When I grew it was expected of the boys to work with their dads. By the time I was 5 I was sitting on the steps sorting buckets of fasteners by size and thread. Dad was a liason engineer on flight line at Boeing, he would fill his pockets at the scrap bin with bolts that couldn't be returned to the crib. I could tell you the difference between a jo-bolt, huck bolt, shear head, tension head, slews of washers and nuts. i learned the basics of math playing dominoes and cards. I was 8 or 9 when I helped on my first brake job. Now the kids whine when they can't sit in front of the tube and play with the latest video game system. And their dads aren't much better. Right now I am teaching my teenage stepsons how to hang sheetrock.
After I had quit college and saved some money after driving trucks, I apprenticed under the best mechanic in town for 6 months for free. Since then I have learned a lot more and have held jobs doing a lot of different kinds of mechanical work. 20 years ago I settled down into a role of airframe design, and am still learning something nearly every day. I am currently working on the transfer of the 757 production line from Seattle to Wichita.
