Microsoft President Calls For a National Talent Strategy For Electricians 73
theodp writes: "As I prepared for a White House meeting last fall on the nation's electricity needs," begins Microsoft President Brad Smith in The Country Needs More Electricity --And More Electricians, a Fox Business op-ed. "I met with the leaders at Microsoft who are building our AI infrastructure across the country. During our discussion, I asked them to identify the single biggest challenge for data center expansion in the U.S. I expected they would mention slow permitting, delays in bringing more power online or supply chain constraints -- all significant challenges. But instead, they highlighted a national shortage of people. Electricians, to be precise."
Much as Smith has done in the past as he declared crisis-level shortages of Computer Science, cybersecurity, and AI talent, he's calling for the nation's politicians and educators to step up to the plate and deliver students trained to address the data center expansion plans of Microsoft and Big Tech.
"How many new electricians must the U.S. recruit and train over the next decade?" Smith asks. "Probably half a million. [...] The good news is that these are good jobs. The bad news is that we don't have a national strategy to recruit and train the people to fill these jobs. Given the Trump administration's commitment to supporting American workers, American jobs and American innovation, we believe that recruiting and training more electricians should rise to its list of priorities. There are several ways to address this issue, and they deserve consideration. For example, we need to do more as a nation to revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools. [...] This should be a priority for local school boards, state governors and appropriate federal support. [..] We must also adopt a broad perspective on where new technology is taking us. The tech sector is most often focused on computer and data science -- people who code. But the future will also be built in critical ways by a new generation of engineers, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, iron workers, carpenters and other skilled trades.
So, is 'Learn to Wire' the new 'Learn to Code'?
Much as Smith has done in the past as he declared crisis-level shortages of Computer Science, cybersecurity, and AI talent, he's calling for the nation's politicians and educators to step up to the plate and deliver students trained to address the data center expansion plans of Microsoft and Big Tech.
"How many new electricians must the U.S. recruit and train over the next decade?" Smith asks. "Probably half a million. [...] The good news is that these are good jobs. The bad news is that we don't have a national strategy to recruit and train the people to fill these jobs. Given the Trump administration's commitment to supporting American workers, American jobs and American innovation, we believe that recruiting and training more electricians should rise to its list of priorities. There are several ways to address this issue, and they deserve consideration. For example, we need to do more as a nation to revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools. [...] This should be a priority for local school boards, state governors and appropriate federal support. [..] We must also adopt a broad perspective on where new technology is taking us. The tech sector is most often focused on computer and data science -- people who code. But the future will also be built in critical ways by a new generation of engineers, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, iron workers, carpenters and other skilled trades.
So, is 'Learn to Wire' the new 'Learn to Code'?
Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
"Electricians are more expensive than programmers and developers now, we're paying too much for contractors."
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Translation - need paying jobs for men (Score:2)
The push for people to go into the trades is
1) Most people in the trades are older, near retirement and men
2) Trades pay well enough, until you are hurt or repetitive stress injuries, force you to retire at 55, so that you can buy lots of consumer products
3) Trades help men become economically 'viable marriage partners' or a larger subset of women
4) Trades are not offshorable
Essentially, a few percentage points of GDP lowering actions is what's worrying the top-tier leaders. Men dropping out of the workfo
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
And the issue now is AI. AI is enormously power hungry. Many of the predictions about AI are flat wrong, not because you can't do it, but the pace of growth is unsustainable. The power demands add tremendous strain to the grids because they weren't designed for that constant high demand, they're designed for older demand needs. Also most server farms need backup power, some sort of diesel genset. The lead time on these things? 90 months. Seven and a half YEARS.
So not only are we low on tradespeople of all types for the power grid which uses several common trades and a few very specialized trades, we are woefully unprepared to build the infrastructure for AI to move at the pace that the AI companies want to; the physical infrastructure simply cannot keep up. There's a reason why AI companies are talking about nuclear, but that's decades out too.
The AI companies are acutely aware of the problems they're facing, and the biggest issue is they are running straight at a brick wall that will dead-stop their pace of development; that brick wall is the power infrastructure to support the data centers and the fact that there just aren't enough people to build the infrastructure.
