The resilience shown by individuals and organizations in our industry never ceases to amaze me. During the last 15 months or so we have all faced a series of challenges that essentially shut down multiple economic sectors. Yet we persevered, and even thrived, by remaining adaptable in how we share information, learn, and grow. I’d like to think that the iNARTE community played at least a small part in helping achieve this positive outcome for our professionals.
Covid changed the way that people have considered the benefits of lifelong learning and taking a more active role in their careers. For engineers and technicians working within EMC, ESD, telecommunications, spectrum management, or related fields, the social distancing realities of the pandemic forced training and other career-development opportunities to almost completely virtual formats. For many, that worked great. There are a host of fantastic trainers who quickly figured out ways to deliver their training online if they weren’t doing so already. Plenty of you, who found themselves working from home for the first time, took advantage of the ease and convenience of these virtual learning opportunities to expand your knowledge base.
Of course, it’s not all blue skies ahead. The pandemic accelerated trends and exposed issues that industry has been grappling with for many years—automation, outsourcing, and complex and risky supply chains, to name just a few. How we deal with these realities in the coming years and decades will, in large measure, determine the future of our profession. As always, those who craft their careers with an eye toward creating maximum value and efficiency for their organizations and clients will flourish.
To that end, we at iNARTE, in partnership with our parent company Exemplar Global, have redoubled our efforts to assist you. Recently we announced the launch of Exemplar LINK, which is your online community for career development, including events and networking opportunities, digital badging and profiling, and analysis of industry trends. In the future we’ll be bringing you additional beneficial services.
As we all begin to gather again in conference rooms and trade shows, I am confident that we will maintain our commitment to ongoing self-improvement opportunities using the full range of available options, including the online platforms to which we have all grown so comfortable and accustomed. We want to help, and we’re here to serve. Please write me at cthornton@exemplarglobal.org to let me know how we can assist you in your career.