As a young boy, I grew up saving my money and working my butt off. I first started saving money by cutting lawns and working at the local small engine repair shop.

My goal was to save enough money to buy my dad’s car (VW Rabbit) and have it fully rebuilt and painted, before age 16. This goal required more money, which lead me to finding new employment with McDonald’s. After accomplishing my goal of owning and restoring the VW Rabbit, I found myself wanting more. The restoration of my car opened my eyes to the idea of becoming an entrepreneur. One day while working my shift at McDonald’s, I was approached by Al Woods. Al Woods, was the owner of Quality Brake and he had installed the custom exhaust on my VW Rabbit and overseen all the work I had done in restoring the car. He was shocked to see me wasting my automotive talent at McDonalds and offered me employment immediately with him. I took this opportunity to work fulltime at Quality Brake and graduate from high school early to jumpstart my automotive apprenticeship. When walking across the graduation stage, I knew that this was the beginning of something great.

I began my apprenticeship at Quality Brake and completed it at Morrison Auto Marine, working for Frank Perrie. Always on the lookout for something greater, I packed my bags and moved to Medicine Hat as a Journeyman. While pipelining in Medicine Hat, I was able to focus on building the strong relationship I had always wished for with my brother. Knowing that pipelining was never going to be a permanent career for me, I was constantly on the search for more. So I found a company in Calgary that was willing to put me on a one week shut down in Pincher Creek. During this shutdown, I worked alongside Bruce Way from RTD Inspection ltd and became very interested in his line of work. I was familiar with Bruce’s job because my father was also a Non Destructive Testing technician. Shortly after, I started studying at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to obtain the first of many certificates.

After receiving the required certificates to begin my new career, I headed back home [Victoria] and accepted a lead tech position back at Morrison Auto Marine. I agreed to give Frank Perrie at least 1 year of employment, that is, until the phone rang. I was offered a 3 month opportunity by the Department of National Defence to employ my new NDT skills on the Victoria class submarines. Because I believe that everything happens for a reason, I accepted this offer. This 3 month opportunity grew into a total of 15 years!

During my 15 years of employment with DND, I started to build my own NDT Company [All Island Inspection]. Seeing my own company grow and excel, I made a new goal for myself. My new goal was to take on All Island Inspection (AII) fulltime. So after 15 years of working for someone else, I took a leap of faith and went off on my own. Scared, upset, nervous, anxious but still driven, I was unstoppable. I had a goal and nothing was going to stop me from achieving success with my own company.

While writing this mini bio, it has already been 1 year on my own. I have been out networking, building relationships and successfully running AII fulltime. This has given me the freedom to devote myself to my children and be there for their sports and school activities.

I love my job.

AII will always stay completely committed to its customers and provide a very high level of local service, that’s a promise. Without my customers, my family would not be the same. If you are still reading this, you deserve a huge thank you. Let me know how I can help your business in the future and pay it forward.

Tyler Walker