title: He Didn’t Choose College After High School. Here’s What Happened Next | Hudson Lucas | 204
author: Powerline Podcast
contenttype: podcast
publication: Powerline Podcast
published: 2026-03-05T15:00:00+00:00
sourceurl: https://anchor.fm/s/ffc4c138/podcast/play/111832243/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-28%2F413349614-44100-2-bef83fb18b3ee.mp3
word_count: 5325
introduce yourself what do I what do you want me to say just my name just keep it flowy yeah tell me who you are and where you're from Hudson Lucas I'm from Williams Lake British Columbia what is growing up in Williams Lake like oh it was all right small town I don't know not much to do everyone plays hockey things like that what did you like about it mm-hmm but all our families there I guess is pretty nice everyone what was a highlight from like growing up oh definitely like Fox living up there that was pretty sick 10 acres like having that 10 acres Uncle Greg built us that dirt bike track so like that that was always fun so like you come from a background of growing up on like land outside of town yeah small town life small town living yeah yeah explain that a bit more I don't know what to say well just like tell me tell me a little bit more like in your own words uh tell me a little bit more about what growing up in a small town was like everyone really knows each other I guess like you know everyone everyone knows you you like everyone knows your grandparents and all that so your name's kind of out there already just for things so it's kind of nice it's like one big community I guess with with especially like playing hockey and just knowing all the families and everything like that everyone's always always together and at someone's house or something like that um when you lived in Williams Lake uh I know you left early but did you have any inclination then of like what you wanted to do like maybe when you grew up or later in life uh not really not yet I don't think I was still pretty uh narrow-minded on thinking about things like that yeah um if you had to describe your school experience in like one sentence how would you how would you describe school for you uh school is always a struggle for sure just growing up and then being diagnosed with dyslexia and other things just definitely made it tougher like uh went to a few different schools did online school and then did like schooling just for the dyslexia and so uh school's always been an interesting path definitely for me what sort of things did they teach you to try to like overcome dyslexia did they try to teach you to like to overcome it or just like manage it and deal with it so it wasn't so much like uh made just for dyslexia the courses were for anyone with a learning disability a neurological uh disability and so it was like to reprogram your brain and open up those pathways in your brain so it wasn't just so much for dyslexia or targeted for that it was it was for that neural part of your brain and uh like reprogramming it in a sense do you feel like it was like somewhat successful or like what are your thoughts on that uh sometimes I don't know I think it definitely helped in other ways like just uh having that compassion for people because you you meet a lot of people that have like severe severe special needs and things like that and then you meet other people that are way like shouldn't even be there or something like that so that part was good and then the whole schooling part it was just interesting it's like completely different to normal schooling especially what you're learning you have like yeah just uh super different programs when you're going through this process of this sort of like learning how are they prepping you for after that portion of school like are they trying to prep you for college and university or are they trying to just like prep you to deal with life so once I left I was a bit too young for that portion of it like it's really not a school you stay from for more than like a few years you're supposed to go in and then like graduate like three or four years later and you leave the school it's not a graduate like you don't you can graduate from it it depends on like what age you start it uh necessarily so it was a little different like I went for uh I forget four years I think something like that and then we were kind of done with the whole program and just didn't think it was making uh as much of an impact as it should have so we went into a different school and we went to just a normal normal uh high school how did you find normal high school so it was definitely a struggle like just going into normal academic classes and stuff like that but they definitely the school is pretty good with having things in place and teachers being super helpful and understanding and so yeah it was really enjoyable like I never had that experience I guess and then really just having like normal kids and friends was was definitely like the best part what at what point did you start to think about okay once this ends what am I going to do like once high school ends yeah I started thinking about it more than when we moved down to salmon arm is really uh in the last four years of high school is definitely when I started thinking about it more like uh I was super conflicted like I knew I was going to go into something more hands-on more like mechanical or something like that like I was thinking uh to go like mechanics or something like that auto body I was really uh really thinking about and then like if I could have gone to um uh what's it called if I could have gone to university I was thinking going engineering but that that wasn't going to work out so and then I had picked I had picked welding and I was I was going to go to school for that I was applied I'd done the program in high school and then I I got on with the uh tree cutting service and we did line clearing for the linemen and so just being around uh linemen and stuff like that on trouble calls and being in the bucket I guess with our tree crew and so that really just sparked my interest and then I got all these people in the family that that helped uh like steer me a little more to the side of being a lineman and getting into that and just their experiences I guess of growing up with yours and and grandpa's stories and things like that definitely I put it more as a thought that's cool I'm going to unpack that a little bit more in a second but um back to school for a second I know you know you knew about the trades because of the family that you're in yeah obviously and that's a question that I ask every guest I have on my podcast is like how did you find the trade because I always like those those stories some people find it like you did because it's part of the family or some people just randomly were driving down