When I graduated from high school, I had no plans of going to college nor did I have a career in mind. I agreed to go and work with my father and two brothers running an injection molding company. We also built injection molds. Instead of giving a history on how Toth Mold/Die Inc. came to be, I would like share some personal thoughts on my journey of becoming an injection mold maker.
When I was young (age 12), I used to go to my dad’s shop and do some work. I would drill some water lines, polish and mostly clean the shop. I had some interest in the injection molding trade but not much. When I graduated from high school, I entered into a four year apprenticeship program for injection mold making to eventually obtain my journeyman’s papers. I basically had to learn everything from scratch and also had to attend class once a week for four hours which I loved to do because it gave me a chance to catch up on my sleep!
My father (shown in the picture), was able to teach me the trade so fast, it seemed like I knew more than my apprenticeship teacher in class. Needless to say, my apprenticeship was short lived, actually about 1 ½ years to be exact. It seemed like it was a waste of time. My father told me to quit the program because he said, “You will never work for anyone.” He said that because I wouldn’t need my journeyman’s papers to own my own business. He encouraged me to do just that. He was right. I have been my own boss for 32 years.
The trade was very hard to learn and very stressful at the start. Slowly it got to be more comfortable for me and I began to really enjoy injection mold making. The best part of the trade is that I am creating something and the feeling that I get when an injection mold is finished and sampled. The challenge that is there daily makes me want to keep coming back for more.
One of the most important things I have learned about life in general is you need to truly enjoy what you are doing, especially liking what kind of job you have. Having to get up almost every day of the week and go to work is hard, so you better like or love what you are doing. After 37 years of being in this trade, I still enjoy getting up every day and going to work, and I would definitely make the same career choice if I had to do it all over again.