In 1972, Eric Groth received his diploma from Dos Pueblos High in Goleta, California. He was lost about what to do next, much like many other pupils. He began working as a machine operator at his uncle's machine business after taking the summer off, going camping and travelling across the country on a motorbike or easy rider.img

He enjoyed it! He discovered that he was really good at machining. He greatly benefited from the advanced mechanical drawing class he took in high school in the machine shop. Within four years, he rose to the position of prototype department foreman. Centre conductors for the microwave industry made up a large portion of the components they produced. The centre conductors had occasionally numerous brazing processes and extremely tight tolerances. Eric created various machine tools.