Each Nikhil Kaul’s mother and father are engineers, and as a 17-year-old apprentice in robotics, he hopes to observe of their footsteps — however going quicker and farther.
Kaul, a senior attending Amador Valley Excessive within the Bay Space, has been working as a technician apprentice at Kensington Laboratories in Dublin. Kensington provides robotics and automation gear to the semiconductor business. Amongst its signature merchandise are wafer dealing with robots, which maintain and transfer ultra-thin silicon wafers, that are lower into laptop chips.
Kaul mentioned his mother and father, who emigrated from India, had their first hands-on engineering experiences after school. His mom, who marvels at this apprenticeship, instructed him the one non-academic programs her highschool supplied have been dwelling economics and store courses.
The yearlong apprenticeship is among the first high-tech apprenticeships launched by Amador Valley Excessive. Pleasanton Unified College District has positioned a number of highschool college students at native expertise firms and officers plan to develop this system subsequent yr. However there are numerous extra college students making use of than alternatives out there, mentioned Kimberly Greenhouse, one of many district’s work-based studying lecturers.
California is investing billions of {dollars} in apprenticeship and job coaching packages. Final month state officers introduced $16 million was simply awarded to apprenticeships focusing on “opportunity youth,” who are sometimes out of faculty or unemployed, and $52 million went to apprenticeships in expertise and healthcare.
Kaul spoke about his apprentice expertise with CalMatters. His feedback have been edited for size and readability.
You’re among the many first tech apprentices out of your highschool and the primary in a robotics position. How do you prefer it?
I’ve at all times recognized that engineering is one thing I need to pursue. It truly is like being on the job, truly having a day within the lifetime of working at a robotics firm. If I need to pursue this subject, that is what it’s going to appear like. And it allowed me to double down, realizing that that is what I need to do.
What’s a typical day there like?
I’m not caught doing solely a sure position. I’m at all times rotating, doing various things.
Kensington produces these machines referred to as EFEMS. It stands for Tools Entrance Finish Module. It’s a wafer dealing with robotic. As a result of in these factories — like in an Intel manufacturing facility — the place they produce (laptop) chips and stuff, it must be utterly clear, not even a speck of mud. People can’t even deal with it, simply due to the oils from our palms. So it must be robots. So they’re these machines that decide up wafers after which transfer them round earlier than they get lower into byte chips.
Cleanliness is a giant factor at my work. Each single time I’m coping with any single half, I have to wipe it down two or thrice, earlier than and after coping with it … It’s a manufacturing flooring. They use me to assist out and I study various things as I’m going alongside.
What made you need to be an engineer?
Ever since I used to be born, I’ve been obsessive about vehicles and type of how they’re capable of carry out, particularly in motorsports. I at all times preferred to work with my palms. I’m not a very good kind to only sit behind a pc and go for 9 hours straight.
I additionally knew I wished to enter engineering, however I additionally wished to maintain an open thoughts. I figured I wished any expertise I might get within the subject. I had accomplished a bit of engineering pathway at my college. I had taken three years of engineering courses.
How has your life modified because you turned an apprentice final summer season?
I like what I do, however it’s additionally a giant time dedication. In the course of the summer season, it wasn’t tremendous unhealthy as a result of I didn’t have college. I’m a senior now, so I’ve been doing school apps and all that stuff. So it’s been actually hectic. If I wasn’t on this program, I’d have much more free time, which I don’t know what I’d have carried out with that.
I’m taking honors laptop built-in manufacturing (class). The concept was that what I used to be studying within the class would coincide with what I’m studying on the job.
What are you most happy with conducting?
That is my first job, so I’ve by no means needed to steadiness work, life, college, pals. So I believe it positively taught me time administration.
I’m studying issues that folks do on a day-to-day foundation. It’s one factor to study in a classroom and do initiatives. It’s (one other) factor to take what I realized in my engineering courses or physics courses and apply that to actual life situations.
Generally my supervisor shall be giving me one thing, exhibiting me learn how to do it, and I’ve carried out one thing just like this in my engineering class. Even my managers (mentioned), “I’m really impressed with how you already know a lot of this stuff.”
In engineering (class) we find yourself constructing a whole lot of stuff with screwdrivers and metallic items, truly constructing tangible issues. I am going to the manufacturing flooring at my work and I really feel at dwelling already.
What have been the challenges you’ve encountered?
I prefer to play golf. I’ve school apps. And I additionally had two on-line, asynchronous courses. So I used to be probably not staying on prime of every little thing when college began. I noticed that and was like, “What am I doing with my time?” It was a few weeks into college and I’m tremendous behind on my on-line courses. So I took a step again from golf and hanging out with pals. I used to be very centered on college and school apps, work.
There’s a web-based class I have to take at my local people school and there’s evaluations and check-in varieties and conferences and varied issues that I didn’t actually anticipate. There are two or three folks within the Pleasanton college district who’ve been having the check-ins with me. They’ve been useful and have been supporting and guiding me.
How can this program be improved? How would you modify it?
A number of my pals and other people I speak to don’t know a program like this even exists. I believe it is a actually nice program, and that is the primary yr we’re doing it, however it flew beneath the radar.
Monetary help for this story was supplied by the Smidt Basis and The James Irvine Basis.
