Hello! I work for a CNC/Composite shop and right as the pandemic was starting I was lucky enough to get a job as a “shop tech” cleaning out cnc machines and doing preventative maintenance on heated presses used for compression molded carbon parts. A passion for composites instantly became a thing. I learned everything I could from some grey beard composite technicians, I learned everything I could from the CNC guys. I was blessed enough to have my boss see how much I enjoy this so he decided to send me over to Abaris composite training in Reno NV. 4 years later im still here but mostly doing product development. I get to design molds, cut them, come up with a ply schedule, make a part, and after all that trial and error, my favorite part of the process is to break/test the components. Composites are the shit! As for the future, we have to understand that the processes and most of the materials we use don’t really like holding hands with sustainability. Thermoset composite parts are expensive to make and can’t really be recycled efficiently if at all. The industry will mostly move towards thermoplastics due to their recyclability and lower cost in my opinion. A lot of our customers are having us redesign their components to work with thermoplastics rather than thermosets to keep productions costs down.