The good news is if you're entering the workforce now, don't go to college. Go to a trade school. Chart a path to become a journeyman lineman or electrician, not the kind of electrician that wires your house but one that does major power infrastructure. Trade school is far cheaper and you'll be in huge demand and be able to write your own ticket.
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It's not just electricians, it's linemen (sorry, there's no real gender neutral term for them).
Electricity goes from the power station to the transmission towers to distribution grids to your property, and the job is completely different. You have linemen who do transmission work - who take care of the wires from the power plant to the substation in your area, where the distribution linemen take over and bring it to your property. Once on your property, the electricians take over.
Each has skills that make s
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Unfortunately not in /. of 2025.
This place is full of annoying dipshits who take umbage on anything that they disagree on specially it is even vaguely woke or anti-woke related and complain in length.
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Well, if they crapify the work of electricians as much as they have done the work of programmers, that would be easy to solve. Of course, things would also literally burn down more often, instead of the figurative version with software.
But I am sure, Trump and Elonia would be all for it ...
Yeah electricians don't make that much (Score:2)
And yeah if you want to run your own business you can pull it off but like I always say if you're an electrician running your own business you're not really an electrician you're a small businessman who happens to do electrician work.
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Imagine what that means for the price of development work.
Only slightly joking, but I imagine Microsoft could be paying the people working in their data centers a lot more than Mom and Pop and so there is some kind of combination effect of driving down the price of development and the cost of electricians being about very local market demand.
Type (Score:2)
Presumably these are construction electricians that they need, not the type that come round in their van and replace the light fixture in your apartment ceiling.
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They are one and the same, many times. I've had to deal with many industrial electricians and the good ones are worth what they charge. And most of them do side gigs, or the company they work with are both industrial and residential.
What you don't want is "the guy that can do it cheaper." Seen a couple of those, always called in by a skinflint store owner trying to save a buck. Yes, he did go out of business because of how he did everything.
Re:Type (Score:5, Interesting)
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I didn't know electricians can sing and dance. That's a talent show I'm willing to watch.
How many electricians does it take to replace a lightbulb?
Supporting, or talking about supporting. . . (Score:5, Funny)
Supporting, or talking about supporting?
There is a difference.
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More like talking about commitment...
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An idea of a plan for a possible commitment.
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"Given the Trump administration's commitment to supporting American workers"
Supporting, or talking about supporting?
There is a difference.
Have you read the "Green New Deal" from a few years ago? As I recall the "deal" included a lot about improving food production, creating manufacturing jobs, producing more energy, building infrastructure, and more that we'd recognize from the original "New Deal". What made it "green" where generic standards for lowering CO2 emissions, keeping air and water clean, along with a few specifics like zero-emission vehicles and public transit. Then, because Democrats wrote it, there was a bunch of bullshit abou
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I can't find any evidence about this. NEVI grants are handed out by states and I see nothing about women or minorities mentioned on the sites I checked.
I found this with a bit of web searching:
https://www.federalregister.go... [federalregister.gov]
Does that work for everyone?
I did a few keyword searches and found that people were submitting objections to certain rules and having their objections addressed by pointing to the law on setting the standards. One rule was that to get funds the EV chargers must be in "underserved", rural, minority, or something areas. Another rule was that there must be at least four chargers. One objection appeared to be in the contradiction of th
I took some vocational training in electrical (Score:2)
It was like an introductory series at a vocational school. One of the difference between electronics and electrical was the safety course. Reading old articles on how a guy got his arm burned off by brushing up to 480V in a cabinet is an example of the different level of risk between the professions. In electronics I have to just be careful not to inhale the wrong solvent, more people get hurt going to my work than at my work.
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Yea, Many many decades ago, I had to take intros to NEC and building code. And I also had to do OSCA hydraulics safety training in my class. The later was never useful to me. But the former was helpful when I was buying houses. Every single time I have ordered a professional home inspection report, they missed some glaringly obvious code violations in the electrical. It's like $300 for a worthless slip of paper that doesn't tell you how much work you have to put into the house.
Most industries have their sta
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I have to just be careful not to inhale the wrong solvent,
But that's why some people went into that trade.
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But that's why some people went into that trade.
I picked the wrong day to give up sniffing glue.
