Exploring Education with Amanda Beaton (Live @ MIA '23)

N: Hey everybody! Welcome to another live episode, this time on location at Manufacturing in America at Ford Field in Detroit. And today I have with me a guest, Amanda Beaton. I've been meaning to talk to Amanda since we met at ITMS last year. 

A: Yep. 

N: At a little party. And thankfully we got a chance to hang out here. I wanted to see what you guys were doing downstairs, but it has been a crazy show. 

A: Yeah. 

N: For the size of it. I honestly thought I would have more time, but doesn't that always happen? Pretty packed. 

A: Yeah. 

N: You end up meeting so many people on the way to somewhere you're trying to go and making so many good relationships that I always run out of things that, you know, I wanted to do. I saw that you guys also have a cool like car racing thing downstairs that a lot of the girls are sitting at, so I'm really hoping to catch it on my way out. 

A: Yeah. 

N: But thank you so much for taking a little bit of time out of the show to talk to me.

A: Thank you for having me.

N: So, Amanda is director of… Right? Am I getting that right? We just talked about this. 

A: Siemens Cooperates with Education. 

N: Siemens Cooperates with Education and our friends at Siemens have been telling me that we should learn about this. And we talked a little bit about it last year, but would you go ahead and if you don't mind, just kind of introduce yourself to the audience, and well I will ask you about that, but I should actually start with our normal standard sort of first question because this is an Automation Ladies.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and like how you got to be in this position doing Cooperates with Education for Siemens. 

A: Sure. Again, my name's Amanda. I started with Siemens 20 years ago in a manufacturing role. So, I got the chance to work in a lot of manufacturing plants in the US and Mexico, which is super, super cool.

I was in industrial and systems engineering. So really loved the idea of making stuff and working in a factory and just the excitement of that and like a production facility. 

N: Yeah. 

A: So got a chance to do a whole lot of cool jobs for the first few years at Siemens and did several different jobs throughout the years.

So, Siemens is such a big company and we do so many different things that you get to work in lots of different job families and job functions. So, it's product marketing and some engineering and manufacturing, like we said. And kind of made my way over to training and apprenticeship style programs in the US and then, basically got funding to grow this program, build this program called Siemens Cooperative Education here. 

So nationally we take our automation products because I work in factory automation. 

N: Mm-hmm. 

A: And we put those into schools, into students' hands, whether they're classrooms or labs. When high schools or community colleges do a ton of work with us and then universities and everything in between.

Any sort of learning center, county career training centers, union training shops, you know, lots of training education centers get a chance to use our products and we support them by training educators, doing lots of teacher workshops, “train the trainer” type classes, and we offer free curriculums and a lot of cool benefits for teachers and students.

And yeah, just get the chance to place lots of automation, hardware and software into schools. 

N: That's really cool. Do you feel like there is enough, like how much do you feel is covered in terms of do enough schools have automation stuff? 

A: Not, not even close. So, because I cover the whole U.S., I feel like I'm just, every day I wake up and it's not enough.

N: Yeah. 

A: I mean, I go to school after school, and every type of school and every type of program, whether it's just sort of a pre-engineering program in a high school or a maintenance program, or you know, engineering at a university and there's so many programs and so many students and so many jobs.

N: Yeah. 

A: That I just feel like I can never do enough. So, I mean, it's like I'm tired. 

N: Yeah. 

A: When I wake up every morning and I'm just like, oh, we have to do more. We have to visit more schools and get more products and get more students trained or more workforce trained. So yeah, I feel like it's, I mean, the more I learn, the more I'm just like, the more there is to do.

So. Yeah. 

N: Yeah. That is a typical thing like the more you learn, the more you realize what you don't know. Right? Or what there is left to do. 

A: Yeah. Right. 

N: I'm actually very surprised though, to hear your initially wanted to get into factory automation, because I would venture to say that 9 out of 10 people that we've talked to fell into it in some way or another, but they didn't actually know that it existed.

And I'll, because I do, I talk too much on these shows, even though I'm the host and I'm interviewing people, I went into technical sales. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And I always said like, oh, I never would've imagined myself being a salesperson, but I didn't know what technical sales looks [like]. 

A: Yeah. 

N: So, I was like, I don't know anybody that grows up to want to be in sales.

