I never had any doubt I wanted to be in construction.
I've built things since I made a T-kite (string and piece of paper) as a 3-year-old and let it take flight in the Midland, TX winds.
The next pseudo project was a bench made of a 2x4 and nails in pre-K.
I moved to Austin in elementary school and promptly found every piece of free "scrap" lumber on sites of homes being built near my house.
We eventually moved away, but I was able to find enough free lumber to build a fort in some woods adjacent to a wildlife refuge.
That area of the woods was soon built up by new homes, but the fort lived on in someone's front yard for a few years. Climbing notches are still visible in the tree.
Some years later, I enrolled in the Construction Science program at Texas A&M.
While I was not a fan of high school, I actually liked college quite a bit with the focus on AEC courses.
I got into construction because it's all I've ever wanted to do. I like it because I get to get outside and see the fruits of my (and my teams') labor take shape.
I get outside less now, but it's still fun to be a part of teams that build amazing things.
It can be a challenging industry, but I look at the long hours (especially in my younger years) and travel as good experience and a badge of honor that most people working in other industries wouldn't understand.
There's definitely politics at work, as with any industry... But when you're in the field, making stuff happen and getting things done is KING.
