Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/612684
8 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 by Patty Goldman I-cOnnect007 technIcal edItOr Patty's PersPectiVe The Associations Issue FeATure ColuMn Well, it's the end of the year. How did that happen? It really is true that every year goes by a little faster. You young whippersnappers out there won't know what I'm talking about, but just you wait and see. We changed it up for our December issues this year. Instead of doing a year-end review, we decided to devote this month to our asso- ciations and trade organizations—at least some, because when you start poking around, you will find there are scads of them. I've been involved in IPC activities since '80 or '81; I'm not sure anymore. I have made a ton of friends in this crazy industry of ours, learned a tremendous amount, and put in a lot of hours on subcommittee meetings and document writ- ing. I started out by volunteering to chair the Process Effects Task Group and we put out a pretty complete PCB Troubleshooting Guide within two years or so—amazing at the time. We went through a few revisions over the years, and then I moved on to chair the Glass Rein- forcement Task Group and in the meantime, served as TAEC chairman (explained later). The key word here is "volunteer." I know many or you can't quite make that connection between volunteering and "I have learned so much," but that truly is a great way to learn— much better than a classroom (go ahead, ask any volunteer). Even if you are writing just a paragraph or two for a document, you will re- search the heck out of it to make sure you have the right information, but you'll also have this network of other volunteers to call upon for help. The other connection to make is this: When you are working on a standard or specification you really can have input. The standards you use every day are not pulled out of thin air, nor are they written automatically by computers. They are written by people just like you. Tests are performed to verify data by member compa- nies—just like yours—big or small. But they all have one thing in common—they are willing to put their money where their mouth is and buckle down and do the actual work of writ-