Lawyer Develops Own Guitar at Rutgers Makerspace
You don't need to be an
engineer to develop products or devices, according to Daniel Hayden, a
history graduate and lawyer with a doctorate. At the age of 37, he quit his job to pursue his childhood passion for designing
new things. The first step the took was to
do a part time course in Physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey USA so that people take him seriously.
In Rutgers, he joined the Makerspace and soon he left his job in a law firm to
join as staff supervisor while pursuing his degree.
As a child Daniel Hayden had
taken his guitars apart, working on the electronic part of it and redoing it but
lost touch with it as he became a lawyer. He rediscovered those skills again
while in Rutgers and built his own guitar.
There is 10,000 square feet space at Rutgers Livingston campus and housed in
the Division of Continuing Studies. Although the Rutgers Makerspace is hugely
popular – a second location, with 30,000 square feet, is set to open on Cook
Campus in the spring – it is not the only one. There are other Makerspaces
throughout the world, some in libraries, some in K-12 schools. Clearly, the
interest, and need, is there.
Stephen Carter, Director of Rutgers Makerspace said that with the shutting down
of vocational art programs in schools, many people lost the opportunity to sharpen their technical skills in various areas. Now Makerspace is
returning back to educational institutions and it can lead to development of
entrepreneurship.
Carter says he sees many
students coming in with innovative ideas for the food and fashion industries.
And sometimes it leads to something as simple, and fulfilling, as being able to
say, “I made this.”
“You don’t need to be an
engineer,” Hayden says. “You just need to have the desire. I had one student, a
marketing major, come in and ‘Can I make a skateboard”’ I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t
know how to, offhand, but sure, we will get it done.’ We are there to help you.
We’re not going to do it for you. But if you come in, and put in the time,
you’re going to end up with something great.”
RECOMMENDED NEWS
