JAMES DOUGLAS OLSON
632 SOUTH FOSTER AVENUE
LANSING, MICHIGAN 48912-3812
Phone: 517-485-7618    E-Mail: James.Olson@JDOlson.net

    This is the professional page of my website, here is the story of my background and history.

    This story begins in High school and continues to the present, the original of this narritive was a letter I wrote to the local 665 of the IBEW in an attempt to get an apprenticeship.

    This is intended to give you some of my background. I was born and raised in and around Lansing. I graduated from Okemos High school in 1982. I went to college for a year, but did not do well.

    In 1983 I joined the Michigan Amy National guard as a Military Policeman, and went to Training at Fort McClellan Alabama from January to May of 1984. From then until December of 1987 I held various menial jobs ending with that of a cashier at Meijers. It was at that time that I started to realize that I needed to make some changes in my life, or it was not going to be a very happy one, I started by taking a leave of absence from Meijers and went onto active duty in the Army. I spent two years in the Republic of Korea followed by two years in the Republic of Germany.

    After I got out of the service in February of 1992, I returned to my job at Meijers, Where I met my Wife. I stayed there until March of 1994 when I was hired into Western Wheel in Howell. Even though the pay was lower than what I had at Meijers it was full time, and had good benefits. It was in the summer that I bought my house, a house was a HUD repo, and was a disaster. Over the next year I, myself with the assistance of some friends and the advice of the city building inspectors of Lansing, replaced all plumbing, electrical wiring insulation, drywall, kitchen cupboards and cabinets, windows, and bathroom fixtures. I basically replaced everything from the studs in the outer walls in.

    I left my job at Western Wheel in the fall of 1995 when I was laid off, and got a job at the Oloffson Machine Tool Company as a general laborer. I started that job on the Monday the 11th of September, Two days after my wedding. It was here that I had my first real introduction to the skilled trades. I applied for an electrical apprenticeship, and was only beat out because the winning candidate had six weeks more seniority. I was determined after that to never be beat out again if I could help it.

    In the spring of 1996 I went back to college for a company required course, and discovered that college was not really all that difficult, and that I do it, and do it well. This made me a man with an agenda. I wanted to be in skilled trades, but was not yet sure which one so I took courses in a variety of industrial fields before settling into Electrical Technology. I started back to school with a GPA of 0.81, something which I was determined to improve. I went to college full time, summer, fall and winter of 1996, spring, summer and fall of 1997, and spring and summer of 1998. During this entire time with the exception of summer 1997 I worked at least full time, averaging 55 + hours per week. The reason that I did not work so hard in the summer of 1997 was that I had been laid off from Oloffson in May, just 4 days before the birth and 9 days before the death of my son.

    I was then Hired into Ogihara America as a probationary Assembly Maintenance Technician in September of 1997, and then permanently in February of 1998. While there I continued my education both through company sponsored courses and through LCC. Receiving company classes in PLC’s, electrical and mechanical robotics and others, supplementing these with actual field experience. I also continued my College courses. In the spring of 2001 I left Ogihara for an opportunity here in Lansing with Lansing Grand River Utilities. I did this for a shorter drive time and the opportunity to broaden my experience.

    I was laid off from there in November of 2001. And decided to continue my education, for one term. At the end of that spring semester in 2002 I received my Associates in Applied Science (AAS) with Electrical Technology - Industrial as my Major, I also then had accumulated Two certificates of achievement in electrical technology and am but one class from a third. Also My final GPA at LCC is 3.21, and my GPA in my curriculum was higher enough to put me onto the College Presidents List.

    In the summer of 2002 i worked at several odd jobs still trying to become an electrician, the closest i came was when i was working for a heating, cooling, and plumbing service company who told me i was going to be thier first electrical apprentice, and who never registered me with the state as an apprentice, and who shortly later could not get any work as electrical contractors, so after the month of july laid off again I was. In August of that year I was approached by the HR department of an automotive supllier to interview as an electrician, which i did, and was hired as such, with the proviso that I aquire a Journeymans card from the UAW, i didnt think it impossible, so i tried, and found out that the UAW does not recognize education as a worthwile persuit in the skilled trades, as a result my education counted for nothing towords getting a Journeymans card, and my documentation then became sorely lacking, as such they released me in November.

    What followed was 4 months of little of no work, I got a couple of jobs, none lasting more than a week or two, in February of 2003 I recieved a most unusual offer, I was given a list of Job objectives, and asked if I was interested in having a job that would require I do the kind of work listed in these objectives, these objectives were mostly minor elecrical in nature, with some controls programming, so yes I said i would, i was then hired by the Aerotek agency to work at and for the General Motors Fuel Research Laboritory. I stayed with them for 20 months, and with the exception that I was not actually employed by GM, was some of the happiest work time of my entire life, I worked hard, I learned alot, and I had some fairly large responsibilites. however all good things must come to an end, and in the summer of 2004 the auto industry was experienceing a slump, and as the lowest seniority "Temp" I was released, but not until my Boss's Boss's Boss came to himself give me 6 weeks notice that they were having to do this, but that they would give me every assistance to find another employer.

    Unfortunately this did not work out too well, as over the next 8 months I held a variety of temp jobs, not holding any very long, due mainly to working myself out of work. During this time I had no insurnce, and exhausted my unemployment benefits. In May of 2005 I began a course of study at the Careerquest learning center in East Lansing to become a certified help desk technician. In June of 2005 I achieved employment with Bioport, the sole manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine in the world. I was hired as a Metrologist to install, program, and calibrate thier manufacturing measuring devices. Even though I now had employment, I continued my course of study with Careerquest, completeing it in December of that year.

    It was during the next year that I realized that even though I now had a decent job, with a reasonable income, it was still just barely enough to pay the bills, with not much left over for savings or luxuries, so I debated finding a second job so my daughter could have a worthy Christmas season. While i debated, the world moved on, and i recieved an email one day at work that said the company was having a college day, and as a result I decided that if I was going to give up time with my family, it would be to make myself more marketable and increase my skills and worth, that August I registered with the University of Phoenix as a Full time student of IT.

    After 33 months, I had to move on from there. In May of 2008 I was hired as an auxillary employee of GM in thier Lansing Grand River Plant, where I worked in the Supplier Action Center, ensuring quality parts for their automobiles. Unfortunatly the automobile industry is again in a slump and as again very low seniority, I was reluctantly released, however with the knowledge that I was on the approved list for rehire should they become more active. In September of this year I completed my final class with the University of Phoenix, achieving my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology.

                                                                                                     

    Additional advisory *** This website is also an attempt to sharpen my skills in web content creation, so be aware that it might be a bumpy ride, and changes may occur rapidly or not at all.***