“I graduated from Bishop Guertin in 1970, and in January of that year I started to panic – what am I going to do after graduation?” said Siergiewicz during a visit to Nashua Community College in spring 2023. “A friend of mind was taking drafting classes here, and I joined in one semester and got two years of drafting under my belt.”
Siergiewicz said while he was also accepted at Wentworth college, the low tuition in Nashua was too hard to pass up. He finished the drafting program and has been working in mechanical drafting and design ever since.
“John’s been instrumental in the work we’re doing here,” said Jon Mason, Corporate, Community, and Continuing Education Coordinator at Nashua Community College.
Mason and Siergiewicz met about a decade ago when Jon managed the “TAACCCT” grant at NCC, which was used to expand machining and manufacturing opportunities at the college. TAACCCT, or Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training, was a grant program under the U.S. Department of Labor meant help community colleges prepare students with skills needed in today’s workforce.
Through on-the-job training and enrolling employees at NCC, Siergiewicz said he’s trained more than 200 machinists over the years.
“This is my 53rd year doing this,” he said. Many of his colleagues trained at NCC, including his Engineering Manager and Quality Assurance Director. “This college has helped up a lot.”
Machining is a multifaceted career that uses a range of skills. “You have to have a desire to do the work, to know the math,” said Siergiewicz, adding that there’s a wide scope of physics that goes into the work.
“Right now, we’re working on fuel tanks that will go into satellites. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so it has little rockets that keep the satellite steady while it does its activities in space. There’s a lot of science to this.”
Mason emphasized the range of scale Siergiewicz works with, “He’s got equipment that can deal with large scale projects, in the past he’s had a Porsche parked on the table in the shop. They’re working on bigger and bigger projects, but you have to be accurate within a 1,000th of an inch.”
Siergiewicz is on the lookout for the right candidates willing to put in the time to train and build their skills with Hollis Line Machine. The company does CNC Machining, Computer Assisted Programming, general Machining and Fabricating. Find out more about Hollis Line Machine Company at www.hollisline.com.
NCC’s selection of Mechanical Design Technology, Precision Manufacturing, Mechanical Engineering Technology, Machine Tool Technology and CNC Programming courses enroll new students throughout the year. Learn more at nashuacc.edu.
Individual noncredit career training courses are also available in CNC Basic Training: Milling, CNC Basic Training: Turning, Swiss Style Screw Machine and a Mastercam Class. Contact Jon Mason for details, [email protected]
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