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Working at Williams

Former Genesys Works intern now construction manager at Williams

Staff Reports

Manager of Construction Brooke Justice shared this story about Rene Garcia, a former Genesys Works student who now is working at Williams after graduating from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in construction management.

Rene has shared with me his enlightening personal story of being the first college graduate in his family and the challenges he faced making it happen. With Rene’s permission I wanted to share how Williams impacted his life and helped him on his professional journey.

Rene experienced many hardships growing up as a child of Mexican immigrants. His parents had difficulties adjusting to life in America as his father was a construction laborer and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. From an early age, Rene was a byproduct of the construction industry since his father and uncle owned a local concrete construction company. As he grew into the family business, he took the initiative and started spending his summer breaks working as a laborer. From this exposure, he learned first-hand the various aspects of construction as he interacted and worked alongside with many skilled tradesmen. Ultimately, the early influences from his family gave him the exposure to the construction industry and convinced him that he should major in construction management.

He found a pathway to that future through the Genesys Works organization, interning as a high school senior for another energy company. The program helped train Rene to enter and succeed in a corporate environment by learning professional skills such as proper communication, corporate behavior, security, conflict resolution, goal setting, resume writing and interviewing.

Rene joined Williams as a college intern in the Facilities Design & Drafting group. His duties as an intern involved entering drawing records and data into an electronic database management system which requires continuous attention to detail. He entered thousands of records into this archive with a very high accuracy rate. Last summer, Rene interned with Williams once again as a construction management intern, with responsibility of analyzing and compiling real-time data for developing a safety incident report. The safety report was a tool used to track detailed safety data at a program level for growth projects. Through this experience, he had the opportunity to meet and collaborate alongside many talented, driven and diverse groups of individuals across the enterprise. He also had the chance to travel and visit numerous pipeline and facilities projects along the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern seaboard.

In the end, participating in the Genesys Works Program and interning with Williams changed his life in a way he never thought was possible.

Not only does Rene’s story show the contributions of the programs Williams offers early career development, but it also gives those with the desire to accomplish their goals an opportunity. In return, Williams gained a hardworking, dedicated and very valued employee. We’re thrilled to have Rene back on the construction team. His current role is key to taking the construction department to the next level of excellence.

“Participating in the Genesys Works Program and by extension, interning with Williams, changed my life in a way I never thought was possible. I broke out of my comfort zone by interacting with industry professionals in multiple disciplines and as a result, I made memorable and life-long connections.”

Rene Garcia, Construction Manager 1