Michael Knight, Temporary Mechanic, 11 years

I can’t see myself doing anything else. I love it. This is the stuff. Building elevators gives me a rush: finding little mess-ups here and there, and then putting them together and making them work. Something comes up bent or twisted, something doesn’t work right, or something doesn’t fit. You have to actually think to figure out how to make them right. I like solving problems. It takes some brains, not just slapping together an erector set, ABC.

When your kid asks you what you do, and you say, “I built this elevator you’re riding in,” and his eyes get real big, that is a great feeling.