the road one day saw linemen up on a pole and like oh what's that yeah right and googled it and figured out about it um so at what point in school did you think okay like I think trades and how did you start like trying to figure out how to learn about it yeah so I think I always kind of knew more about the more that I was going to go into the trade just with like the whole learning and stuff like that I knew college just wasn't going to happen like high school it was definitely a stretch with the things in place like teachers helping as much as they could but I think it just would have been it would have been almost impossible um just with how severe the dyslexia is and and trying to do college courses and just keep up with that and so I've always thought about it for for sure um how helpful not knocking them or anything but like how helpful was anybody in the school system at directing kids that want to get into trades did they help in ways to direct you there or is it just main focus is college university for people in high school so it definitely depends like so after I went to that that that school for like learning disabilities and then I went to I ended up going to a private school and that school was definitely like super going to college it became an IB league school and and so it was super academic not really like for me I guess I definitely struggled more in the last few years I went there as they made the curriculum harder and stuff like that more based for like doing that first year of university already and preparing kids once they get up to that level in age and so that was a bit of I just knew from then and then and then I went to public school after that for from grade nine to grade 12 and the only ones that like so much talk about it are more like your your metal work or your woodwork teachers and stuff like that so they were super helpful for sure like um my metal work teacher definitely definitely helped um steer me not towards welding just towards like a career in that that aspect and stuff like that and and helped me um uh think about it and apply for it so super helpful more traditional style trades though yeah yeah like metal work and metal work is so yeah it wasn't so it wasn't so much like hvac and things like that were talked about there's no programs like we have job fairs I guess and people talk about them but not so much so the job fairs that you did go to there wasn't so much representation from the trades well uh it just depends there was a trades job fair uh there was a few of them I think and it talked about like there was a lot of cp rail and things like that and carpentry and I think the mill was there um but yeah I don't know just what's the most frustrating part about being 18 and leaving high school and trying to figure out this route through the trades I think it's just that everyone compares themselves to someone that's way older than them and like I know so many kids my age are all worrying about that like when they're going to be able to afford a house and they're all worried that they're not making enough money yet or anything like that and I think that's just the number one like thing with kids is is there they always think they're behind now if they don't have you know hundred thousand dollar truck at 19 it's everyone thinks they're so behind where do you think that comes from I think it just comes from like just wanting to be ahead like you know just just with the way things are is is you really just want to you want to be successful that that thought of not being successful just really drives a lot of kids I think in our generation just a few of them I think to push past that and like they're trying to achieve that what do you think is the biggest struggle for kids your age uh when it comes to trying to find their path um yeah probably like the representation it's just it's not really known about like how to pick like you can't so much like you can't go and try to be electrician I guess and then you you go into school and then you try it but then you're going through that whole thing there's like um BC Hydro has these things in place with the ride-alongs so that really like shows you what the trade is and not many other trades have that I guess like I guess you could ask companies and stuff but most people don't want to take some random kid along for a day and show them really like what HVAC is or or different things like that are operating you kind of have to go get that job and try it out for the few years so it's definitely a lot of like some people have though have a lot of years of just finding something they actually enjoy so when you graduated high school you managed to get a job with utility arborists yeah talk about your experience with the arborists yeah so I early graduated uh I planned on getting a job from then and I was looking for a few months and then I had applied with a local company that had the whole contract for the area for the line clearing uh so it was a good experience for sure like we had outfit had three bucket trucks and then we had a few pickups and stuff like that so it is like decently sized and so I was just normal groundman or whatever and I got to learn a bunch of things like chainsaw and stuff like that and working with the bucket trucks and rigging and then you get to go on a few storm calls every once in a while and then I did get to go on a fire call which was pretty cool we went up to the coca halifire for three days and we were up there following all the trees right by the lines that were in danger uh ripping them back down again after the lineman came in and put them up I think it's so cool you just like call me one day and you're just like this is kind of cool like yeah I just like I know I've been trying to tell you yeah it's pretty sick yeah they let me go in bucket and it was pretty cool yeah I like this um so I think a good thing one of the things I always tell kids when they're leaving schools to try to find a job adjacent to the career they're trying to get so like you did this is a good example for anybody listening is like if you can't get on with a line crew somewhere or a power line company or a utility company try something a little bit adjacent like for example an arborist yeah that's what I say like try to get on with an arborist there's maybe a lot of arborist hiring versus versus yeah power line company maybe it's a little easier out there to get on with an arborist and you're doing things that are familiar right like you're operating bucket trucks or setting buckets up and getting tooled up for guys yeah you're learning the binge learn how to drive these trucks you're learning how to run a chainsaw it's these things that are very much rigging is another point yeah like we rig trees all the time in the line trade too