We’ve worked with Tony Glockler, CEO and Co-founder of SolidProfessor, for about a year now and continue to work closely with him on the development of some training platforms we’ll be using at AMRoC, the Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center. Last October, Tony was part of our Manufacturing the Future Panel at ROBOTICON and the Foundation for Community Driven Innovation (FCDI), joined forces with him again this past April for the Houston FIRST Championship, where he helped us at a similar panel discussion.
We’re happy to feature Tony and his great work at SolidProfessor here.
SolidProfessor has been creating and delivering high quality, online learning material for engineering, design and manufacturing for 15 years, in an effort to address the need for workforce skills readiness. The SolidProfessor Library has over 5,000 interactive lessons across dozens of engineering tool platforms, offering a range of certifications for students.
“I believe knowledgeable and skilled workers are in high demand and the current US educational system is graduating students who do not have the necessary skills to be immediately employable in industry,” says Tony.
In addition to learning the tools of the trade, the best piece of advice Tony has for people interested in manufacturing and tech careers is to get involved. “The most important thing to do is expand beyond learning about manufacturing and product development and step into actively participating,” he says.
There are some really good ways to do that says, Tony.
Tony speaking with students at the 2018 Houston FIRST Championship.
- If you’re in high school, consider joining or starting a FIRST robotics team to not only get applied engineering experiences, but to also learn critical teamwork, leadership and communications skills.
- College students should consider joining engineering clubs and groups, like SAE or ASME (Human Powered Vehicle) to get hands-on experience.
- Get an internship – Tony provides internships at SolidProfessor, and locally many companies and organizations, like SOFWERX, provide internships as well. “Internships provide an excellent opportunity to get real-life experience from the industry. Machine shops and manufacturing companies are a great place to start because working in that environment will help you understand the true challenges of designing for manufacturing and the considerations you’ll need to make,” Tony says.
- Work on a personal project to ” start thinking and acting like an engineer. Get curious about how things work, think about how you might improve everyday items, identify problems, and how you might approach building solutions for them.”
Tony shares a great story on his blog that he invited us to share here:
“In high school ….I desperately wanted a mountain bike light so I could ride at night. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford one, so I decided to build my own using the CAD skills I learned in school, a set of calipers my dad had given me as a gift, and the machine shop equipment I had access to at school. This project forced me to think about designing a bike light using the materials and equipment available to me. I measured my handlebars, sketched out a clamping mechanism for the handlebars using two machined aluminum pieces, and tapped the holes for two screws so I could mount the brackets. Then I had to figure out how the electronics would work–how to match light bulbs with batteries, make sure the light would last long enough at night, and mount a switch. I was forced to work within my budget and be creative. I iterated on my design and went through two different prototypes before landing on a design that worked!”
There are few things as satisfying as making something useful with your own hands, which is basically the whole point of AMRoC – helping people develop or refine the skills they need to be capable employees, entrepreneurs and creators through hands on experience and training with good quality tools and resources. We’ll be sharing more on our work with SolidProfessor later this year. In the meantime, you can learn more at SolidProfessor.com