When Damon was working as a fire guard, watching over welders performing hot work, he became curious about the person inspecting the welds for quality. Damon recalls, “It piqued my interest because he would show up, inspect the welds, and be gone, and then we could start working again. I wondered, what was he doing? I found out that it was NDT.” NDT, or nondestructive testing, refers to techniques used to evaluate the properties of a material, component, or system without causing damage. Damon began researching the field to see which qualifications were required and applied to some positions online.
One of those roles was listed by Ben Plaisted, Senior Staffing Manager in Leddy Group’s Industrial and Skilled Manufacturing division. Ben learned about Damon’s work history and relevant experience, and quickly found that Damon already possessed great skills for the NDT field. He serves in the United States Army National Guard, recently returning from a deployment in the Middle East. “I’m a 13 Juliet, which is a Fire Control Specialist,” explains Damon. “We spend a lot of time doing different formulas of math, from geometry, a little bit of trigonometry, a little bit of calculus. You know that running joke, you don’t have to make it difficult because it’s not rocket science? I actually do rocket science, specifically munitions, from rockets to regular missiles.” Ben says that Damon explained his role as “‘the nerd that makes calculations for weapons systems.’ His job is to plot coordinates using trigonometry and statistics to plot the projection of weapons. For this, he needs to take into consideration everything from the rotation of the earth to warm vs. cold barrels as more shots are fired.”
Such work necessitates incredible attention to detail and commitment to the highest level of quality. Damon says, “It requires being very precise, making sure everything is within a millimeter of where the target is supposed to be, and making sure you have the correct munition type, then double checking that and rechecking it. Even if you checked it three times, you check it a fourth or fifth time, to be sure, because you want it to meet accepted criteria.” Ben says, “This can all be applied to environmental testing of products. Damon also took some courses while he was overseas in medical imaging, and NDT uses radiography/ultrasound for testing.”
Ben shared more details with Damon about an opening for an NDT Quality Inspector at Teledyne DGO, an advanced technology manufacturer, in Portsmouth, NH. He was sure that Damon would be an excellent candidate, saying “I knew that Teledyne loves veterans and the role requires good math aptitude.” When Damon arrived at his in-person interview at Teledyne, he was impressed with the company’s environment and its rigid security measures. He shares, “I used to work security, so seeing that visitors were only allowed in a certain area of the lobby, knowing that you had to have proof of citizenship, it let me know they took it seriously. That made me feel like I could definitely work here, knowing that they care about their security.” Damon was offered the job, and was thrilled to join the team at Teledyne DGO in April of 2024.
Each day, Damon inspects products used in the military as well as in oil and gas manufacturing, ensuring everything is up to standard and is in tolerance. He ensures products meet precise customer specifications, using different tools to ensure parts are within tolerance, and to ensure all documentation is correct. Damon enjoys the challenges of his new role as he learns more about the history and different methods of NDT, and completes testing requirements for industry certifications.
The supportive environment is one of Damon’s favorite parts of working at Teledyne DGO. He shares, “Everyone in my department was very open to teaching me the craft, instead of just assuming that I should know everything.” He adds, “They have a lot of military service members working here, which helped me feel very comfortable.” Chuck Tewell, Division HR Manager at Teledyne DGO, says, “As a supplier to the Navy, Teledyne DGO employs several veterans from all branches of the military. Leddy Group has played a significant role in our hiring of qualified veterans. Most recently, we hired a Leddy Group candidate, an Army veteran, to fill a unique role in our quality group. Damon’s skills, knowledge, experience, and values align well with our needs and our guiding principles. He has assimilated well into our work environment and ‘hit the ground running’ quickly, proving to be a valuable addition to our team.”
Damon is very grateful to Ben and Leddy Group for helping him break into his desired field at a premier employer. “Ben took his time to see what would fit best for me in my role, and made sure I’d be a good fit for the company as well,” says Damon. “Leddy Group is very responsive, and has reached out to check on me repeatedly, making sure that I was happy with the job and everything was going well. I’m very satisfied.”