Until I met somebody, they were like, I did and I went to school for that. I got a MA major in sales and it blew my mind. And then I was like, okay. Another moment where I realized how much I don't know. But how did you learn about factory automation? Enough to know that you could go to school for that or get into that industry?

A: I mean, in school and college, even before college, I knew I wanted to do something like STEM: math or science related. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And I knew that. The university I went to, I went to Georgia Tech and there were lots of jobs in industrial systems, mechanical, electrical, this engineering space. 

N: Okay. 

A: So really just the subjects attracted me. 

N: Yeah. 

A: So chose those subjects and my first internship was at GE and it gave me the chance to work with a lot of products and I ended up in a plant. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And you know, honestly, I'm from a really small town and all the manufacturing plants were in really rural places for Siemens sometimes, but for other companies…

N: Right. 

A: So, I feel like, maybe I had the opportunity to go to manufacturing cause other students wouldn't go to these tiny little towns and work like way out, outside of a big city. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And I jumped at the opportunity to go to a small town and lived in like somebody's garage and worked at a plant and I loved it. And it was. 

It's just a unique opportunity, but it was just so energetic to make stuff and be out of [the] production line. And you were going in every day and there were products coming out the door. And it wasn't just like an office where you're sitting in a cubicle. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And looking at a computer screen all day. You were putting inputs in and seeing products leave, and I just thought that was way cooler than sitting in an office all. 

N: Yeah, definitely. I agree. I didn't know much about the manufacturing industry, so I thought engineering was sitting at a desk all day.

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: Designing or drafting stuff or whatever. So that was one of the reasons why I thought it was not for me. 

A: Yeah. 

N: But I ended up, I really like solving problems and as soon as I got into a factory, I was like, whoa, yeah. Yes. I want to do this! And I loved it. 

Do you think that more, and I hear this a lot, and we don't try to make the show about women's issues or anything, but I've heard from some people like, oh, you know, the gender imbalance and stuff is just because girls are not interested in this stuff.

From your experience, obviously you were interested in it. Do you think that you're an outlier or do you think it's more about not having, like, not every school has that type of program like Georgia Tech does. Right? And since you're in a lot of schools, what do you see and what do you think? 

A: I'd say, so I started 20 years ago at Siemens. You're right, 20 years ago, you don't see a lot of females doing this job. So, when you don't see a lot of females in the positions, it's hard to picture yourself doing that job in that position or in that company even so, right? 

I mean, it was very male dominated and I just kind of ignored it. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And I, there were not a lot of females and not a lot of women, almost none in these factories and in these roles in every meeting I was in.

N: Mm-hmm. 

A: But I just, I loved it. So, I just sort of ignored that fact and worked through it and learned a lot and yeah, you just, you have [to] a thick skin, you work through it. 

N: Yeah. It's changed a lot. 

A: Yeah. Yeah. Certainly, in the 20 years, it's very different. I mean, you can look around today and see all the females and just the diversity of places like this.

N: It's definitely changed in 20 years and it's cool. It's a welcome change. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And we couldn't record it on the show floor or close to it cause it's just too loud. There are too many people, too much going on. There's some machinery that's humming. 

A: Yeah. 

N: So, we actually have Ford Field right in the background.

You kicked a field goal earlier. 

A: Yeah, it wasn't, I had scoring points. So yeah, I'm not, not a good field goal kick. Well, hey, give it a try. Right? I try every year, so, okay. I've done this a few times and I even wore better shoes this year, but yeah, I didn't have the loft, so I'm going to try to get next year though.

N: I'm going to be terrible at it, but I'm going to try next year too. Yeah, I'll wear shoes and be prepared to kick. 

A: Yeah, I've honestly, I've tried. At least this is my third time. Okay. And it's gotten better every time. 

N: I was about to say, do you get a little bit better every time? Because that's all that matters.

A: Right? I feel like pretty confident in a year. It's going to go in. I'm going to score some points. 

N: I don't think you heard us, but Luis and I cheered you from the stands. He told me. 

A: I didn't hear it. 

N: Okay. 

A: It is a very big space. 

N: Yeah. 

A: I was focused on my, my technique, which wasn't good. I'll say though. 

N: Yes. You said, look around this event and there's a lot of women.

A: Right. 

N: But that doesn't, that's not the same for every trade show  in our industry. 

A: Right. 

N: Everywhere, all the time. 

