The Lost Art Of the Skilled Trades

The electrician shortage is real: 10,000 retire each year, only 7,000 enter. Siemens Foundation CEO David Etzwiler is building a $9.25M solution. Meanwhile, 130,000 new electrical jobs are coming online in the next decade — driven by AI, data centers, and hyperscaler buildouts. The gap between demand and supply is accelerating. Yet most people still think of the trades as a backup plan, not a firs...

Aircraft maintenance technicians keep every plane in the sky — and half are about to retire. John Goglia, former NTSB board member, on what's at stake for aviation safety. United Airlines alone has 14,000 mechanics. Within five years, roughly half will be eligible for retirement. That's 7,000 highly skilled aircraft maintenance technicians — gone. The pipeline to replace them is dangerously thin,...

Glenda Rahn, Director of Workforce Development at Merit Ontario, reveals why skilled trades companies lose new apprentices in the first 30 days — and what to do about it. Every contractor says the same thing: "We can't find people." But Glenda Rahn has seen something different on the ground — and it's not a recruitment problem. It's a retention problem. Companies bring in new hires who are excited...

Aircraft maintenance technician Bret Oestreich on signing off 250 lives every night shift — and why aviation's most essential trade stays hidden. Every time you board a plane, someone signed their name to a document saying that aircraft is airworthy. That person is an Aircraft Maintenance Technician — and most passengers never see them, never think about them, and never know they exist. Bret Oestr...

Liam McComas is 25, works in construction, and believes Gen Z owes it to themselves—and the trades—to earn trust before expecting it. Most content about Gen Z in the workforce falls into one of two camps: either the younger generation doesn't want to work, or companies need to change everything to keep them around. Liam McComas rejects both. At 25 and two years into his career as a project enginee...

Aircraft maintenance technician Evie Garces climbed from Aviation High School to VP at American Airlines — now she's recruiting the next generation. A mother chaperoning a hangar tour at American Airlines started to cry. Her son wasn't "college material," she said. She thought military was his only option — until she walked into that hangar and discovered the A&P license. That moment is why Ev...

Rob Holmes co-founded ForgeNow to solve America's skilled trades shortage — producing apprentice-level HVAC, electrical, and plumbing technicians in just 6 weeks. The average plumber in Texas is 54 years old. The average electrician is 60. Within 10 years, 50% of today's tradespeople will be on social security. And nobody's talking about it. Rob Holmes is. His answer is ForgeNow — a military-style...

Aviation maintenance is booming — and Boeing's Jennifer Radtke says the mechanic shortage now outpaces the pilot shortage for the first time in history. 710,000 aviation technicians will be needed over the next 20 years. Airlines are already experiencing delays from maintenance staffing gaps — and that number is only going to grow. Yet most young people still have no idea this career path exists,...

The U.S. needs 320,000 more welders by 2029 — and data centers are accelerating the shortage. UA Training Specialist Bob Derby joins Andrew Brown. There's a program most people in the trades have never heard of: the UA Welder Finishing School. It takes pipe welders with existing skills — from trade schools, non-union shops, or plant work — and gets them UA-certified and dispatched to a job in 8 we...

Aircraft maintenance technician careers start at $75K and climb past six figures — but a 40,000-person shortage is threatening aviation. Rob Cush of AMFA joins Andrew Brown. By 2028, the aviation industry is expected to hit peak retirements — and the average aircraft maintenance technician is already 56 or 57 years old. The wave is coming. At the same time, new A&P graduates are being poached...

What are employers actually looking for in the next generation of tradespeople? According to Serenity Satterfield, it’s not just technical skill. It’s confidence, communication, professionalism, and the ability to step up before you feel fully ready. That is what SkillsUSA is building. Serenity Satterfield is the SkillsUSA National High School President, and her own story shows why the organizatio...

The trades don’t have a shortage of interest — they have a bottleneck at the point of entry. Christine Boehm of SupplyHouse.com breaks down how skilled trades scholarships and trade school scholarships are removing the barriers most people never see — and opening doors that were never accessible to begin with. For years, workforce development in the trades has focused on awareness: getting more yo...

What the Trades Don't See (But We Do) | Aaron Witt, BuildWitt Aaron Witt of BuildWitt has visited job sites on 5 continents. His take: the trades' biggest problem isn't negative perception — it's invisibility. Most people in the trades blame the younger generation. They say Gen Z is lazy, college-obsessed, or soft. But Aaron Witt — who showed up to his first construction job at 18 with zero backgr...

