Graham Robertson

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Logistics and Practical Checklist

1. Did you submit a resume?

Yes

1. Please introduce yourself and what position you are applying for (if not clear on position, it will be covered later)

My name is Graham Robertson from Dallas, TX. I am applying for metal fabrication apprenticeship, but willing to help on construction and gardening.

1. Are you interested in working on-site at FeF or are you interested in remote collaboration.

Both, I would like to visit first and help to build Microtrac prototype 2, return home and rent out a shop space for fabricating GVCS. I would like to contribute with field testing of the Microtrac, as I will be using it in a market garden operation come Spring 2013.

1. Are you applying as a volunteer or for a paid position?

Volunteer now, if I end up liking FeF and staying, I am interested in self funded work proposal.

1. Are you ok with a 2 week trial period? One month trial period?

Yes

1. If it's the paid position, is $2000/month acceptable to you?
2. Which track are you interested in (management or admin/apprentice/entrepreneur)
3. When are you available?

June 15 onward

1. How long will you stay with us?

At least til August, up to November

1. How did you find out about us?

word of mouth

1. Have you seen my TED Talk?

Yes

1. What do you care about?

Helping myself and others to become more autonomous, building community resilience, using existing human, physical and info resources.

1. What do you see yourself doing with us at Factor e Farm?

I want to get training in workshop tools to begin, then will move on to Microtrac design and prototyping. Half in the shop, half doing construction of Microhouse.

1. How does our work relate to your care?
2. For that which you care about doing with us, what is your track record/work samples?

Select Questions

1. Tell us about yourself.
2. Tell me about the last 5 years of your life.

Five years ago I left school halfway through my sophomore year of high school, 2008. I had little idea of what I wanted to do, but knew I wanted a different purpose. I discovered the unschooling philosophy, which means self directed learning. The role of the parent is facilitating resources and helping the child to find his/her passion. I spent a year in stasis, transitioning from the paradigm of "grades as motivation," and conceived many ideas based on what I was researching, experiments in cooking, gardening, building, finding new ways to meet our needs that enable autonomy and harmony with all life. Then I began seeking out connections with other people doing things that interest me. I took a Permaculture design course in summer 09 and then helped build a cob house in Fall 09. In Fall of 2010 I joined with a veteran carpenter I had met at the prior workshop, who wanted to start a natural building business. We worked together for two years, holding cob oven demonstrations, pallet building workshops, cob house building workshops. I recently left the company for personal reasons. Even before I joined Texas Natural Builders, I knew OSE was where I wanted to put my energy.

1. What are you interested in getting out of this opportunity?

Training in metal fabrication, insight into the workings of a properly managed project, entrepreneurship training in running a metal fab business, and that good feeling you get when contributing meaningful work.

1. What do you think is the best use of your time?

I like the scrum method of getting stuff done. Breaking down a mission into small tasks makes a lot of sense to me. We all make “To Do” lists to help us stay focused, and scrum is a more holistic approach that I would like to learn in order to use my time more meaningfully.

1. What are your three strongest skills that you bring to this position? Substantiate.
2. What are the principles you use as guidance?

Efficiency (work smarter, not harder), Open collaboration and working together towards common vision,

1. What are your professional accomplishments that you are most proud about?

Most of my meaningful work since leaving school has been for the love of it, and I feel confident that I could use many of the skills I have learned professionally. I have held a vision of subsisting on a small market garden here at my parents’ house in Dallas for a few years, and fruit is just starting to really come on. All the work I have put in is finally paying off, nutritionally and soon, monetarily.

1. If you could investigate anything, what would it be?

What are the powers that dictate how and why the patterns of suburban sprawl exist, and how can we retrofit and return to community based economic structure as opposed to an individualist competitive one?

1. What are your most important resources?
2. What are the qualities that are inspiring about you?

passion, determination, vision, compassion

1. What opportunities are you hoping to get?

Entrepreneurial and fabrication training to become a remote collaborator, developer, and producer of GVCS tech in Dallas. I am interested in meeting and working with those in the area who are developing GVCS

1. What inspires you?

Closed loop cycles, finding new connections between humans and the environment that are easy to implement, powerfully regenerative, making import based systems obsolete…Human transformation through conflict resolution

1. What are your outside interests?

Cycling, music making, cooking

1. How do you add value?
2. What are 5 of your greatest accomplishments in your professional history?
3. What are 5 of your greatest failures in your professional history?

Under-confidence to show my ability to contribute to a project

1. Illustrate your creativity.
2. What do you look for when hiring someone?
3. Would you rather create strategy, design a solution, solve a problem, or create a process? Why that?

Creating process means that anyone can apply it to their needs, rather than assuming that everyone has the same situation

1. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

What did you learn in your present job or position? How long would it take you to make a contribution to this company? What do you imagine that contribution would be? Why should we hire you? What can you offer that someone else does not? What interests you most about this position? What interests you least about this position?

Assignment

A. CAD for Microtrac prototype 2

Work Plan

A. Workshop

a. First Week-

i. Learn how to use shop tools

1.	Oxy torch
2.	CNC torch table
3.	Lathe
4.	Plasma cutter
5.	Drill Press
6.	Iron worker
7.	CNC mill
8.	Grinder
9.	Cold saw

b. CEB

i.	Fabrication and production process
ii.	Assist at first, will help with odds and ends, and learn about shop tools in the process

c. Power cube

i.	Assist with fabrication and production 

d. Lifetrac production

B. Construction

a.	Microhouse
 i.	Help certain aspects of construction of Microhouse
  1.	Brick laying
  2.	Strawbale laying
  3.	Roof Insulation
  4. 	Help with stucco mixing and application

C. Wiki Documentation

a.	Become proficient in editing wiki pages and inputting pictures, videos, text, etc
b.	I can work on this somewhat before coming to FeF

D. Microtractor Design

a.	Collaborate with Lifetrac fabricators, designers, etc to refine current design, increasing 
     interchangeability between LT and MT parts, while retaining small size, maneuverability, 
      general ease of use and maintenance of MT

E. Prototyping

a.	Become familiar with Lifetrac ecology, research modularity and interchangeability with Microtrac
b.	Apply newly gained shop skills in fabricating first MT frame, quick connect wheels, loader arms, etc with  help of shop team

F. Field Testing

a.	Can farming team use this tool in growing operations? 
b.	Shop team feedback
i.	How can we decrease cost of materials while retaining sufficiency?
ii.	Document solutions on wiki

c. Farm team feedback

i.	Document problems and suggested improvements in maneuverability, traction, ergonomics on the MT wiki page
ii.	Implement solutions
iii.	Document progress on the wiki weekly