Faces of the Diversion: Ryan Knutson

Ryan Knutson: [00:00:15] I’m a crane operator here at Ames Construction. “Tablespoon”—I got that name I was running an excavator and a friend of mine saw me pick up a little bucket so he called me “Tablespoon” and it’s been that way ever since.

[00:00:27] I run anywhere from 110-ton cranes all the way up to 275-ton cranes. I do a lot of the pile driving, which is putting a lot of the foundation work, putting steel under the ground. And then I also do a lot of hook works, flying forms, getting ready for concrete pours.

[00:00:46] I’ve been a crane operator now for almost 10 years and I’ve been with Ames for 10 years, so I’ve been with Ames my whole career. I love my job. I can honestly say that I show up for work ready to go and ready to have a fun time.

[00:01:02] I learned to operate through my apprenticeship through the 49ers, so I had a lot of higher operators teach me a lot of good things that turned me into what I am today in the crane.

[00:01:11] Up in Fargo, we deal with a lot of wind, a lot of cold weather. The wind really affects our loads, the way that they swing around. Cold weather can really affect our speeds that we can run at, whether they want to go fast or slow. Cold weather really affects our hydraulics.

[00:01:28] We work anywhere from could be eight hours, could be 12 hours, could be 16 hours, it all depends on the day and what we got going.

[00:01:34] Working on a project that’s protecting people is a very cool feeling. Of course, the structures that we’re building, they’re massive, they’re bigger than anything I’ve ever worked on. I look forward to looking at the whole thing when it’s all done, knowing that I was a part of it. Seeing something this big all come together, it’s a very cool thing.