Page 48 - Stuff Made and Built in Delaware 2020
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 AATIQ VANN
What started as casual drawing at school turned into an actual career for Aatiq Vann, a 2019 graduate of Hodgson
Vo-Tech.
“A teacher suggested I go to Hodgson and take tech drafting,” he says. “When you get to Hodgson, you take many different classes.
I liked the masonry and the teacher — but do I want to stand up all day and lay brick? This
was a dead giveaway, so I went with drafting. I like drawing anyways.”
Through the technical drafting program at his school, Vann was able to learn many different
computer programs, like Revit, AutoCAD and SketchUp, which are essential to his current
job at Bancroft Construction. He says the experience “gave me the stepping stones to how
those programs work.”
Vann’s “main priority was a co-op job.” He was offered an internship at Bancroft, where he did earn money. After spending time there, he says
he was presented with a guaranteed job after high school.
“They told me it’s not an if but a when,’’ says Vann.
At Bancroft, Vann helps “deliver the visuals for clients for different projects — commercial or
residential. If you need a house built, we’ll show you your pipelines, electrical lines, etc. I sketch, design,
render, etc.”
He can even use drones to “take pictures every two weeks” to document the progress of a project being
built. This is especially used for projects being built “from the ground up.” Vann is able to create 3D models
virtually.
Average salaries for drafters range in the mid-$50,000s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For younger kids who worry about what life after high school will look like if they don’t go to college, Vann has this
to say: “[Everyone says] it has to be college and you have [to have a] degree, but you really don’t.”
He emphasizes that you have to look at your life over the long term and determine where you see yourself. College, in
his mind, doesn’t have to be a part of that; after all, going a different route worked out just fine for him.
Moonloop Photography
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