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These techy times

December 11, 2007  |  from Construction Equipment Owner's Blog

I recently visited with a contractor who mentioned something to me that I hear from just about every concrete contractor I talk to — one of his challenges is finding employees. He attributes a lot of that to school systems and their lack of providing alternatives to college. He goes on to say, “Construction is always looked at as a dirty job, but today with robotics, computers and modern equipment, jobs require less physical labor and more technical skills and an employee’s use of their intelligence.” I grew up in the time of computers — all my journalism professors expected me to email them assignments and I typed all my collegepapers on computers. But it’s very interesting to me to hear stories from people who were in thenewspaper and magazine industry30years ago, even though theidea of typing a 20-page paper on a typewriter sounds like a nightmare. I’m also interested in hearing from you abouthow technology has changedthe concrete business since you first entered it. What products, techniques and equipment have made your job easier? What concrete-related nightmares do you tell the younger workers on your crew? Do you think technology has allowed concrete contractors to produce a better product?

Filed: Construction-Workforce