A: Definitely. Yeah. 

N: And do you think that, I mean, I see, I feel like I see a lot of women at Siemens. Is there something about the Siemens culture that maybe is, there's maybe just more representations or you're getting it, you know, having a better time getting women to come into the company or…?

A: I think [so]. Siemens, of course, is a German company, and I know, you know, the first several years of work it was very male dominated in every meeting. I mean, you're looking around, you're seeing Germans, you're seeing lots of men, and it was the same. But being a European company, I think Siemens worked really, really hard to welcome diversity.

N: Yeah.

A: And to just bring in different types of people. So yeah, I think Siemens, I know we've made a conscious effort to kind of go outside the box a little bit and bring in lots of different types of people, different types of majors, different backgrounds. So, it does look a little different and it is more diverse.

N: And that's conscious choice? 

A: Yeah. 

N: I love that. And it really makes me, like I've met so many cool [00:10:00] people from different backgrounds that I've interacted with from different divisions of Siemens. Of course, you guys are a huge company, so there's a lot to choose. And part of that, I mean, I also don't hear a lot about people staying at the same company for this long.

A: Yeah. 

N: And I think that's also because curious minds like us, we tend to get bored unless we have a giant big problem that we wake up to every day like you do now. You could probably do this for the rest of your career and not be bored. 

A: Yeah. 

N: But we like to grow. And many companies’ kind of pigeonhole you like, oh, you're good at this. We'll just stick to doing it. And what I hear from you and multiple other people at Siemens is like, hey, there's all these different roles that you can do within the company. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And do they encourage you to move around or…?

A: I'm pretty weird. I've stayed with Siemens this long, but also been doing this, something to do with training or education for this long.

N: Okay. 

A: And Siemens has tried to push me. I mean, they want you to grow and to move and to do different jobs. So, I did it for years and, you know, moved every couple of years and moved geographically and then to different functions. But this role I've stayed in. But I've [also] grown the role and changed the role and we've adopted new technologies and grown it nationally.

And so, it's been a challenge. And we do new and different things, but yeah. Yeah, it's a pretty weird thing to do. Just a job. But no, I mean, Siemens wants, I'd say I've almost had to resist them pushing me into different roles or different directions because it is a company. It pushes you to grow and to change and to move.

So, I did it for a long time, but I've just been so happy doing this and working with teachers and students, which is very rare at Siemens because everybody else works with lots of industrial customers. And yeah, you know, we work globally, but this is just a very focused U.S. education program, so it's unique and I think it's a lot cooler than the other jobs at Siemens. So, I've stuck with it. 

N: Sounds like fun because that's why I'm sure every educator, every school, every program that you see gives you a little bit something different to work with, right? 

A: Oh yeah. Every state is so different. I mean, every school of course. So, I mean, the programs are different, and the challenges are different. So, you know where some schools are teaching one type of technology, one type of subject, and yeah, it's just, it's so different. And some states, you know, they go big, and some states are it. It's crazy. So yeah, I think it's like up to a new challenge every day. 

N: Yeah. I guess some states have more manufacturing as you know, part of their economy and they might focus on it more, right?

A: Yeah. And if you met the schools that I've worked with over the past several years, you can see where schools really pull in technology. 

N: Yeah. 

A: So, you can see a big cluster around here where there's lots of manufacturing and now in the southeast where there's lots of new manufacturing and you can just see kind of the growth in manufacturing and how the schools are bringing in industrial technologies into their programs. Because they have to… 

N: Yeah. 

A: … to prepare the student. But then, you know, sometimes where there's really open spaces and not a lot of manufacturing, those big blank spaces and not a lot of schools. So yeah, when you map the schools, you can really see where I spend most of my time. 

N: Yeah. 

A: Yeah. 

N: I actually interviewed out of college [and] I ended up at Keans, but I also almost got a job doing technical marketing for Caterpillar.

A: Yeah. 

N: But what turned me off from that was the rotation of plants in the middle of nowhere. Because at the time it was also, I had a relationship and so it was like I wanted to be somewhere where that person could also be. 

A: Yeah. 

N: In these middle of nowhere towns for a few months at a time. Just didn't seem like very attractive to me.

A: That's exactly what I did. I did [the] circle of nowhere towns. 

