting in and doing it and then I ended up changing to construction management because of it.
Speaker 1:
Awesome.
Speaker 2:
And because I realized I didn't really want to do civil engineering. I wanted to do construction and project management.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, it was great, awesome, and so you guys must have enjoyed it, because you came back for a second summer in a row. So what was it that made you want to come back?
Speaker 3:
Most of the people. I really enjoy everyone that I working with, everyone that I do and just the work in general. I like the technical side of it and analyzing data and going out and sampling and job sites and stuff like that Awesome. I totally totally agree.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I would agree. I would say everyone, the people and the culture of the people, for sure.
Speaker 1:
What would you say? The culture kind of is.
Speaker 2:
Well it's. It's a little different. You know, out in the field, that's that it is in the office, but it's also not different. I'd say over the hell. Your office, you know all the guys there, always willing to help, and they also, you know, care about my life outside of the office too. So they're always asking me how's Chico going? You know all this other stuff. And then in the field, you know, there's a lot of camaraderie, brotherhood, which is what I really like. So, yeah, I mean it's definitely different, but it's also not different, and everyone's really focused on the same thing and they want to get it done, but they also want to have a good time doing it.
Speaker 1:
Love that. All right, jackie. Can you walk us through a typical day in the life as a granite rock intern?
Speaker 3:
I usually go to the office about eight. Lisa and I kind of have like a meeting. Usually it's a pop quiz first thing in the morning of like hey, let me make sure you remember all this stuff. We run through all that and then we kind of put in order what our meetings are for the day, and then sometimes we'll go out to lunch mostly Mexican food and then Finish off what we're doing for the rest of the day.
Speaker 1:
Granite rock is very good at feeding their interns, I will say Awesome, ryan, let's walk. Walk us through a typical day in the life of a CM intern okay.
Speaker 2:
So it kind of depends on what the project's doing and where it's at. So sometimes I'll, first thing in the morning I'll be out on the site, or I'll be in the office and then go to the site after. It depends. Usually they will give me Whatever, whatever it is that needs to be done, but they'll kind of say, hey, here, here's this, and they explain it to me and I go and I take a crack at it and then I give it back to them. They kind of review it and go over it with me and tell me where I need to adjust.
Speaker 2:
Until it's awesome good to go and ready to send out. So that's the majority of my office work. And then, once I've done it before, I can usually do it again and I get quicker and quicker at it, which is the goal, and then I can do it all my own.
Speaker 2:
That's awesome and then be down in the field. It's a lot of working with the crews, learning and, yeah, it's, it's. The guys in the field are actually really helpful and they don't say hey, you know, go away, let me do my thing. Get some hands-on action. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes. I'm not safe. Where is it? But um, no, yeah, it's great. They always want to teach. They're not very, um, they're not reclusive at all. They like to teach. For sure I like that.
Speaker 1:
I think one of my favorite parts about interning at Grand Rock is I feel like everybody that I've met thus far gives you the opportunity to make mistakes 100%. Yeah, that's where the best learning comes from. So, for For most of us that are listening, you probably know that Grand Rock requires their employees to back into their parking spots. It's the safest way to do it, and safety before all else, of course. How many times does it take you guys honestly to readjust into a parking spot? How many, how much readjusting time do you need?
Speaker 2:
One readjustment if that. Well, because I got well, I drive. I drive a suburban UConn XL, so the only way I can usually park that thing unless it's a wide open parking lot is backing it in. So I've got a lot of practice Since I started driving. Wasn't that big of an adjustment for me, which is nice.
Speaker 1:
Well for the rest of us.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, prior to Grand Rock I hardly ever back my car into parking spaces and the first day I pulled in forward and I looked at the sign I was like so usually takes like one or two tries. Now I've gotten a little better at it one or two, you guys.
Speaker 1:
I think I'm really bad at parking. None, no, because if I get out of there with three, three adjustments, it's a great day anyway. This is kind of a fun question. If you could drive any piece of heavy equipment, which would it be?
Speaker 2:
Oh, jackie, you want to go first.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, actually I didn't really think about that. That's definitely on the list because it's nine times the height of me. But, um, I Say like in the field on projects that I work on, probably just the biggest excavator or does or I could find just move some dirt or the paver, one of those heck, yeah, yeah, I'd definitely be.