What if the real workforce problem isn't recruiting — it's that we're handing young people tools before we've taught them how to live? Herb Sargent, recently retired CEO and Board Chair of Sargent Corporation, has spent decades proving there's a better way. Herb watched a man named Freedom — a 70-year-old truck driver shuffling between offices and a trailer he lived in — and made a decision: nobod...

The welder shortage has never improved in 30 years. Kris Scherm of ESAB explains why — and what it will take to fix the pipeline. When Kris Scherm entered the welding industry in the nineties, the American Welding Society reported a 150,000 welder shortage. Three decades later, that number is projected at 320,500 by 2029 — and it has never once gotten smaller. With the average shipbuilder now in t...

Welder and metal artist Sarah Stork went from farm chores to SkillsUSA national champion — and built a thriving sculpture business on her own terms. When the guys on her SkillsUSA team laughed her off on the spot, Sarah didn't sulk — she found a new event, taught herself welded sculpture from scratch, and placed second in the country on her first attempt. The year after that, she won gold. That's...

HVAC systems are changing. The margin for error is shrinking. Host Andrew Brown sits down with Jay Henderek, Sales Director at ESAB, to examine why process discipline in the Skilled Trades matters more today than it did even a decade ago. As HVAC industry trends push systems to become smaller, more complex, and increasingly influenced by A2L refrigerant legislation, shortcuts that once caused mino...

Brazing best practices, nitrogen purge brazing, and air fuel vs oxy fuel system decisions all reveal the same principle: the best tradesmen never cut corners. Host Andrew Brown sits down with John Henderson, Sales Director of Gas Equipment at ESAB, live from AHR Expo to examine why disciplined fundamentals—not speed—separate respected contractors from those constantly fixing preventable mistakes....

Skilled trades careers offer another path. Tony Bertolino explains plumbing apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and why apprenticeships aren’t “less than” college. Host Andrew Brown sits down with fourth-generation plumber, contractor, apprenticeship instructor, and business owner Tony Bertolino to break down how trades careers actually develop, from plumbing apprenticeship programs and on-the-j...

Before skill, before technology, trades careers are built on responsibility and showing up. Andrew Brown and Dan Callies, President of Oak Creek Plumbing, break down what actually sustains blue-collar careers: character, mentorship, and earned respect. Andrew and Dan explore how plumbing apprenticeships develop more than technical skill, why hire for character, train for skill remains a durable le...

Welding careers, welding apprenticeship programs, and the welding skills gap—Arc Junkies host Jason Becker breaks down what today’s welders need to know. Host Andrew Brown sits down with Jason Becker, Marine veteran, longtime welder, educator, and host of the Arc Junkies podcast, to explore the real-world journey from hands-on welding work to industry-wide storytelling and advocacy. This episode u...

The first thing a superintendent said to Valerie Butler on a jobsite was: ‘You’re not who we want out here.’” Host Andrew Brown sits down with Valerie Butler, a plumbing apprentice at P.I.P.E. Incorporated, to explore how to build a successful plumbing career path in today’s skilled trades industry. Valerie shares her journey from the Marine Corps to a hands-on plumbing apprenticeship, offering re...

Aircraft maintenance is the backbone of aviation safety. Andrew Brown and Jason Pfaff break down the aircraft maintenance technician shortage, FAA A&P certification, and aviation careers. Host Andrew Brown sits down with Jason Pfaff, CEO of the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, to explore the unseen world of aircraft maintenance and why the growing aircraft maintenance technician shortage is...

Host Andrew Brown tackles the growing welding workforce shortage and explains why it’s one of the most urgent challenges facing the construction and skilled trades industries today. As experienced tradespeople retire and fewer young workers enter the pipeline, the future of welding jobs in the U.S. hangs in the balance. Andrew breaks down how to get into the welding trade, why traditional advice i...

Want to start a plumbing career? Charles Goede joins host Andrew Brown to break down trade school training, union apprenticeships, and the SkillsUSA competition. Host Andrew Brown sits down with Charles Goede , the U.S. competitor for WorldSkills Plumbing & Heating 2026, to explore how a young tradesperson rises through trade school training, excels in the SkillsUSA competition, and builds a l...