nothing like arborists do but we rig a lot of other things like I tell people um that ask whether electrical industry is is similar to the power line industry right and I said it's similar in a lot of ways but a lot of ways is very different a lot of ways power line industry is very much just a lot of rigging right yeah weights and forces and rigging rigging rigging like so that's kind of cool how yeah you get that opportunity yeah it was a great experience I think definitely for like in Canada uh going and working for a line crew right at a high school unless you go to school it's pretty hard just because that that whole groundman thing isn't really a thing like it is in the U.S. like definitely kids there are able to go test it out more and just become a groundman for a local crew or whatever and just dig hole pull holes and things like that but that's not really an option here so like the closest way I could get to it before going to school was that and was um being with the arborists so that yeah that was just my way of of getting close to it I also I also think that one of the the best things a young person can do if they're interested in getting in the power line industry is go to the international lineman's rodeo yeah the reason I tell them to do this if they can do that is because it gives you a full view of you know the brotherhood and camaraderie of the trade you get to see a little bit a little bit a little glimpse of what we do in the industry the climbing the gear the tools used some of the work that you get to do you get to meet linemen from around the country around the world really you get to meet Jimmy from New Zealand you got to meet people from around the world and you can talk to like people that have been in the industry four days to people that have been in industry for 40 plus years and you get to ask them any questions that you like so that's one of the reasons I want to do this and put this video together as well is to show people just because it's a power line industry go find like if it's not line work that you want to get into or thinking about getting into every trade has some conference or something get together that's similar to this yeah and encourage people to go seek that out find it and go to it I'm sure there's an HVAC conference yeah you can go to or like oh whatever but for for this case I wanted to take you to international linemen's rodeo because I think it's the best representation of all of those things for our trade so you were an in right away you're like yeah I want to go yeah what's your like initial thoughts on how that went yeah it was it was an amazing experience I got to meet so many cool people uh the expo was pretty cool is I'd never been in a building that big where it's just so many people and everyone showing new gear new stuff and then walking around and then everyone stopping you every two minutes talking to you so definitely got to meet a lot of cool people that I probably never would have and make some great contacts and things like that so that was pretty cool and the competition day was was amazing it was super cool the sunrise and everything like that and all the guys starting it was a really cool experience uh what's a highlight from the trip one highlight from the trip if you had to pick one oh I don't know there's a lot it was there's so many things give me a couple one hmm uh definitely the competition day I think was probably the biggest highlight it's the main reason everyone goes there the expo is kind of like the secondary thing I guess before the whole competition so most people just show up for it and it was just it was so cool to see the teams and everyone uh all working together and stuff like that facing all the different adversities that they have up there and so that's so it was pretty cool you got to talk to a lot of different people from the trade from the industry a lot of linemen from the industry is there any bits of advice that they gave you that you can remember offhand that was like okay this I gotta pay attention to you definitely just like always listening and never like one of the big things I remember is never like some guys pulling you aside teaching you something that you already know you're not going to tell him you already know that like because he's trying to put that time and that effort into you and you showing showing you something and if you're telling them you already know that or like yeah I know and you know like he's not going to do that as much as he should like and then they always just have some great to point out or something to teach you and those guys are super important um any other bits of advice that they gave you that was like oh this is a highlight uh I don't know it was a lot to remember off the top of my head um do you feel the trades uh are better aligned with how you naturally learn and think yeah I think so it's like it it's more uh hands-on and like like in the moment kind of thinking like it's it's always like what the problem is now and then and then pre-planning for if it's going to happen again uh yeah so I I really enjoy that kind of part of it do you think more kids your age would appreciate the trades if they got to learn about them a little bit sooner in life I think so yeah would they head towards that direction like do you have other friends and buddies that are like now now seeing you kind of enter this or starting to think about I don't mean the trades would work for me too uh yes and no it's just like it really depends on the person nowadays like lots of people not growing up with it or like not having those people it's just then they go into it and they just you know they don't know what it's like at all so it's it's a definitely a reality check for lots of kids um but I think a lot of them all of them pretty enjoy it what's something like I'm really trying to reach obviously reach the next generation and introduce them to the trades and really introduce them to line work because I'm passionate about line work so that's the one that's the trade I want to introduce them to how do I make it attractive to kids your age like how do I make it sexy like what are what are ways that are going to grab a guy like you grab their attention and make them look oh I don't know I think definitely like just all the cool videos you see really sparks your interest like uh there's videos on YouTube about uh different projects and all the helicopter work I definitely that part's pretty cool it interests me a lot is getting into the heli work eventually like Aaron's videos yeah like Aaron's videos pretty good on the Sunzia project and he was just working with uh the heli guys there like stuff like that I think definitely super intriguing to people hanging off a helicopter making 150,000 dollars a year who would say no