Employee Spotlight: Massman Joseph, Systems Maintenance Technician III

If you're checking a bag at one of Tampa International Airport's airline ticket counters and it gets to its destination safely, there's a good chance Massman Joseph had something to do with it.

The Systems Maintenance Technician on TPA's Maintenance team works the overnight shift to diagnose and repair any issues with the Airport's checked baggage system. He also works on passenger boarding bridges, computers for the ticket counters and other complex yet essential systems that keep passengers moving.

Joseph and a team partner work from 8 p.m. until just after 6 a.m., four nights a week, a schedule that suits him just fine at the moment.

"I understand overnight work. I guess it's not as bad as it can be for most people, because I don't have kids," Joseph said. "In previous jobs, I had to work night shift so I could be able to go to school, so it actually worked in my favor."

When Joseph says he spent his time away from work going to school, he means it. Over the years, Joseph has earned an Associate's degree in engineering and another in computer programming and analysis at Hillsborough College. He also earned a diploma in Electrical Technology at Southern Technical College, learning about programmable logic controllers, wiring and electronics.

Joseph said that studying spurred him into working with the complex electrical components for which he's responsible today. He had been a machine operator at other jobs, but got interested in Maintenance because of a brother-in-law who was in the field. Joseph soon decided he really wanted to learn about systems from the inside out.

"I realized I am good with my hands, I've always done stuff with my hands, I always try to fix stuff," Joseph said. "I knew I needed to know some kind of electrical, because I used to see the maintenance guys at the jobs I worked at. They were in the panels and they had to mess with relays and contacts and stuff like that, and I wanted to do that, too."

He started at the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in 2021 as a Multi-Trades Worker, but after three months he started getting more technical and hands-on training, including in-depth online courses, so he could move up.

"I could read a manual and then learn that way, but I'm a visual guy. I'm a hands-on guy," Joseph said. "And so right away I said, I'm going to learn as much as I can, you know, and every day try to see if I can learn something new. That was my plan."

Now he's the one training many of the new Maintenance workers who get hired at TPA.

And while he already has plenty of educational credentials, he has been spending his days working on a full bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at the University of South Florida. He'll work a full shift, sleep a little and then go take a course or two depending on the day - usually an advanced math class like Calculus 3. He expects to graduate at the end of next year, which should coincide with another major milestone: getting married to his fiancée, Arneicia.

"We're finally at that point now and hopefully we can make it happen next year," Joseph said.

Family is important to Joseph, who was born in Orlando to Haitian immigrant parents (he has three sisters and three brothers). While he is looking for a new hobby, he doesn't have a whole lot of free time. He stopped playing basketball regularly, but has started intently watching soccer.

But he does like visiting his parents in Lakeland, where he grew up, and spending time with his three nephews and four nieces. They go on cruises or visit theme parks together whenever they can.

And in case you're wondering about Massman's unique given name - he doesn't have a middle name - there's really no secret. His father's name is Marcel and he has a brother named Madnick, so the alliteration likely just stuck.

"I asked my mother where she came up with the name and she told me to ask my father," he said. "I asked my father where he came up with the name, and he said he just came up with it. That's it."