From working at Pizza Hut to enrolling in the electrical lineworker program at Denmark Tech, Darrion Butler and his brother Nicolas have done just about everything together.

These days, they’re on the same crew at Gregory Electric – still working side by side, just a little higher off the ground.

You started out at a four-year university with a completely different plan. What prompted you to change directions?

When I graduated from high school, I was excited about having the whole college experience, so I enrolled at Lander University. I wanted to coach football and baseball and also be a PE teacher.

But midway through, it dawned on me that the only thing I really wanted to do was coach. I don’t know why I wanted to be a teacher when I didn’t even like going to school in the first place!

So I left Lander after two years. I thought my parents were going to be disappointed in me, but my dad had always told me to keep my options open. And they were both so supportive in helping me and my brother with our dreams.

Speaking of your brother – how did the two of you end up discovering linework during that time?

After leaving Lander, I started looking at jobs in the trades. I knew about electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, but nobody really talked about linework. Then I saw something on social media about it, so I started watching YouTube videos to learn more. I liked that it was something different every day.

Around that same time, my brother graduated high school and was also thinking about his future, so we started researching together. We found lineworker programs in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina – all places that were pretty far from home. We were scheduled to start one program together in September. But then my mom found Denmark Tech.

And she sounds like a mama who knew how to get things rolling…

Yes ma’am! I remember the day clearly. It was a Wednesday. Me and Nicolas were working at Pizza Hut. She was bringing me a Gatorade, and she pulled up with a big smile on her face. I was like, “What are you smiling for? What’s going on?” And she said, “How do y’all feel about starting school on Monday?”

Turns out, she had gotten in contact with someone at Denmark and learned that two people had dropped out of the lineworker program – that’s how we got in. We were ready and excited to move forward.

Once you started, what were some highlights of the program?

I loved Tuesdays! Those were climbing days with Mr. Wylie. He had something like 40 years of experience working at Duke Energy in North Carolina, and he told us a bunch of stories during breaks and shared a lot of wisdom that stuck with us.

Mr. Norman made the classwork days more interesting than I expected. It’s never fun to do classwork – I don’t really like school, remember? – but he opened my eyes to all the different avenues we could go as lineworkers: distribution, streetlights, transmission, underground.

Graduation day was a big showcase, and me and Nicolas had an event together. I had to go up first, put rubbers down on the line to protect it, and check to see if the lines were live. Then he came up, and we grounded the wire. Sometimes we have a love-hate relationship, so we were up there bickering with each other a little bit. But we’re happy we got to do it together.

It was also a little bittersweet because when we finished, Mr. Wylie came over and told us we were one of the best classes he’d had. That was a good moment between us – and a great way to finish the program.

When me and Nicolas started working at Gregory Electric, we sent Mr. Wylie a picture of us in our new uniforms. He sent back this long text message about how proud he was of us and how he hoped everything he taught us could impact us in our new job. It meant a lot to have somebody like that in our corner.

What kind of work do you and Nicolas do now with Gregory Electric?

We’re in distribution. We repair the smaller wooden poles – 60, 75 feet. But with things like transmission, you’re in a bucket truck all day, going up 160, 180 feet. I’ve done that before, but I don’t see myself doing it every day. Plus, with distribution, you get a lot of overtime because wooden poles break more often than metal poles. And more overtime means more pay.

What surprised you most once you were on the job?

You need some upper body strength. I had lost a good bit of weight after high school, so when I enrolled at Denmark, I had to start eating and working out more to build muscle. It’s not that any of the equipment is really heavy, but some objects are awkward or take two people to move. You don’t have to be ripped, but you do need to be strong.

You also need to know that when you first get hired, it’s going to be tough because you’re starting off at the bottom of the totem pole. But if you stick with it, show up every day, and come ready to work, that’ll pay off in the long run. A lot of companies have apprenticeship programs that help you progress in the field. At Gregory, after the first year, you become a C-class lineworker; the next year, you become a B-class; the third year, you become an A-class; and then after your fourth year, you’ll be a full-fledged lineworker. That means you can lead your own crew.

And one other thing – I really love the hours. We work Monday through Wednesday from 6 am to 4 pm and Thursday from 6 am to 2 pm, and then we’re off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I really like what they have going on at Gregory. I can definitely see myself here long-term.