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I used to do wiring for industrial remediation equipment. Hydrocarbon incinerators and stuff... I got to work on a 480v design once, but it was slated for a union construction site, so we had to pull in master electricians & plumbers. I was used to 5hp motors needing #6 or #8 wire on longer runs. 480v three phase it was wired up with #14, it drew all of 8 amps...
I got to sit with the electricians and supervise them hooking it all up. They of course called me "college boy", etc... They found out how
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I thought I'd apply to get the licensing and what not to be an electrician. Part of that was to go to some board and apply. I quickly found out that I wasn't applying to any licensing board run by the state but to an electrical trades union. I didn't want to work as an electrician full time but rather as a "side gig" along with the contract work I was doing at the time doing various IT jobs. So long as anything was under 25 volts (or maybe it was 50 volts?) then I didn't need an electricians license. I
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I suspect that there is a shortage on electricians because electrical trade unions are intentionally keeping the numbers of licensed electricians down to protect their wages.
You may note in my comment above I did not mention any offer of apprenticeship. None. Yet they clearly saw my work in the skid mounted equipment they were installing, complete with explosion-proof conduit runs, etc...
As I remember it... The surefire way was to get a relative to form a LLC ala "Fly By Night Light & Electric", and get together a bunch of guys that want to get in the union, and make them employee's on paper. Then go on strike against the LLC and ask for help unionizing it. Once you had
In the near future they'll be replaced by AI. (Score:2)
Until then they’ll be working remotely.
At least that's what companies like Microsoft have been telling us
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That future seems ... unreal?
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Electricians will be replaced by AI? That's unlikely.
I've heard how AI was supposed to replace artists and other "information work". Today I saw a very realistic image of a pregnant woman that was apparently packing some luggage. At first I thought it to be a photo as it was so realistic. Then I noticed some oddities. The image had the clothes laid out on a bed, the cover blanket was folded back to expose the white sheets beneath. The woman had her torso apparently sticking through the sheets in the m
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Says this electrical engineer.
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Have you considered my remarks could've been sarcastic?
I did but I thought it would be fun to play it straight regardless.
More power ... more electricians (Score:2)
That depends on the power source. Half a million electricians will be needed to hook up solar panels 500 Watts at a time. Not so many to wire up a 1 GW nuclear plant.
To expand the grid (for distributed solar), you will need linemen. The kind of electricians who climb poles and string wire in nasty weather.
Re: More power ... more electricians (Score:2)
You don't need to expand the grid for solar at all if you put it at the point of use.
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That works only if solar users stay off the grid. But that's not going to happen. Because occasional use of grid power as a backup is just too attractive.
So now you have a problem of paying for grid maintenance and capital costs. Right now, these costs are spread across customers energy usage. Because that's the only realistic way to prevent a "tragedy of the commons". Change that to reflect energy costs and grid costs and the "renewables" crowd would scream like a stuck pig. Because their revenue would fa
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That depends on the power source. Half a million electricians will be needed to hook up solar panels 500 Watts at a time. Not so many to wire up a 1 GW nuclear plant.
I expect labor costs to eventually prove nuclear fission to be lower cost than solar PV. Then there are material costs, solar PV (as well as solar thermal) requires more materials for the same power/energy/etc. than nuclear fission. Then is the cost of land, a gigawatt scale nuclear fission power plant can fit inside a square kilometer but the same power from solar would take 10 to 100 times as much area depending on who you ask.
To expand the grid (for distributed solar), you will need linemen. The kind of electricians who climb poles and string wire in nasty weather.
A sibling post makes the claim that no grid expansion would be necessary if t
Bogus article (Score:4, Insightful)
"The median electrician salary for a senior electrician in the United States is $35.58 per hour, or $74,000 per year."
So it is a job that will get you by, but nothing great. The working conditions may suck, and I know some truck drivers that get paid that much.
Yes when they suddenly want to build a data center somewhere there might not be enough idle electricians in the near vicinity to recruit for that one isolated construction project, after which the jobs would evaporate. Does this mean we should "revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools", especially seeing as how the Department of Education has now been nuked? I'm not so sure.
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Plus one on that comment.
