Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1493016
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 27 REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 27 Since I'm pretty much heading toward the sunset of my career, I'm excited to see so many younger engineers stepping up and taking active roles in our committees. It's encouraging to see fresh blood entering the industry. Another exciting aspect is the challenge posed by the rapid pace of tech- nology advancements. It's always been a challenge for IPC to keep pace with those advancements, and as the curve of that advancement gets steeper every year, seeing the industry face that difficulty head-on is always sensational. Yes, keeping up is a challenge because standards take time to develop; you need to acquire data, write the standard, go through balloting, and gain consensus from the industry. We're in a position right now where, even before we release a new version of a standard, we're already working on the next version. It's not like the standard comes out, then you sit back and say, "Well, we've got a few years here before we have to do anything else." In what I like to call "the good old days," we would release a standard and then the commit- tee could maybe stand down for a year and take a breath before jumping back into it. That's just not the way it is today. No rest for the weary, right? I would say that the Emerging Engineers Program was an excellent idea. I see a lot of younger people taking over chairmanships and so forth. We passed the baton. It was a really good idea. I have personal experience with that. Christina Trussell has been a mentee of mine through the Emerg- ing Engineer Program for a couple of years now. Seeing her growth has been great, and it probably won't be too long before I'll be handing one of my committees over to her. There you go. Along those lines, what advice would you give to somebody starting out in our industry? Pretty much the biggest thing I could say to newcomers is to look around and listen. There are mentors everywhere who can help you develop your career. I wouldn't be where I am today without three or four very key individuals. There's a lot of science involved in this industry, and you learn that through your formal education, but it's also important to learn how to work through the real-world issues and how those issues relate to the standards. Agreed. Suppose somebody comes up to you at IPC and says, "How do I get involved?" Choose your area or areas of expertise and jump in. If you're new to the industry and you have limited experience, go to the committees, sit in the middle of the room, and just watch how they work. Every committee room is filled with subject matter experts on a partic- ular technology. Even if you just sit there and listen, you will learn something. True, but you learn a lot more if you volunteer to start doing some work. Yes, participation is critical, and as you attend more committees, hopefully you won't be able to resist putting your hand up and becoming an active participant. So true. Thank you, Garry. S&T Pretty much the biggest thing I could say to newcomers is to look around and listen. IPC Hall of Fame Award