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Dear Editor,
I am a product of the industrial base that was Glasgow, Scotland.
I served my time in John Brown’s Shipyard as a draftsman. At
the end of the school term, the gates would open and the shipyard
and engineering works would open their gates and suck us all in.
In retrospect, it could be viewed as child labor, but it provided
thousands with a solid training and trade to be proud of. It never
did any of us harm and did build character.
For the next four years, we would be exposed to every aspect of
the industry while simultaneously attending college on a part-time
basis where we could learn additional theories — like math,
science and technology — to add to the practical training we
were receiving.
Today the situation is a bit different. We do not have the concentrated
industrial bases that were prevalent in the UK when I was trained
and therefore a different approach towards training must be found.
In order to draw young bright minds into engineering and specifically
the CAD profession, we must go into the schools and demonstrate
what we do. I visit the local technical college and give presentations
to the civil engineering group. I intend to do the same at the local
high schools and show the kids that there is an alternative to either
sticking your hand down a toilet or going to university. I am convinced
that most kids are not aware of what we do. As an example, last
year I was the coach of our local under-18 boys’ soccer team.
Not one of them had any insight into the type of work I was involved
with, but when I showed them prints of 3D models that I had done,
their interest perked.
In order to fill the void, we should be bringing in more young people
from community colleges and providing them with a solid training
program (as we do at my company, HATCH LTD), while also going to
the high schools and doing presentations. If we all did this, we
could fill the gap. But it won’t happen overnight. Remember,
today’s kids like computers and they like to play games, so
show them your best animations in the real world and they might
just take an interest.
Charles McGowan Designer’s Lead
HATCH LTD
Mississauga, Canada
Send your comments to Forum@AxiomInt.com.
Note: submission has been edited for length.
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