Salary/wages (incl benefits) is the motivating factor. Want more, better, electricians, pay more. But whether its the trades, programmers, laborers, 'whatevers', the manager-types are loathe to pay market rate b/c the implied results are that means less income for the manager types. So they will go through all sorts of hoops like overseas outsourcing, trying to get the govt to pay directly/indirectly, H1B, and now of course AI
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This! If a SENIOR electrician makes that, well fuck. I put yogurt on the shelf for a living (I run a dairy department in a grocery store) and I practically make that, but without the risk of life that comes with working with electricity. I also have a pension, 401k and good medical/dental/vision.
Senior electrician better be making 6 figures if I can do a high school drop out job that pays 70k....I also only work 40 hours a week.
Sure, I'm working on transitioning out, but it sure as hell isn't to be an elect
Also keep in mind what master electrician means (Score:2)
In any other field somebody at the top would be making at least twice that. We really treat blue collar workers like shit and then we're surprised nobody wants to do it. Oh and don't forget it's really really hard and dangerous work. So by the ti
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"The median electrician salary for a senior electrician in the United States is $35.58 per hour, or $74,000 per year." So it is a job that will get you by, but nothing great.
That's like talking about the median IT salary ignoring that some of that is customer support at minimum wage, while other parts of that is AI research commanding fuck-you-amounts of money. Electricians here involves the massive number of people who wire up houses. That's not what anyone is calling for and there's no real shortage there either.
What is being discussed is the electricians who build infrastructure, both national grid level and local industrial. The kind of guys who can wire up data centres, or
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Have a look at this site. The pay for senior electricians in the US hovers around $70-80k.
https://www.servicetitan.com/b... [servicetitan.com]
Now it may well be that these are not 'kind of guys who can wire up data centres, or high voltage motors in major hazard facilities' but there is no call for that in most places. A person who actually had those specialties and experience would need to migrate to where the work is, and expect to move again when the project is finished. I don't want to do that, and who would? This is eve
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but there is no call for that in most places.
This is literally what this article is about. Literally those people and just those people. MS doesn't give a flying fuck if someone is wiring a socket in your house. Anything you think about electricians in general is a fact you should save up to post on a different article about electricians in general.
The shortage is about highly skilled people in specific electrical subdisciplines. They aren't getting paid $80k an hour.
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>> This is literally what this article is about.
I directly cited the article, it mentions data center electricians only in passing. The claim was that "we need to do more as a nation to revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools". Those classes may teach you how to wire up some sockets but they sure won't involve a massive bank of computer cabinets.
"the future will also be built in critical ways by a new generation of engineers, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, iron w
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Does this mean we should "revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools", especially seeing as how the Department of Education has now been nuked? I'm not so sure.
Only the federal Department of Education is at risk, each state can have a Department of Education if they choose.
Do people believe formalized education started in the world with the US Department of Education 45 years ago? I do recall the universities I attended had been established long before that. I recall there was something of a deal with the "Morrill Land-Grant Acts" during introductory courses and such: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I'm guessing that the Morill Acts were administered out of th
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>> What I expect to happen is that states would consolidate these numerous federal programs
None of that is going to happen, and it isn't realistic to expect states to navigate a whole bunch of programs that probably won't even exist in the current environment. The Department of Education was the major conduit for federal funds to the states. Splitting all that out into various uncoordinated departments is a complete waste.
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None of that is going to happen, and it isn't realistic to expect states to navigate a whole bunch of programs that probably won't even exist in the current environment. The Department of Education was the major conduit for federal funds to the states. Splitting all that out into various uncoordinated departments is a complete waste.
Then maybe the federal government needs to get out of the business of providing funds for training and education, especially since these funds tend to come with so many strings attached that are used to subvert the autonomy of state governments.
Does every national issue need the federal government to be involved? Do we even need the many state governments to be involved in issues like a shortage of trained electricians? Maybe we should leave such things to normal economic forces, to where private corporat
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>> Then maybe the federal government needs to get out of the business of providing funds for training and education
Bizarre conclusion, and completely at odds with the successes of developed countries other than the US.
In the state where I live the GOP is trying desperately to privatize education. Eventually only the wealthy will get it.
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In the state where I live the GOP is trying desperately to privatize education. Eventually only the wealthy will get it.
Get in to what? University? As if it is only with attending university one is truly educated.
I recall a scene from Good Will Hunting where the protagonist makes a mockery of the education of a wealthier man, pointing out how he could have learned what he knew from a public library card and $20 in late return fees.
