Working in manufacturing in the “real world” after graduation has been a particularly enlightening learning experience. Although it has been incredibly stressful growing up into adulthood and responsibility, I’ve gained a lot from this. I have plenty of moments on a daily basis where I learn things about life that my parents, both having spent time in manufacturing jobs, never would’ve even wanted to teach me.

These days I work with an eLearning program using computer-based courses to teach our nearly 400 employees. A majority of our employees are both older than me (often twice my age) and don’t have a degree. I’m not calling folks out, nor am I out to poke fun - each individual has a unique life situation that puts them where they are. I just find it a shame (and think they probably feel the same) to see folks stuck in this rut of life moving parts down an assembly line. It makes me (and them I’m sure) a little more aware of the importance of a good education. Of course, then there are the folks that seem to just not care.

The most surprising thing to me is finding somebody who doesn’t know how to use a computer. I’m not talking about people who can’t troubleshoot an issue or run a disk-defrag. I’m talking about people who don’t know what a keyboard and mouse do and think that the monitor power button is the whole PC’s power. I have such moments where I basically go into a sort of dad mode (though I’m not one) and find myself confused about whether it’s appropriate to be talking to a 70 year old man in my baby voice. Quite frankly I can only describe moments like those as “precious”.