Member Spotlight: Nate Hull

Nate Hull started in the coffee industry in 2009. He managed the technical department for a local Seattle coffee roaster from 2012 to 2017, joined Slayer in January 2017, and took over management of the tech department in June of that year. Slayer's company tag line is "Make Coffee Better," as part of a customer-focused department and expanding the training department, we as a company are also committed to "Making Technicians Better."

In the Industry Since: 2009

Drinking Coffee Since: 2009

Service Pet Peeve: Cleanliness, simple daily preventative maintenance

Favorite Coffee Origin: Columbia

Favorite Tools: Cyndi Laupers (large gauge cable cutter), mirror for identifying steam leaks, 90 deg screwdriver. 

Hometown: Walla Walla Washington

Tell us something about yourself: I love baseball, have been playing baseball/softball since I was 7 years old. Married to a beautiful wife Rachel and have a new baby daughter. 

Sunday morning album: Tom Petty - Wildflowers

How did you start working in espresso machine service? I was working in a local coffee roasters warehouse managing the shipping department and the boss offered me a job as he had seen my ability to "turn a wrench."

What field were you in before coffee? Flooring warehouse

What is gratifying to you about working in coffee: Meeting a varied group of people who are all unique and passionate about coffee. 

What’s are the favorite aspects of the job: Fixing the problem the right way and making the customer happy.

What do you want to learn as a tech: I want to always increase my knowledge, if I don't know something I will reach out to a colleague and ask for advice. If they do not know and find out the answer I always want to learn from them how that process went. 

Best tech or general advice: You'll hit a plateau in your education where you can get caught into a false confidence that you know everything. That's when you start making mistakes.  Never stop learning, never let your ego get in the way of learning new tools, new techniques, and elevating yourself to be the best tech you can be. In addition to that advice, always pass your knowledge on to someone else. Network in the industry so you have others to lean on for advice and to bounce ideas off of. 

How can the guild improve? As a young guild, we are on the way to elevating the whole tech industry. Once we solidify the teaching and certificate aspects we can really start putting pressure on the industry to search out good trained techs for doing work on their machines. Included in that is the ability to demand a premium price.