Speaker 1:
I'd definitely drive a quarry haul truck. I've been working on them out there at the quarry to get me my ride along. So fingers crossed.
Speaker 2:
I'd be sweet, really cool. Yeah, I get one of the scrapers to be cool.
Speaker 1:
So, speaking of the quarry, have you ever seen a blast out at the AR Wilson?
Speaker 3:
quarry, not in person. I've only seen videos. We got to get you out there, I know that's great, I love it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I saw one with you, francesca, the last year our first summer working together. Yes, yes, yeah, we went out. Awesome Joey.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, joey DiMaggio.
Speaker 2:
Joey, joey DiMaggio, shout out, joe.
Speaker 1:
What is the coolest sticker that you have on your hard hat?
Speaker 3:
I actually don't have any stickers.
Speaker 1:
Not yet.
Speaker 3:
No, not one. I am in the office like 80% of the time, so, yeah, not not. A ton of you said my will get you, will get you set up.
Speaker 1:
Mm-hmm, ryan, how about you?
Speaker 2:
Well, out of the ones I put on my hard hat, definitely I got a. I got a Chico State Wildcat roaring on the right side and then on the back left, I have the one from our Agnews campus that we did.
Speaker 1:
Oh, cool, that was a. That was a big project for you, right?
Speaker 2:
four or five-year job. Jaden, one of our other interns. He took over or not took over, but he started out with Terry and the team over there and then I took over for the last part of the summer last summer and that was kind of the rounding out of it once. Once I went back to school it was basically done, but I was there for kind of tying the knot and ending that one and that was a really cool one. So that's a significant sticker for me.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, it's cool. Cool to see it finish out oh yeah, it was great, impressive job for sure. So, being here for the past two years, how do you think that granite rock differs from your past work experiences?
Speaker 3:
In the past. I've only ever worked for like barns or with livestock, so this is completely different. This is like my first corporate job. Before then, I was mostly training horses or teaching lessons for kids, so this is definitely been a learning curve for me, awesome.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I worked for an electrical Contractor smaller residential one that was. It was a good experience. I mean, I learned just kind of about how stuff goes in the construction industry a little bit, but definitely not to the extent I've learned here. At that point I was I was a little younger, so what they kind of did. I went out to the field a couple times with them, but I was mostly in a stock room organizing parts, so that wasn't the most exciting, but I still learned. It was cool.
Speaker 1:
I got your foot in the door. Yeah, I got my foot in the door a little bit yeah, but um, this is yeah.
Speaker 2:
This is definitely where I needed to be. That wasn't gonna cut it.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. Can you tell us about a time, whether it be in the office or out in the field, where you were working on something and you made it better?
Speaker 3:
In soil distribution. There's a lot of dump sites throughout the Bay Area that you could possibly take soil and hadn't. There was a Program that hadn't been updated since like 2009, so we went through and updated it with all the the new dump sites and like what their Classifications for soil are and you know. So that way people can go and look and see which dump site is closest to their job site. So it takes out a lot of the guessing work. Good for you, it seems a lot more efficient.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, definitely awesome Right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean so construction has been going, you know, a while. It's a very old industry so they have a lot of the stuff dialed in, but there's, you know, in the job sites there's always a lot of variables and stuff that goes different ways than you might think. So I mean just little bits here and there, like hey, we should put this over here. We could reach there instead of coming in from this angle costs us a lot more time. So little things like that. It's not like I've changed a whole system or anything but absolutely.
Speaker 2:
I mean just little things here and there, for sure.
Speaker 1:
Also, it's nice because, like you said, the construction industry is so old. You have a new perspective to bring in, which I think is cool.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's nice.
Speaker 1:
Awesome.
Speaker 2:
It's a lot of learning, but yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:
So, being at the office, like we said, you guys have been here for two years. You've kind of had the opportunity to make some relationships, and both of you said that one of your favorite things about working at Granite Rock is the people. Who is your work bestie?
Speaker 3:
I'm with my boss quite a bit. My mentor, lisa. We hang out quite a bit. She's really fun to talk to and you know, yeah, she understands me. And outside of work, awesome. Also. Chris Collins and Nikita Collins yeah, hang out with them quite a bit.
Speaker 1:
Awesome, good family friends. They're the best yeah. I'm sure they will be very happy to hear that.
