IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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IPC COMMUNITY 41 FALL 2023 ing that Electronics Assembly for Operators (EAO) would have helped them understand better. "If we hired through a temp agency with- out doing any training first, it could eat up six to eight weeks of time, and the employee would still struggle," she says. "They would be unhappy, and their efficiencies are down. Using a tool like this gives them a leg up." IPC has programs with these types of train- ing materials, walking a new employee through everything they would see in a facility, from a PCB to a crimper or thermal stripper, how to use tools, what a good or bad connection looks like, and the soldering process. (See all the training courses at IPC EDGE.) "It's all that core knowledge they can walk in with," Brandy says. "For some larger companies, they have the money and training programs already, but they have to spend time maintain- ing those programs, whereas our programs allow everyone an opportunity to come in on equal footing and build specific skills." Fun Fact Brandy joined her high school's FIRST Robot- ics team and they won first place in a national competition. "It was a fantastic experience," she says. "I love seeing new things develop, how things work and how they're put together. It's always been really, really interesting to me." Brandy's thoughts on Technical Careers "The traditional pathway used to be the norm for everybody: You grow up, go to high school, go to college, etc. We've lost our ability to show people the great things they can do in technical and vocational careers. It's not broadcast as widely as it should be. We're running out of those workers."