At 19 years old, Eston Juno of Otis will be set to enter the workforce when he graduates this spring after just one year in Barton’s Natural Gas Program and is ready to see his efforts pay off.
“While searching for careers during high school, I came across the oil and natural gas field and it sparked an interest in me,” he said. “I saw that it had a lot of different types of jobs, good pay, and you can work just about anywhere.”
Barton Natural Gas Instructor Coordinator Keith Frank said that technicians can make approximately $21 to $35 per hour based on his conversations and observations with industry partners, and benefits like insurance and retirement plans are always excellent. He said the salary and benefits for natural gas technicians are a very attractive part of the industry, but as an alumnus of the program and a technician in the field for decades, that is only part of what makes this career path fulfilling.
“The Barton program and my career in natural gas were the best things that ever happened to me,” he said. “The job can be challenging in certain weather conditions, but most of the time I enjoyed being outdoors, and that you get to work with your hands, and you get to work without somebody staring over your shoulder all the time.”
Juno said having an instructor with so much field experience has been invaluable in the classroom.
“The instructors have been great,” he said. “All the experience Keith had in the field is important because he saw everything you can see, and all kinds of problems you see when working for a gas company and how to solve them. He knows what skills that you will need. We get plenty of practice on both bookwork and hands-on skills so that we can do both and fully understand what we are doing.”
Juno said that while the technical training and equipment are top-notch, Barton’s program also teaches soft skills and goes above and beyond to help its students find jobs quickly after they complete the program.
“They bring in gas companies, and you get to meet their people directly and learn about the everyday tasks and what different job options there are,” he said.
Making friends was not something that Juno was planning on when he enrolled in the program, but he said it has been a surprising and enjoyable added benefit to coming to Barton.
“All of us are always working on projects together, so we are always talking through problems, and we all get along very well,” he said. “We all have the same sense of humor and have a lot of the same drive when it comes to working. I have become very good friends with all my classmates.”
For more information on the Barton Natural Gas Program, visit landing.gobarton.com/natural-gas.
