© Can Stock Photo / Vjom
Retirement Celebrations
for Nick Dopudja
Nick Dopudja spent a long and rewarding career in sheet metal valuing two simple principles: work hard and stay passionate. After 25 years with Southland Industries it is with bittersweet thoughts he enters retirement. By / Jessica Kirby
When he entered the sheet metal industry in 1981, Nick Dopudja had no idea what he was getting himself into— literally. “My brother-in-law was in the industry, and he encouraged me to take the apprenticeship test,” Dopudja says. “I knew nothing about sheet metal. I thought maybe that meant auto body and fender.” He passed the test and was accepted into the apprenticeship while he was attending Cal State Fullerton studying business communication and working toward his junior year. The plan was to do the apprenticeship during the day and take night classes to complete his other schooling, but as soon as he got started he realized sheet metal wasn’t what he’d expected— and that was a good thing. “It was unfamiliar, but when I got into it, I found it eyeopening and I was glad to be there,” he says. “The pay was $7/hour for apprentices at the time, so I decided to do that. After four years, I was finished, and somehow here I am, still in the industry 40 years later.” In the field, Dopudja enjoyed the physical work and building complex projects, since he’d always been mechanically
4
SMACNA-SOCAL INDUSTRY REPORTER
inclined. Coupled with the realization he wouldn’t have to sit at a desk all day, he knew he was on the right track. “This is an incredibly diverse industry,” Dopudja says. “There are guys working in this industry because their dads went through the trade before them, and then there are professional engineers. I found it interesting and rewarding to work with such a diversity of people.” Nick started his career with ACR Mechanical where he stayed 11 years—a company he describes as “a great nurturing ground for some of the top individuals in the sheet metal industry.”