Speaker 2:
I always hear you and Lisa laughing over there Back for your holiday. Yeah, all the time, yeah.
Speaker 1:
Ryan, who's your work bestie?
Speaker 2:
My work bestie. Well, just like Jackie said, my mentors are definitely some of my besties, but I'd say one of them is new project engineer Geo Geonata. I actually went to school with him and he was in my fraternity and now he's working full time. So it's kind of cool to go and, you know, see someone that you just don't just know from work and but you still talk about work and he helps me out sometimes. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's all right.
Speaker 2:
He's a French-esqueist brother. He's great.
Speaker 1:
I'm only throwing this in here for Josh Bassanese, but he is my work bestie. Nobody tell him. I told him that. So that kind of leads into my next question who would you say is your biggest mentor? That could be at Granite Rock or just in life in general.
Speaker 3:
At Granite Rock. Definitely, lisa. Lisa has helped me learn so so much and there is so many moving parts to soil that I had no idea about and she, you know, breaks it out into manageable chunks for me and checks that. I understand it frequently, which is nice.
Speaker 1:
Awesome.
Speaker 2:
I appreciate that For me. For me, I would say it's all my project engineers and project managers that I've worked with, which is kind of a you know it's a broad group, but all the barrier private project management teams, because they've all showed me different ways of doing things which are going to help me build how I do things. So, yeah, shout out to all of them for that, because I mean they just built my entire way of doing it, even though it's a broad group.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. You take little pieces that you learn from everybody. And then you'll be able to teach somebody.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, whoever that is, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:
In advance.
Speaker 2:
Nah, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:
How do you think your experiences at Granite Rock have shaped your career path?
Speaker 3:
Granite Rock has definitely set the standard for how I think a work environment should be and how employees should be treated, because, you know, granite Rock is definitely the standard when it comes to that. Everyone is really nice, everyone genuinely wants to help you learn, which I really appreciate.
Speaker 1:
Could not agree more.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I agree, I mean especially in the intern area. Yeah, I talked to a lot of my friends that work in other construction companies and we by far have the best intern program as far as I can tell. And yeah, I think, career-wise, I mean it's definitely I didn't know where I was going to go, what I wanted to do. I mean I knew I wanted to do construction, but I didn't know where or what. So this is definitely kind of putting me on the right path and I'm starting to discover what I want to do for sure.
Speaker 1:
What a cool experience.
Speaker 2:
Want to come back here.
Speaker 1:
Well, yeah, that leads into my next question, where you see yourself in five years.
Speaker 2:
Hopefully here's full-time PE and then after that project manager after working, my way up yeah.
Speaker 1:
I'm sure we'll see you there.
Speaker 2:
Hope so.
Speaker 1:
Jackie, where do you see yourself in five years?
Speaker 3:
I'd love to stay at Granite Rock if that's possible, and I'd also kind of like consider getting my master's degree as well.
Speaker 2:
Good for you, yeah that'd be sweet, do you?
Speaker 1:
know, about in what? No, no idea. Yet you got time.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
All right, this is our last question, guys, so make it a good one. What is your favorite part about working at Granite Rock?
Speaker 2:
Well, a lot to consider. Is it too broad to say everything?
Speaker 1:
Let's dive deeper.
Speaker 2:
Dive deeper. Okay, I don't think there's a day I've woken up for work and not wanted to go to work. I mean, there's been days that I'm tired and stuff, but there's never been a day like damn, I don't want to go today. I've always woken up and been like I'm ready to go today. Yeah, I've never had a bad day and I've never had a day where I didn't want to get up and go to work. So, even when it's been early, early mornings or staying late, late nights, I've never had a time where I'm like I'm really over this, I don't want to do it. So it's really nice.
Speaker 2:
Yeah that's probably my favorite part. I'm just always excited, always something new to learn. Yeah, the projects and the people make it that way.
Speaker 1:
There you go.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. I don't think there's ever been a day that I've dreaded coming to work at all, ever, and definitely the people and learning new things has helped with that a lot.
Speaker 1:
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for coming today and being featured on our intern podcast. I'd like to thank you, jackie and Ryan, again for coming in and sharing your experiences. It's been a pleasure hearing from you both and for everybody that's listening. If you are interested in an internship opportunity at Grant Rock, we are going to attach a link to the application in our show notes. So thank you everybody for listening.