N: Exactly. Well, hey, everybody's got, you know, different things going on and different things are attractive to different people, but we are definitely nerd[s] about industrial automation. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And I, you know, one of the purposes of this show is we want more people to see how cool it is.

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: And whether you're a lady or not, or whatever, you know, there can be a place [for you] and there's all kinds of different jobs in this industry. And if you're an educator and you're interested in this stuff, even if you're not an expert at manufacturing or factory automation, I think there's a ton of opportunity.

I can't talk about it yet cause I saw something really cool in the basement last night that's going to be released at Hanover next week. 

A: Yeah. 

N: But it did remind me that there's a lot of innovation happening when it comes to the digital side. 

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: And I, you know, we on the show don't like to talk about it all too much because particularly in the field from, you know, the technicians we work with, they're tired of hearing about Industry 4.0.

A: Right. 

N: Because it doesn't really touch them the way that it touches the executives. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And sort of the long-term vision, but with more and more digitalization of the stuff that we do in hardware, do you envision that it'll be easier for this to proliferate into schools and maybe earlier than college or technical schools? Once maybe [we] don't have to have the physical PLC in front of us to, you know, do that kind of work? Or do you mainly do it deal with, you know, actual hardware stuff when it comes to the education? 

A: I mean, there's certainly a lot of schools who, who need to have hardware. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And there are lots of instructors who have come from industry and they want to have hardware in front of them. But, you know, COVID changed all that. So we went through this boom of doing simulated PLCs and simulated HMIs because nobody had hardware at home. So we're working with thousands of students across the U.S. who were in their parents' basement. 

N: Yeah.

A: So we were doing lots of software based projects and the curriculum was very software based. So I know I have a counterpart and there are several people at Siemens who work with academia, but purely on the software side. 

So now we work together a lot and a lot more because. The lines aren't really so, so strong, so bold anymore. It's just hardware and software. It's all, yeah, it's all kind of intertwined.

So yeah, you can just feel the way that projects are going. For a lot of schools and even like senior design projects, they're doing digital twins and other stuff, and [are] bring[ing] in a lot more Siemens software products. So it's not just hardware and software now, it's really just there's Industry 4.0, there's digitalization projects, and it's cool because honestly the students are teaching, you know, industry people...

N: Yeah.

A: ...some things they're doing because they understand it's so much more native to young people to do [these] things [in] middle school, high school and college. So they're blending all these technologies together and bringing all these software tools in that are innate to them. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And then they're kind of showing industry and senior design presentations or whatever, "this is what we did". These are the technologies we brought in, and this is how we made a digital twin. This is how we did this. This is how we connected all these devices together. We use our phone to control it, and it's pretty impressive. 

So yeah, I think as students are, getting access to the technologies, which is why we do what we do, they're able to show us what they can do and projects and what the technology can do from their young minds, which is, you know, they're smarter than us. So... and  they were born with a cell phone in their hand and iPhone. 

N: I know a lot of people were kind of afraid that all this technology would like dumb down the youth, but honestly, I'm seeing, I mean, my five year old daughter so smart.

A: Yeah. 

N: And you know, she grew up with that stuff and it's crazy to me, right? Because, I mean, we  are kind of at an age where like it all started and happened while we were growing up and so we got a taste of it, but not until, at least for me, until I was like, maybe 10, did you really start interacting with that stuff.

A: Yeah. 

N: Now it's like from birth. But I saw a post on LinkedIn the other day of Science Fair projects. 

A: Yeah. 

N: If you hadn't told me what that event was, I would've thought it was a technical conference, like presentations where they  present papers. I've been to IEE conferences where people present their research on little posters. .

A: Yeah. 

N: You could not have told me that this was a high school science fair. 

A: Yeah. 

N: Based on the depth in the TE like I mean,  it was extremely complicated to me using machine learning for. But you think about it, these kids grew up with like any information they wanna get available at their fingertips.

A: Yeah. 

N: By understanding through the internet and through, you know, through their phones and... 

A: Yeah. 

N: ...and I think, you know, it's hard for us to comprehend what they can do in their brains when they see our stuff. 

A: Yeah. 

N: Like we can teach them stuff but like you said, absolutely. They can teach us too. 

A: I've already given up on finding out some things. I have two middle school daughters and I'm fully aware that I have to hand them my phone to tell me how to do certain things. 

N: Yeah. 

