ABSTRACT
LMNPO Technologies was a professional engineering firm specializing in small batch rapid prototyping. This chapter describes how the firm’s approach to learning was mediated by numerous factors, including the histories of the firm’s owners own learning opportunities and participation in do-it-yourself settings, and the organizational structure of the firm. In particular, we describe the tensions around how shop floor workers were expected to learn new technologies within their work, the forms of support offered through apprenticeship by observation and just-in-time teaching, and the struggles between learning and meeting the needs of the client. These tensions are discussed as critical considerations in youth making spaces, which are of particular concern to thinking about teaching in making spaces.
