Guadalupe Maldonado

My career journey in transportation started from the very bottom. I began cleaning apartments for Google, then moved to driving paratransit, transporting seniors and people with disabilities around the city. A safety supervisor at the transit company started talking to me about AC Transit and how it was a better choice for me, so I looked into it. I started as a bus operator and did that for 9 years. Transportation was the least thing on my list at the beginning of my career, but now that I'm here, I love it, and I want to keep growing. I was able to go back to school and I'm working on my associate's degree at Chabot College. I don't have a degree yet, but I have a bunch of certificates from classes I've been taking to better myself and grow in this field. Now I'm a training instructor for AC Transit, where I've been for 11 years total. I train people on how to drive the city buses, and also on policies and procedures, and all the laws, and help them pass all the tests, DMV and everything. I believe I'm a people person, so I connect really well with people, and I care a lot about people. The happiness of others is my own happiness, so for me it's very important to connect and have that connection and to follow up with people. That leads to me being able to train them well how to drive the buses. Communication and being able to connect with the students is very important in order for me to teach them how to maneuver this coach around the city. You're not teaching kids, you're teaching grown adults, and they're not moldable anymore. You have to know when to approach, the tone of your voice. There's a lot to play in, so connection is very important. I think that's the very first step into building up a great relationship, and then at the end of the program, when they finish with the training, if you connect with the students, you're able to provide this great bus operator, which at the end of the day, that's what you're looking for for the public. My career path is to get my associate's degree, which will open my doors to assistant manager or manager. I'm going to continue going to school, because at the end, when I'm about to retire, maybe 5 years before I retire, I want to be a superintendent. I don't want to go nowhere. I love the company, I love what I do, and I want to finish my working years in this company.