Let me tell you something. I don’t get it. Not even 40 yet, and I am on another one of these “kids these days” rants. You might be saying, “Cory. Where are you going? Aren’t these kids the future? Isn’t important to bring new younger members into the ISA?” Well, a resounding “YES!” to the last two questions. As for the where I am going question, well I want to continue last month’s theme of the need for automation and start to look at another piece of the puzzle - the skills and labor gap that is opening wider as I type. Skills and labor needed to bring those automation plans to reality.
Full disclosure, I didn’t want to be an engineer. I knew my dad was an engineer (ME and IE). I knew my grandfather was an engineer (CE). As for me, I was going to be the next Michael Jordan. Except for the fact that I couldn’t run, shoot, or jump, I had it all – sneakers, a basketball, and a number 23 red jersey. I was going to be a superstar. By the time Jr. High wrapped up, I was pretty much out of competitive sports – I had come to the harsh realization that I was average at best, but probably less than average if I am being honest. Throughout High School, I began to realize I needed to focus on other things outside of being a superstar athlete. Like all kids my age, I needed money so I could do what kids do – go out with friends, buy “fashionable” clothes (ooooof - what was I thinking then?), and try to do anything I could to catch the eye of my current crush at the time. I mowed yards, got a part time job, and did just about anything I could to scratch and claw for some money to be a normal teen.
To cut a long story short, I eventually found studying engineering was something I wanted to do, and away I went. After lots of sleepless nights studying, trial and error of experiments, and calculus that often did not quite get to where I needed it to go, I ended up with a technically based skillset that had me poised to conquer (or at least climb) the professional ranks.
Fast forward to today’s generation. Where my “role models” for success were NBA superstars, today’s youth have Social Media Influencers. Honestly, I don’t know how one becomes such a thing. One thing my youth had was a Charles Barkley commercial reminding me and forewarning me that athletes aren’t role models (go look up his famous “I am not a role model” campaign if you aren’t familiar with it). Meanwhile, today’s youth has a kid opening up toys on Youtube and making millions (look up Ryan Kaji – the kid has made nearly $30M). Maybe the internet needs a Barkley-esque campaign to show today’s kids that there is more out there than just internet fame.
The one constant between my generation and the current one appears to be that most youth will always find it fashionable to be famous. I wanted to be an NBA great, only to learn that desire is just the start of the equation. This lesson was reinforced when I graded assignments in engineering school, as almost everyone can start the equation. So, why not try to become an “Influencer” at a young age? I am sure it is easy to ignore homework to post a new video or share a story or a snappy or an insta or a whatever kids do nowadays on that internet. Time that could be spent learning about robotics, or how to seamlessly automate data collection across sources, or about how the assembly line changed the world, well, that time is spent online chasing a like, a share, or hopefully a quick buck.
I had been oblivious to this trend over the last decade or so, but now we have arrived at a critical labor and skill shortage only enhanced by the pandemic. Next time you pass a business I bet you will see “help wanted” signs, or advertisements of higher starting wages than the business across the street. Only downside is that all these jobs come with work, so why bother? The internets will pay my bills, right?
What should the ISA be doing to address this scary trend? Well, over the last year the St. Louis Section has increased our Social Media footprint – Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN, and ISAConnect – it is hard to miss us (the links are below). Expanding our reach is just the bare minimum. Now that we have the reach, we need to think about how the next generation of Automation Professionals is receiving and reacting to content. I won’t claim to have the answers, I just know we need to think and act differently now to reach the youth who should be fascinated by automation. Robots are still and will always be cool. If we don’t address this soon, the skills and labor gap will become so vast that our world will be in serious trouble.
If you have ideas on how we can serve the youth better, or if you would like to share inspiring content, or volunteer for outreach so we can show the next generation what automation is all about, please drop me a line at president@isastl.org. We’d love to hear from you. Heck, we might even ask you to run our Social Media for a day or two!
Cory N. Kniepp
ISA St. Louis Section, President
P.S. Not an ISA Member yet? Click here to join today: https://myisa.force.com/ISA/s/join-renew
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