A: Just show me how to do whatever that is, or just figure it out because they're faster and you know, I have a technical degree and engineering degree and a master's degree and all these things.

And I've been working in industry for a long time and I hand my phone to my 12 year old daughter and say "figure this out". 

N: Yeah. Well I recently heard the term reverse mentoring. 

A: Yeah. 

N: I think that's huge. I mean a great idea because not only you always think of the idea, somebody more accomplished than you can teach you.

A: Yeah. 

N: Or somebody more successful than you can be a mentor or be a role model. But I think in this day and age, we can all learn something from each other. 

A: That's true. 

N: And so, at least with our show, I mean, you are an impressive guest and an expert, but we can literally learn from something about [anyone's] perspective or their experience. Like they've probably been in a plant that I haven't been in. 

A: Yeah. 

N: Or involved in a process that I haven't seen. So if you're watching this and you think I'm not an expert enough or impressive enough to be a guest on the show, you are wrong. Come on the show. 

Well, we had the opportunity downstairs because we have university students [here], but we have also other students, middle and high school students down there with the robotics teams.

A: Okay. Yeah. 

N: There's first robotics teams down there, right? 

A: Yeah. 

N: So we interviewed them too, and let them talk about how they chose products and how they chose technologies and the business plan for their robot and the different teams. So, yeah. 

A:Yeah, it's impressive. And you learn from them. I mean they're my kids' age and they're just, they're talking about it on camera. 

N: Mm-hmm. Really, really well, and my daughter already wants to be the star of her own YouTube show, and she's five. Yeah. So obviously we're, you know, handling that with caution. We're not going there. But I also told my husband, I was like, well, just because it's available doesn't mean that every kid that watches [00:20:00] YouTube wants to create.

So maybe I should, you know, think about what she's saying seriously, rather than just shutting it down immediately. Because of course you don't want your kids broadcasting themselves all over there. They think differently than we do, though. I mean, they really do. It's just a whole different mindset.

A: Yeah. And we didn't have that growing up, but it's, yeah, they really do. 

N:They have a whole different perspective. My son is about to turn three and his favorite show to watch is a kid called Caleb. And Caleb just plays with toys with his mom. 

A:Yeah. 

N: Or goes to the park or to the grocery store or whatever.

A: Isn't Caleb really rich? Doesn't he make a lot of endorsement money? 

N: I think that's Ryan. 

A: Oh, okay. 

N: That's Ryan's world. And Ryan's world is now like on Amazon Prime. They have a real TV show now. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And toys at Walmart and stuff. But yeah, we, growing up, we had like, you know, one TV channel, everything was heavily produced.

A: Yeah. 

N: And now these kids are just like seeing each other live their lives. And guess what they gravitate toward? Representation of somebody like themselves. 

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: So, anyway we're not gonna make too long of an episode today. We oftentimes go a little long, but we both have flights to catch. So is there anything else that, you know, would you would like to talk about or say, or make sure that our audience knows about [or] the education program or anything else?

A: I'd say some of my favorite things to talk about, and we'll talk about it in the session I have here at Manufacturing in America. I hear such wonderful success stories from teachers and from students, and I don't think people understand what kind of programs are out there. So every day when I hear from a student or a teacher, you know, I entered this program, whether it's a high school program or a one year [or] two year type of college program.

Whatever type of program. And they don't just find jobs or a trade or a skill, but they find a whole career. 

N: Yeah. 

A: And I hear from people from all over the country, from all types of different backgrounds, even coming out of the workforce and maybe being unemployed for a while, or people that are veterans and don't necessarily know what to do next.

But there's so, so many cool automation, mechatronics, whatever type of program based in this STEM field that's needed. Cause the jobs are out there. And they find a career and they find a life. So just really cool stories out there and I don't think enough people know that the programs are there and really fantastic training programs.

Some really accelerated, you know, four weeks, four months, whatever, to find a whole career in a whole life and something really cool that is life changing. So, yeah, I think there's some really cool opportunities out there. 

N: How can we tell people more about those programs? Do you have a website where you list all the programs that you work with or are there resources that people can find easily?

A: Yeah. Exactly that. There's a Siemens Cooperates with Education site. So if you just look up Siemens Cooperates with Education in the U.S. you'll see a site and it has programs and it has direct links to schools. 

N: Okay. 

