Cameron Atkinson

I started off working at a Hardware Store my sophomore year of High School and still to this day, it's my favorite job yet. The problem solving and people skills I acquired while I was there were single handedly the most valuable life lessons I've gained in my 31 years. I worked there 8 years; part time in high-school and college (full time in the summer) and then worked there on weekends while I was working for Kendall Electric full time during the week. I started off in College after High School (like many kids do now days) and decided I wasn't certain school was the path I wanted to take. Rather than continue to accumulate debt when I wasn't certain what I wanted to pursue in school, I decided to look for work full time and would go to to school in the evening at half time. I got a full time sales position at Kendall Electric and realized quickly that I was interested in the electrical industry (trades in general) and wanted to stick around. At an early point in my career, I realized that the industrial automation aspect of our business was what I was most interested in. I took great care in learning this on my own so that I could be a resource for others in our office and to bolster my skills so that I could work towards moving up in the company. I worked hard for about 3-4 years at the counter and then was promoted to Inside Sales. I was one of the most relied on sales people in the office due to my problem solving abilities and my knowledge in the automation space (roughly 50% of our business at the time). I was a top performer in sales and as time went on, I more than doubled my knowledge in the automation space and became the go to salesperson to assist our engineers while they were tied up working on large scale projects. When the time came, I requested that they make me a dedicated Inside Technical Salesperson (working only with engineering) which at the time didn't exist. Management thought I would better serve the company directly joining the engineering team as an Automation Engineer so I was moved into that position instead. They also agreed that having an Technical Inside Salesperson was a good idea so they created the position and filled it. I am now roughly 3 years into this position and really enjoying the field aspect of the job. The more I get into the field for onsite support and troubleshooting, the more I enjoy the physical "do the work" aspect and less of the office work and sales piece of the job. I feel that I'm more suited for a bit more hands on work.

I often find myself hearing about a topic, hobby or problem that someone has and I become very curious. I'll often spend evenings looking into new things I've heard about so that I can soak up as much information as I can. The more you know the better! I'll usually learn something and get proficient in it and then look for something new to learn.

I have many small hobbies that fill my personal time like making music and gaming but I recently bought a project car and my goal is to completely gut it this winter so I can swap the motor and make it into a quarter mile car. I'm brand new to this hobby so I have a feeling I'll be pouring a lot of free time into this winter!