JACKSON TWP — On Labor Day, welding instructor Mike McGrady will be thankful for his training, job, wages and benefits. He never would have believed 20 years ago that in his 40s, he would have a stable, lucrative, fulfilling career.

McGrady, who eschews being the center of attention, explained in his no-nonsense way that as a youth, he was a skateboarder who didn’t think about the long-term repercussions of his partying.

“You’re young,” he said. “It’s all fun and games.”

After he graduated from Butler Senior High School in 2000, McGrady liked to imbibe with his friends, and recreational substances just seemed to come with the territory.

“Alcohol and all its friends” is the way McGrady explained it.

By 2008, McGrady’s body was sending him signals that enough was enough.

“I started to get scared I was going to die,” he said.

With an unflagging determination to get sober and stay that way, McGrady completed a stint in rehab and began attending meetings to maintain his sobriety.

“I literally put one foot in front of the other, and I didn’t rush anything,” he recalled. “I tried to never bite off more than I could chew.”

McGrady landed a job with a company that builds, maintains and tears down cell towers, where he worked for three years.

The fearless McGrady climbed towers as tall as 1,300 feet to run coax cable, repair structural cracks, and install lightening rods on the very top of the towers.

“The trees look like grass,” he said, shrugging off any incredulity at climbing to such a height. “I was safe. I was trained.”

In 2013, McGrady heard about the Steamfitters Local 449 facility in Jackson Township, and he wondered if he had a shot at getting into a training program and ensuing apprenticeship.

He was ready to find a job closer to home instead of traveling around the region to repair and outfit cell towers.

“It wasn’t a good career to try to maybe settle down,” McGrady said.

He took the aptitude test the United Association of Steamfitters Local 449 Technology Center administers to potential students and had an interview with Ken Broadbent, business manager at Local 449.

McGrady said he will never forget sitting in his car in front of the Butler post office, nervously smoking cigarettes as he prepared to open the registered letter from the Steamfitters local that would tell him whether he was in or out.

When he finally worked up the nerve to open it, he was beyond thrilled to learn he would soon begin the 18-week welding program at the Steamfitters Technology Center.

“Seeing that I got accepted into this program, I knew my life was literally going to change,” he said.

McGrady hung up his climbing gear at the cell tower company and began studying welding 8 hours per day, Monday through Friday, at the former Steamfitters training center in Pittsburgh.

“It’s the course that I teach now,” he said.

His five-year apprenticeship with Local 449 began upon his successful completion of the class, and he worked for three years as a union welder at Chapman Fabrication Shop in Washington County.

A motorcycle crash that badly damaged his left ankle kept McGrady down for almost a year, but he did not revert to his old behavior during his extended recuperation.

“The ball was rolling. I didn’t want to mess it up,” he said.

When he returned to the Steamfitters welding shop to practice, an instructor was so impressed with his technique that he asked McGrady to help teach his welding class.

“It was probably the best compliment I’ve ever gotten, because I respected the guy so much,” McGrady said.

He worked as a journeyman welder, performing welding jobs at plants and other facilities. When the job ended, he would return to the training center to help teach welding students.

The skater kid from Butler with the tattoos and rough start in life was officially hired in 2019 as a full-time welding instructor at the huge, state-of-the-art Steamfitters Technology Center in Jackson Township.

“I like when someone comes in and they’re not very sure of themselves, and in the 18-week program, we can really get them to mellow out and learn it’s OK to make mistakes,” McGrady said.

Another favorite aspect of teaching is seeing the light bulb go on as he teaches the mathematics of welding in the classroom.

McGrady will go to any length to explain concepts in the way a student can understand, and the thrill of seeing a student’s face as he finally grasps it never gets old, he said.

Broadbent, who is still the business manager at Local 449, has gotten to know McGrady since his apprenticeship in 2013.

He recalled meeting him and having a conversation when McGrady took his aptitude test to become a welding student at the Steamfitters Local.

“His work ethic impressed me,” Broadbent said of McGrady. “When I found out later he had some drug abuse problems and has been clean for 20 years, I was even more impressed.”

He also appreciates McGrady’s ability to form a rapport with students of all backgrounds and learning styles.

“Not only is he an excellent welding instructor, but he’s a good mentor to help students with their struggles in life,” Broadbent said.

Because of his past and unshakable belief that people can do anything if they work hard and “keep their eyes on the prize,” McGrady has helped a number of student welders with their addiction issues.

He is unfortunately very familiar with the appearance of a young man or woman who is struggling.

“I think it shocks the student when I call them out,” McGrady said.

He does not lecture the student or demand that they stop, but he assures them they will face repercussions at some point in the future if they continue.

McGrady then invites the student into his office for a heart-to-heart talk to see what he or she needs to kick the habit.

“I say to them ‘You’ve gotta want to change,’” he said. “I tell them ‘You can find fun, friends and hobbies when you’re sober.’”

He admitted that was his biggest concern when he decided to face down his addiction.

“I think I was just afraid of what could possibly be next,” McGrady said.

He has no problem confronting students he suspects are in the clutches of addiction, and no problem helping them however he can.

“There has been more than one occasion when I’ve driven a kid to Ohio to rehab,” he said.

The students usually come back to thank him for saving them from a future that might have been deadly, McGrady said.

McGrady was attracted to the art of welding and still enjoys the trade.

“I like to draw, and I think any artistic ability ties into hand-eye coordination,” he said.

McGrady also appreciates the fact that welding does not lend itself to blaming others if a job is done wrong.

“When I’m doing it, it’s totally up to me to decide whether the weld is good or bad,” he said.

He enjoys teaching because he also has a penchant for helping people.

McGrady said trigonometry and many other concepts figure into jobs under the Steamfitters umbrella, including welding.

“Some of the smartest people I know are Steamfitters,” he said. “In fact, some of my best friends are Steamfitters.”

McGrady said he doesn’t push union employment, but he does endorse its benefits, like health care coverage, job security, free schooling and excellent wages.

“When I retire, I’ll have a pension and an annuity,” he said.

McGrady considers it an honor and a privilege to work as an instructor at the Steamfitters facility, which allows him and his wife, Jenna, to provide their two young children with advantages McGrady never had growing up.

“My life now is a dream,” he said.