A: [Including] a school map but also my contact information's on there, so people could always kind of find me and find programs. But yeah, it's just a really cool opportunity. I think  it truly changes lives, so I just love hearing from the student. 

N: I've heard that quite a bit also. We did an episode with Ale Walker, who works at Gray Solutions. Her mom, Kathy Walker, runs a program called eKAMI in Kentucky.

A: Mm-hmm.

N: And Ale was just kind of telling us how she came into automation. She was a pro golfer, but she saw how her mom's program was changing lives of these people in rural Appalachia, to get into this industry and how cool it was. 

A: Yeah. 

N: So I hear the same thing, like it really can be transformative to find this career.

A: Yeah. 

N: And it doesn't matter what stage of life you're in really. 

A: Yeah. 

N: [You know] what I will make a commitment to do is on automationladies.io, which is our website for show, [and] we have a resources page. Now it's not, you know, it doesn't have a ton of stuff on it, but it does have a link to roboticscareer.org, which is also a website coming from the Arm Institute.

A: Mm-hmm.

N: For robotics programs. And I will make sure to add a link to the Siemens Cooperates with Education to be able to find, cause there may be some programs on there that are not on the other one. 

A: Yeah. 

N: Obviously industrial automation and robotics are similar, sometimes happening in the same place. Sometimes not. Not all automation is robotic and vice versa, but we'll make those resources available. I know Ali, so she's not here. 

Unfortunately, she can't travel to all of these shows, but she's doing a thing on her own called Kids PLC Kits, where she's getting donated PLC and controls equipment and pair[s] it with teachers at schools that don't have programs maybe.

But if there's individual teachers that are really passionate about teaching something. 

A: Yeah. 

N:To their kids. So totally separate thing, not tied with anything. 

A: I do exactly that though. I mean, in our workshops we invite educators to come in and we give them PLC kits to take home and do the exact same thing with a textbook and a hardware and software starter kit.

So it's, yeah, pretty much the exact same thing. 

N: Well, very cool. We should definitely connect you two to chat about [it]. I think she just had an educator reach out to her. 

A: Yeah.

N: Asking [about it]. And so she was like, oh, well I have some stuff. 

A: Yeah. 

N: Let me put some stuff together. And you know, sometimes it's, more and more of these kind of grassroots efforts.

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: Along with the big companies that are supporting it. Hopefully, you know, every little drop counts, right. There's plenty of schools out there that still need the help. 

A: Yeah. Back before Covid, I used to train hundreds of educators in a year, but it kind of went online and then it kind of got just, things got weird.

But yeah, we're getting back to workshops several weeks out of the year with a dozen educators in each, so we're getting back to training of [the] educators and "train the trainer" and getting the products in their hands. So it's getting back. But yeah, I'd love to meet her. 

N: Well, it's definitely desperately needed. We also need the workforce in our industry. I mean, the unfilled manufacturing jobs, I'm pretty sure people, you know, have been saying this over and over. Right? We're gonna have, you know, by 2030, I forget what the figure is, but it's big unfilled. 

A: 3 million in the U.S., yeah. 

N: All jobs and, yeah. 

A: Yeah.

N: There you go. So we need to train them. Come into our industry. It's really cool. Industrial automation is one of the funnest things that you can do. You feel like you're playing at work every day if you find the right spot. Our other Automation Lady, Courtney Fernandez, she is not here. She'll be at Automate. By the way, we'll be back in Detroit at Automate.

We'll be hanging out, I'm sure. Just in a few weeks, Courtney's gonna be coming with her Automation Ladies hat on, rather than her UR hat. She's an applications engineer for Universal Robots, but she started out in a different type of engineering career and she was like, "yeah, I just felt, nah, about my job."

You know, I'd go into work, I'd do some stuff, I'd get paid, but there was nothing exciting about it. And then she found industrial automation. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And it's been a rollercoaster, but like a very exciting one. So I'll say, if you come into this world, you won't, [well] you shouldn't get bored. If you're bored, just find another thing adjacent to what you're doing, cause you shouldn't be.

There's so much to learn, so much to do. MIA. Okay. So that's the event that we're at today? 

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: It's sponsored by Siemens. Thank you for sponsoring the show Siemens, by the way. 

A: Yeah. 

N: And Electromatic, which is one of your largest distributors here. Can you tell us if somebody hasn't been to MIA before, just from your perspective, why should they come next year?

