Concetta Defa, executive director of the Utah Building Trades Council, on why data center training has to build real electricians, not one-job installers.

Tech companies are pouring money into training workers to build data centers, and electricians on those jobs can make over $200,000 a year with overtime. Concetta has seen this before. When she was an apprentice, crews were putting up cell towers, and people who only ever learned cell towers struggled to pass journeyman exams and many left the trade once that build-out ended. Her question for every workforce program today: when the data center boom is over, what happens to the people you trained to do one thing?

Concetta started as an IBEW Local 354 apprentice in 1996, after her father died and she needed to help support her family. She worked as a journey-level electrician, foreperson, estimator, project manager and assistant business manager before leading the Utah Building Trades Council. In this conversation she covers how to get into the IBEW when there's a waitlist, how apprentice pay climbs to journeyman scale, what job site conditions are really like, and why the money war over experienced workers is hurting the contractors building everything else.

This episode is for anyone thinking about an electrical apprenticeship, career changers trying to get into a union, and the apprenticeship programs, contractors and workforce leaders deciding how the next generation gets trained.

IN THIS EPISODE

(00:00) – We Don't Need Data Center Electricians: Concetta's warning about training people for one build instead of a whole trade.

(01:15) – Building Careers or Filling Demand?: Where the money in skilled trades training is going, and why both good and narrow training are happening at once.

(05:26) – A Career Changer at 36: Andrew's family member trying to get into the union, and what happens to narrowly trained workers when the boom ends.

(08:02) – The Cell Tower Boom: Why people who only learned one kind of work struggled to journey out and left the trade.

(11:48) – Job Site Conditions Change Everything: Materials, methods, safety and procedures shift between data centers, industrial, commercial and energy work.

(13:20) – Into the Trade by Accident: From a grocery store job to an IBEW apprenticeship, four contractors and the mentors who shaped her.

(20:14) – How to Get Into the IBEW: Waitlists, ranking lists, construction wireman roles and why you should understand the value of what you're joining.

(24:45) – Becoming a Stronger Applicant: Track your hours, get on a union contractor's crew, and what to do if you're bad at interviews.

(30:28) – Apprenticeship Length and Pay: Three to five years, starting around 50 to 60 percent of journeyman scale, with raises as you progress.

(33:33) – What Job Site Conditions Are Really Like: Mud, snow, break tents, porta-johns, and going from two years outdoors to a room with four walls.

(41:26) – Solving the Shortage or Moving Workers Around?: How data center money pulls experienced workers away from housing, retail and infrastructure.

(45:45) – How Contractors Can Keep Their People: Feeling valued, local work, work-life balance, and fitting the people to the work.

(51:51) – What Apprenticeship Leaders Should Start Doing: Put an experienced journeyman beside every apprentice in the field.

(54:14) – Hire PowHER and Utah Building Trades: Where to find Concetta's work with women in energy careers and the Utah building trades.

Key Takeaways

Training someone to build one kind of facility isn't the same as training an electrician. When that build-out ends, people without broad skills struggle to pass journeyman exams and move to other kinds of work.

If you can't get into the IBEW right away, keep working in the industry, track your hours, and try to get on with a union contractor. A year of real job site experience tells an apprenticeship committee more than an interview can.

Apprentices typically start at 50 to 60 percent of journeyman pay and get regular step raises over three to five years. Union retirement and benefits only pay off if you stay long enough to build them.

The fix isn't more money. Apprentices need an experienced journeyman beside them in the field, because the tips and tricks of the trade aren't in any book. As Andrew puts it, apprenticeship teaches a trade, mentorship builds the tradesperson.

About the Guest

Concetta Defa is executive director of the Utah Building and Construction Trades Council. She began as an apprentice electrician with IBEW Local 354 in 1996 and has worked as a journey-level electrician, foreperson, estimator, project manager and union steward. She also served as assistant business manager for IBEW Local 354, a trustee for the Utah Electrical Training Alliance, and president of Utah Women in Trades.

Concetta hosts a podcast with the Center for Energy Workforce Development's Hire PowHER initiative, which helps women find careers in energy and the skilled trades. She's passionate about mentoring apprentices and making sure the next generation is trained for a whole career, not just the current boom.

Keywords

electrician apprenticeship, data center electrician, IBEW apprenticeship, how to become an electrician, skilled trades careers, union electrician, journeyman electrician pay, construction workforce, trades mentorship, workforce retention, women in the trades, Concetta Defa, Utah Building Trades Council

RESOURCE LINKS

Concetta Defa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/concetta-defa

Utah Building and Construction Trades Council Website: https://www.utahbuildingtrades.org

Hire PowHER (Center for Energy Workforce Development): https://getintoenergy.org/hire-powher/powher-hours/

Get Into Energy: https://getintoenergy.org

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