Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2021 as well. We have a big presence in China, where they don't have the same program, but they do have opportunities for students. e IPC team had to tweak it because they have a specific re- lationship with specific industry members to support their internship programs, so it looks different. It's going to take some effort to mod- ify it to be the same but also unique to their context. Matties: You might remember an email I sent to you describing a high school student named Drew who I met earlier this year. He wants to be an engineer, so I sent him a few questions to see how clear he is on what he wants to do. What is the best way to connect him to the IPC? Many of us meet young people who we think would be good to bring into the indus- try. How do we help this person? What advice would you give to Drew, in this case? Gunter du Plessis: On our YouTube channel, we have two webinars all about careers. Drew can reach out to those individuals on the panels. Everybody talks about networking and those panel members are very open to it. Drew could even attend one of our live events. If he's in the San Diego area, he can come out to the STEM event. Matties: No, he's not in that area. Gunter du Plessis: You see, that makes it diffi- cult. We would like to do regional events in the future, similar to IPC APEX EXPO, but smaller. ere might be career fairs housed through companies and schools. High school students might have a robotics club at their school, and college students could have an IPC Student Chapter Program, where you can join your peers. On the career panel yesterday, someone mentioned not just looking at the big com- panies, but go to your smaller manufactur- ing companies and ask them if you can get ex- posure. Be proactive. ere are definitely re- sources available online from us and other companies, as well as internship opportunities for high school students; you don't need to be in college anymore to get an internship. ere are so many scholarships available for students and your chances are better if you are a well-rounded individual and showcase that you want to study, but you are proactive. An- other suggestion is finding a YouTube video where you can be a hobbyist. Figure out a proj- ect and make something. You can add that to your resume. Everybody is saying that it's not necessarily even the certificate, the diploma, or the degree that potentially will get you the job. It is your experience. You might even talk about trying to build something and how you failed. "lt didn't work, but I fixed it like this." at is what makes you stand out in an inter- view. Matties: ere's a wealth of information on- line, but what we're trying to do here is raise awareness about this industry. In Drew's case, would he be welcome to join the IPC APEX EXPO hybrids, the streaming version, as a high school student for the STEM portion? Gunter du Plessis: Yes. And having a go-to per- son to guide you can give someone like Drew assurance that he's on the right path. Someone like that might just need a little nudge or guid- ance. You need to steward someone like Drew. I know Aaron has been reaching out to individ- uals, too, because our chapter model is such that you must be part of a chapter to become a Mexico has great potential because IPC is there, and they are translating a lot of the education programs and products into Spanish.