Engineers Make America Great!
One doesn’t own the Earth, they only borrow it from future generations.
The fate our planet depends on the continued “momentum driving the future of cities… of transportation… of energy… of building… of communication and collaboration and so much more” (Built Worlds blog by Rob McManamy). Yet, for years we have heard warnings of impending construction and engineering labor shortages.
In order to ensure our children are ready to live up to this challenge the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) hired Greg MacGillivray to direct Dream Big, a 3-D, 70-mm, giant-screen film that will hit IMAX theaters in February during National Engineers Week.
This inspiring film, coupled with new engineering-oriented school curricula, aim to excite today’s youth about the opportunity to design life-changing solutions and contribute to the global community in meaningful ways.
And for the *big kids* out there who are already committed to their engineering path, the IBEW Local 134 collaboration with NECA Chicago to create a state of the art Renewable Energy Training Field, is ready to provide the in depth journeyman training today’s electrical contractors need to stay relevant and competitive.
In the meantime, here in Chicago the diverse construction workforce that brings the engineers’ dreams to life has decreased by 25% due to recent past lean years, aging baby boomers retiring, and the haitus in apprenticeship programs that are just now being reinstated. With construction booming once again, electricians and other tradespeople are in high demand, but job requirements are changing rapidly and new products and installation skill sets are constantly evolving and putting strain on contractors to stay current (pun intended).
To assist electrical contractors and their field electricians, we have aggregated a bunch of electrical training resources at https://paramont-eo.com/training/ so you can learn something right now, from wherever you are, at no cost.
With so many “Smart City” initiatives progressing throughout the world, and opportunities to get involved right here in Chicago #ArrayOfThings, now is the time to invest in training and gain experience working with new technologies and solving the problems of interoperability, connectivity, and harnessing data analytics to improve performance.
As two of the greatest contributors to the field of electricity have so aptly said:
