‘The Sky’s the Limit’ for Him

Dontavious Greene makes an insightful analogy in explaining his view of Construction Ready’s Pre-Apprenticeship (PA) and Construction Ready PLUS programs. He calls the former “a jumpstart to a career – like putting battery cables on a battery and giving it that boost.” In PLUS – the advanced curriculum for PA graduates who have been employed for at least 90 days – “It’s like putting the car in drive and now you’re moving forward in your career.”

The training Dontavious received from both programs put him on a steady path to a fulfilling career in the industry. After learning about the PA program from an announcement at his church in Austell, he enrolled at the Westside Works location and graduated in August 2019. He landed with Bryson Constructors, a long-time participant in Construction Ready’s hiring fairs.

 “The program at Westside Works was the right opportunity for me,” Dontavious recalls. “They didn’t discriminate against me for my looks or anything. It’s a wonderful opportunity, because they help you with a career, not just a job. I also want to give a word of appreciation to Construction Ready and the Arthur Blank Foundation [a longtime Construction Ready partner] for changing my life.”

Early in his tenure with Bryson Constructors, Dontavious was assigned to a traffic coordinator role on the North Terminal pedestrian bridge project at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He made an immediate impression.

“That first week, I got a call from my foreman,” recalls company president Bryson Barnes. “He said, ‘Where did you get this guy from? He’s doing great!’ The sky’s the limit for him.”

Dontavious remained on the airport project from 2019-21, a period during which he says he “was understanding construction and what it meant to be a part of a team that is putting the world together, and how important that is.”

It was also during that time that a particular piece of equipment caught Dontavious’ eye. When he saw a crane up close for the first time, he knew he wanted to be in the driver’s seat one day, and he asked the operator what steps would get him there.

The answer turned out to be a five-month program at Heavy Equipment Colleges of America’s Stonecrest location, 20 miles east of Atlanta. There he earned certifications in three types of crane operations: mobile, crawler and tower.

After stints as a bulldozer and hydrovac truck operator with Brent Scarborough & Co., and a ready-mix driver for Thomas Concrete, Dontavious is now at home in that crane operator’s seat for Beyel Brothers, a provider of crane, rigging, heavy hauling and marine services. He’s in command of a 140-ton Link-Belt taxi crane with a lifting capacity of 280,000 pounds and a 160-foot boom when fully extended.

As a veteran of five-plus years in the industry, Dontavious can tick off a long list of attributes that make his career so appealing: “The enthusiasm, the energy, the vibe, the drive, the unity, the positivity,” he says. “It’s not, ‘Oh, I have to go to work.’ It’s more like, ‘I’m ready to go work.’”

Having gotten his start through Construction Ready, Dontavious encourages anyone else seeking a constructon-oriented career to follow the same path.

“Understand what the construction industry is,’ he says, “and understand the discipline that the program takes you through in terms of time management, respect, discipline, and having a thick skin. It was kind of iffy at first, but once you kind of sit down and start to understand, you become more familiar with everything. You build a bond with the people around you. The first week, everybody was still in their shell, but as we got going through the class process, we became a family.”