you know yeah yeah um there's this video like it was it was actually a video a YouTube video from like probably 2007, 8, 9 somewhere around there that really originally sparked my interest in bare hand line work and there's just this old timer sitting on the side of a helicopter and he was just talking very calmly and this this choppers is flying up to the water to the wire and he's like bonds on and it's a classic video it's been seen like millions of times I'll share it with you but that was like the original one for me too that got me into wanting to be a bare hand guy oh yeah that's cool yeah it was just sick and like almost from that moment as well like that was around the same time that Art of Flight came out snowboard video and I was just seeing these correlations between how cool our job was and our trade was and how you know snowboarding is really cool I've seen these like ties between how we could represent so anyway it was from that point on that I was like I want to start making videos and content that really shows yeah traits it's kind of cool to see how it's not totally different no it's still like videos and visual and stuff like that that's grabbing yeah attention I think there needs to be more of it too like uh there's not very many YouTube channels that really show like the cool parts about the trade and and things like that or even about most trades like uh it's definitely hard to find like a TikTok has more and Instagram but it's all those short-term videos and I know I know kids sometimes want to you know watch those those long videos that really shows shows big things like that and there's just not very many of them Aaron's page as well Bob's decline just he does Bob's yeah Bob's decline is pretty good Aaron does an amazing job with you know representing the trade through his vlogs and his videos are there some some key things that you'd like to see in videos not so much as just like there needs to be more I think like the line trade is honestly pretty secretive or I don't really know in the US but here in Canada is no one really knows about it you say you're a lineman and people think you're a football player that's like that's what I grew up with is oh yeah my dad's a lineman oh he plays football and it's like like not not even close no I'm five nine yeah no football being played yeah so it's I think it's definitely just like not very uh known about um it's probably the biggest thing like I've never seen BC Hydro or any of the contractors here in BC come to a job fair or do something like that so I think there's just more representation for kids to know about it especially here in Canada yeah yeah that's a really great point the whole top secret power line thing the problem with the US and North America is especially in the US it's like all of this legal crap and they don't like anything from the job getting out on social media so they actually like make content creators that are line workers not post about the job which I think is completely crap because I call them out on the podcast all the time I call them out on social media all the time it drives me absolutely bonkers because I listen to them complain all the time about how we can't find guys the next generation doesn't want to do this job yeah you know all of this blah blah blah but then they're not you know being a part of the solution yeah they're not trying to show the work in a way the next generation is going to actually want to see it it just it completely pisses me off and I don't know I just think it's so counterproductive and I'm sick of listening to them complain really about it because they do when really they can be part of the solution and make great videos or make good content to try to help recruit and retain you know the people out there so anyway that's um what's a piece of advice that you give to people your age about getting into the trades like what you've learned kind of so far I know I know you're so fresh so brand new into it but yeah you do have a background of your family history in the trades and a little bit of experience now with going to the international lineman's rodeo um what advice would you give I think just generally getting into it is is it's really just finding people to talk to is definitely super helpful not going into something that you think you're gonna regret or or or just something like that like I was gonna go into welding and like great trade like amazing people I have buddies that are now in it and finish their schooling and work at places and work at places and but I just didn't think it was gonna be great for me uh just really like thinking about it like I know this is lots of kids just think they're gonna get stuck in it once they do it and that's just not so much the case is is like you can always go get another job but um figuring out what you want to do I think and loving your job is probably like one of the most important things to me is that's when enjoying what you do would you say uh maybe that ties into this last question but what's one thing you've learned about yourself through this process so I don't know that's probably like what you just said actually is you know you you gotta love what you do yeah but part of this thing that I've been trying to like so often I'll explain a little bit up until this point uh most linemen will say to kids coming into the industry that it's not about the money and if it's about the money for you then you're in the wrong industry and get out basically yeah but I've been trying to like change the mindset out there like it is about the money it's a it's an and not or if that makes sense it's not like the trade or money it's and so you can respect the trade and the industry and love what you do and like the fact that you can make good money in it yeah and that's what we need to show the next generation because like you guys are flashed cars and like you said right at the beginning of this right yeah like everyone's in a you know if they don't have a fancy hundred thousand dollar truck by the time they're 19 then they're doing it wrong because that's what they're seeing all day every day you can have that through this this trade and more if you know if you're careful yeah yeah it's good with your money cool man well thanks yeah this content is completely free all right the only thing I'm asking you for is to hit that subscribe button and I know it's cheesy I know it's corny I know every youtuber asks you to hit that button and you're probably sick and tired of it but if you like the show and you want to see the show grow this is the way I proved to the people in charge that it's worth investing in so it's pretty simple and it's the price you can pay for me it's no money it's just a subscribe please hit the 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