In this age of cheap communication there's ample opportunity for an education for those with little wealth. For Good Will Hunting this would have been a reference to the 1970s and 1980s given th
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>> Get in to what?
Get an education, you nitwit. A free K-12 education. It is actively under attack here.
Take the stigma off trade work. (Score:3)
” Kids, there is nothing wrong with going into the trades! It's a noble, high paying, well resected vocation, but I'm going to sound disgusted and dismissive, while I talk about trade work.”, “Kids, let watch a video where we build up a doctor into a near god like figure, and where we treat a trade person like a servant, who must wait on us higher foke.” On, and on this goes for primary school, and then you get into secondary school, and they have trade classes, but have you ever heard a teacher talk about trade in a positive light outside shop? Do guidance counsellors push kids towards the trades, or, do they push them into nonsense careers, like Gender Studies, or History? I don't remember my guidance counsellors, ever, suggesting a trade. They mentioned they existed, but then quickly changed subject and recommended anything but.
Still in secondary school, you have to deal with the stigma of being a dumb kid only suited for the trades. Why? You don't like the necropedophelic nature of Romeo and Juliet, that's because you're an uncivilized knuckle dragger, only suited for the trades. You can't grasp advanced calculus, you don't enjoy learning about science or history, it must be because you're an idiot, better to be a trade's person. Even then, we stop kids from looking into the trades! You have potential, you have options, why not look into a career, and you don't career “t-r-a-d-e-s”. Let's get you into class X or Y, so you can be steered away from that manual labour.
So, well, we discuss the trades being noble, we don't treat them as a noble profession. We down talk them, stomp on them, and label kids who could otherwise show interest, and for what reason? Change the stigma, start treating trade work as any other type of fine profession, which they absolutely are, and guess what might start getting interest? We did it with software, now do it with trade work.
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This reminds me of an anecdote where a physician and a contractor were discussing some kind of patio being added to the physician's domicile. The physician was a bit upset about the price quoted. The contractor asked how much money the physician made and how much education he had. The physician answered. The contractor asked quite plainly that if he had so much money and education why he was talking to a contractor about building a patio. The physician then agreed to the price quoted with no further co
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With all due respect, a lot of 'trade work' including electrical is a form of manual labor that most anyone could do with a little coaching and practice. Wiring up a house, installing or replacing fixtures, you could learn it pretty quick and you don't have to be smart. Not at all the same as a physician.
I'm not talking it down. I've done plenty of blue collar work in my time, but I don't pretend it was 'noble'.
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You hear “Go into th
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Where I live most of the construction work is done by Mexicans. They may not do an 'impressive' job of wiring a house but it gets done and meets code. They are out in the blazing hot sun or freezing weather on construction sites all day. No disrespect to them but I sure wouldn't want to do it, and it is not where I would want a daughter to work.
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Pay me (Score:1)
Imagine a national grid run by Microsoft :o (Score:4, Insightful)
Crisis-level cybersecurity mainly caused by Microsoft.
Oh, please (Score:3)
*Heck, maybe I'd line up to be an electrician, I'm halfway there already. But I've seen in life that if one is not careful, the uncontrollable winds (usually the breath of others) could blow you right out of a career.
Let the kids see what it's like first (Score:2)
KidZania, the place in Tokyo where kids can try 50 different jobs.
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/st... [x.com]
You figure out a strategy and pay for it! (Score:1)
Big tech companies are the ones that need all these electricians. Big tech companies are also some of the richest, most profitable, highest market cap companies in the world. How about instead of leeching off of taxpayers they be the ones to come up with a training strategy and pay for it?
Put up the money, SatNad (Score:2)
Go ahead, SatNad, be brave, tell us how much of MS's money you are going to put into this. Don't hold back, we can handle it.
Social Class (Score:2)
The lack of skilled trades people is not limited to electricians. There is a shortage of carpenters, plumbers etc. almost any building trade. Its the reason a lot of immigrant labor is in the construction business.
I don't know that the problem is wages. I just finished a biography of Benjamin Franklin who was the only founder who didn't start out at a "gentleman". He was a printer, became rich as one and stopped working so he could become a "gentleman". The definition of that class included not working wi