Wisconsin native on path to become journeyman electrician
Yoshitatsu Anderson, 22, is working on a plan to own his own business one day as an electrician specializing in home automation. Smart homes with autonomous lighting, thermostats and locks, robotic appliances, indoor and outdoor security systems, integrated entertainment, and remote surveillance and environmental systems control are a boon to electrical contractors. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global smart home market will be worth nearly $140 billion by 2023.
Tatsu is earning his Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) in the Electrical Construction & Maintenance Technology program at Dakota County Technical College and is on track to graduate in spring 2019. He likes the program’s curriculum and is familiar with the trade because his dad, who has a Norwegian heritage, is a construction worker. His mom is from Okinawa.
Originally from Osceola, Wisconsin, a small town bordering Minnesota on the St. Croix River about 18 miles southeast of Lindstrom, Tatsu eventually moved with his mom to Burnsville, Minnesota, and graduated from Burnsville High School in 2013.
He has three brothers, Yoshi, 29, who serves in the U.S. Army Reserve, Zen, 26, also in the Army Reserve, and Hideyoshi, 19, who’s studying physical therapy at Bemidji State University. Tatsu just found out Yoshi is going to have a baby and make him an uncle. On weekends, Tatsu works as a nursing assistant at The Rivers, a senior living community in Burnsville.
Electricians
Install and repair electrical wiring in homes and businesses.
WAGE
Well above the statewide median of $19.62/hour
Minnesota
Median: $32.06/hour
High: $39.09/hourSeven-county Twin Cities metro
Median: $42.15/hour
High: $36.55/hourOUTLOOK
This career is currently in very high demand and is seeing very high growth compared to other careers. Growth rate is 10.6 percent, or well above the statewide average. There will be a need for about 2,870 new Electricians to meet market demand between 2014–2024. This includes the demand due to replacement (workers leaving the occupation or retiring) as well as growth.
— Minnesota State CAREERwise Education
Headdy Gravvy
Tatsu is a drummer in the rock band, Headdy Gravvy. The band plays punk metal, melodic metal and doom metal, the latter “very, very heavy.” Headdy Gravvy recently performed at DCTC during the Party on the Patio. Tatsu noted that the band will be performing Saturday, October 28, 2017, at the Castle Rock Bar & Grill in Northfield, Minnesota.
WHO: Headdy Gravvy and Friends
WHEN: Saturday, October 28, 2017 • 8 p.m. – 11 p.m.
WHERE:
Castle Rock Bar & Grill
27998 Chippendale Avenue
Northfield, MN 55057
Headdy Gravvy released the band’s first demos on the album, A Fine and Terrible Pursuit for Young People in Their Prime. You can like Headdy Gravvy on Facebook, follow Headdy Gravvy on Twitter and check out posts on the band’s blog.
Headdy Gravvy at the Party on the Patio gallery
Photos courtesy of Rachel Marzahn
Headdy Gravvy on YouTube
Tatsu Anderson Q & A
Tatsu Anderson
What has been your toughest challenge in life?
Moving to Minnesota when my mom and dad broke up.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Overcoming family problems and moving on.
What person has influenced you the most in life?
My stepdad, Jeffrey Asplund. He’s a broker and appraiser and owns his own business.
Three words that describe you as a college student:
FOCUSED. DRIVEN. QUIET.
Three words that describe you as a musician:
LAID-BACK. AGGRESSIVE. FUN.
Tatsu Anderson | 21 Answers
Tatsu Anderson
Favorite season:
Summer (I don’t like the cold.)
- Favorite natural feature (e.g., waterfalls, oceans, mountains, etc.): I love a good camping spot next to a waterfall in August when the moon is the brightest.
- Favorite sport or physical activity: My favorite activity is playing the drums or singing. My favorite sport is playing soccer or wrestling.
- Your national bird if you could have one: I’m not really a bird person, but if I have to pick, I guess a pileated woodpecker.
- Place you would most like to visit: I would love to visit Norway.
- Favorite holiday:
Christmas/New Year’s
- Your national mammal if you could have one: White tiger
- Favorite actor or actress: I don’t know actors very well nor have I watched many movies.
Favorite band or performing artist: I can narrow my favorite band into my top three, which would be: Nothing More, Palisades, and Beartooth.
- Your personal motto if you had to have one: “You can’t saw sawdust.”
- Coolest thing in the world:
The ocean
- Scariest thing in the world:
The ocean
- Favorite all-time TV show: It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
- Favorite all-time movie:
See above.
- One thing you most want to accomplish in life: Start my own home automation company.
- Most precious material possession:
The music on my phone
First thing you would buy if you won the $1.5 billion Powerball: A better car
- Dream occupation: Music artist
- Person you would most like to meet:
No one
- Skill you would most like to learn and master: Play bass or guitar
- Humankind’s greatest challenge: Avoiding repetition with past failures; thinking it’ll work a second time.
To learn more about the Electrical Construction & Maintenance Technology program at DCTC, contact:
Ronald Gruenes
Electrical Construction & Maintenance Technology Faculty
651-423-8563
Michael Buck
Electrical Construction & Maintenance Technology Faculty
651-423-8494
