Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1185676
18 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2019 and do it on your own time without having to leave, take time off of work, and be absent from your responsibilities, would be useful for both young engineers and those who have been in the industry for a long time. Continu- ing education is going to make the whole in- dustry better. Many conferences have hands-on semi- nars too, where it's not sitting and listening to someone lecture, but having interactive ses- sions with your lecturer. It's hard to do demon- strations, of course, with chemistries and drill machines. But more interactive presentations are better. As much as I love college, some- times lectures can be dry; I much prefer some- thing hands-on and accessible. I think the industry also needs to take some of the tribal knowledge out of PCBs. I haven't been in this industry for long, but it seems like a lot of knowledge is held by people that have been in the industry for 50–60 years. There are a lot of these tricks of the trade that aren't nec- essarily documented or written down, so it can be hard to find answers sometimes. Having a place where those with more experience could share their knowledge with young engineers like me would be awe- some. I want that knowl- edge, and I'm sure other engineers my age do too. We want someone to teach us, but sometimes there's a disconnect between the people who have the know- ledge and the people who want to be taught; I'd like to see a way for people to connect in that way and capture that knowledge in- to a white paper or forum. Holden: I didn't choose to go into the printed cir- cuits industry; it chose me. I was headed for chemical companies like DuPont or Dow. Instead, I ended up at Hewlett-Packard in the Bay Area, which had nearly 30 one-and-one space and trace, so I'd like to con- tinue that. In the next few years, I think the industry is going to be figuring out new technologies but at a higher volume in North America. For instance, one-and-one is feasible in Asia right now because they have the technology and ca- pacity, but in North America, we need to be able to have more than one source for those technologies and use them. It's not enough that one circuit board shop can do this tech- nology; we need multiple circuit board shops to be able to do it, and in high volume, so that we can meet the needs of all of the customers that want to stay in the U.S. Holden: What do you find is the most effec- tive method of learning? And what can be im- proved to speed up the learning process for a breadth of topics? Thurston: Offering more classes would help as would access to conferences. Conferences, es- pecially where I am right now, are isolated, so they can be hard to attend. Having webinars available where you can pay to attend a class