A: It's a huge event. I think the venue is really cool. It's different from other venues cause it, you know, there's sports teams and there's sort of interactive games and things that people can do [on] the field. It's just kind of cool. I mean, yesterday I held a session in the visitor locker room. We held another big automation session in the Lions locker room.

N: Yeah. 

A: With the Lions players names and so it is kind of cool. I mean, especially if you're a sports fan, it's fun, so that's neat. But if you see all the vendors and all the booths downstairs and just the things that they're showcasing and the technologies just all in one. So you get to go, come and walk around in this really cool venue, but you get to hear from experts, from, you know, all kind of different, whether it's automation or AI or whatever.

N: Yeah. 

A: And see things moving and, you know, play with stuff. And there's a whole tech zone here, right out here where you [are]. You can sit down and learn for as long as you wanna sit. There's people that sit out there for 30 minutes or an hour and just kind of play with stuff. I really wanted to, I just haven't had the time sit down and try one of the VR training stations.

N: Yeah, yeah. It's super cool. 

A: They've got an augmented reality training station and the VR training station, and there's just lots of cool opportunities and you don't realize that you kind of get in your own day-to-day work. 

N: Yeah.

A:  And then you get out of it to come to a place like this and walk around and see all these experts and this network like you said, and talk to people and it's a really cool two days.

N: It's, yeah, I'll definitely be back next year. I highly recommend if you guys are watching this and weren't able to make it out, if you're at all in the Detroit, you know, area [or] in the Midwest, or you know, have the opportunity to come travel, it's definitely. I mean, I have a soft spot for Detroit. I used to work for a startup that was headquartered outside of here, and I used to visit all the time.

I almost moved here back in like 2016. You know, [life] took me in another direction, but I always love to  visit here. Great people. 

A: Yeah. And then location is fantastic. I have not been to an event at a sports field before. It's cool. You can walk here, you can walk lots of restaurants, but this is at least my seventh MIA.

And every year is different and every year is cool. So it's not the same thing every year. It doesn't get boring, it's not repetitive. We come here every year and every year I learned something, so, yeah. 

N: Yeah. So we'll probably be doing this again next year. I heard, although don't quote me on it, there is a tech enthusiast lounge up here on the second floor where we had Sean Tierney, who does the Automation Blog in the Automation School. He had a recording set up. 

A: Mm-hmm. 

N: And then Jake Hall was here as well, and. Just tons of places like to sit down and have great conversations outside of the hustle and bustle of the floor.

A: Yeah. 

N: As well as up here, people, we've been hearing people talking and kind of sweets and stuff. 

A: Yeah. 

N: So it's a great time. I'm glad we were able to take a little bit, find that quiet spot. Sit down, have a chat, and thank you everybody that joined. [00:30:00] Is there anything else that you wanna add? Can you tell people where, so you said that they can find you in your email at Siemens Cooperates with Education. 

A: Yep. Right. If they search for that.

N: Anywhere else that people can get ahold of you or should be following what you're doing? 

A: Yeah, I mean, on LinkedIn under Amanda Beaton. I try to share success stories and things that I do with schools and certainly try to promote the school programs that way. So certainly on LinkedIn too. 

N: Yeah. Okay. Find her on LinkedIn.

A: Yep. 

N: And then again, thank you to Siemens for helping us out with coming here, sponsoring the show. I also wanna throw a shout out to our season two sponsors, Clarify and FactoryFix. I love that there are so many new companies in our industry trying to bridge the gap when it comes to the skills gap.

You know, get more workers into our factories, make it easier to work with our data. I met a company from Norway downstairs, as well as a machine vision AI company. That their primary developer was somebody that I used to work with in a different industry before. So you also never know like what type of random connections you might make here or find [or] run into lots of people.

A: Yeah. 

N: So thank you so much for joining me, Amanda. It was a fantastic time to talk and Amanda has to run because she has a talk that she's doing as part of the program. Again, I wish I had been able to go to all the technical sessions, but apparently you can't walk the floor, podcast, take pictures. 

A: Yeah.

N: And attend technical sessions at the same time. If we ever invent cloning of ourselves, I may consider it for this one reason. 

A: Yeah. 

N: But otherwise, I'll be back next year and hope to see you guys there too. Bye! 

A: Bye!