Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 436 posts

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#131

Post by badc0ffee »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #119
barbazoo wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like we're entering an age of electrification so having training/education in a field related to electrics/electronics seems like a reasonable path for someone to take.

I think that age started over 100 years ago.

The conversion to all-electric homes is more recent, and hasn't even started in some places. Here in Canada, some jurisdictions require newly constructed houses and apartments to have electric heat and cooling (heat pump, with resistive heat as a backup), an electric dryer and stove, and an electric water heater (tank or tankless). Others jurisdictions are still using gas furnaces and gas-fired hot water tanks.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#132

Post by badc0ffee »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #123
unsupp0rted wrote: post #87

[flagged]

USA is not building anything. Private companies are. And unlike regular infrastructure projects (housing, transportation, energy) this won’t really benefit the public at large when it’s done. It’ll just enable companies to churn out more slop, faster, and reel us further in. Or to put it another way, a semiconductor, car or airplane factory wouldn’t really count as “infrastructure”, would they?

Electric utilities are certainly building out infrastructure. It's needlessly costly and slow in a lot of places, but it's happening.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#134

Post by qup »

bell-cot wrote: post #129
NichoPaolucci wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't that average out to 165K / year? That's not so bad IMO!

If it was a predictable & reliable 300k, 30k, 300k, 30k, 300k, 30k pattern, then yes. But if not...

Yeah, if not, it could be even more!

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#135

Post by bluGill »

Danox wrote: post #116
bluGill wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get into any construction job you need to expect to move job sites regularly. If it is a single family house that might be as much as twice a day. If it is a large industrial site it might be every few years. However it is unusual to work at the same location for much longer. You are also subject to the economy more than most jobs. When things start going bad you are the first one cut. It can still be a good c…

It’s a good career if your unionize ie electrician, plumber, HVAC, fire protection, steel, concrete, and it also helps if you’re operating within the radius of a large city and all the suburbs around it, ie Santa Barbara to San Diego, Los Angeles to Palm Springs within that radius, very good opportunities, and very good living if your unionized.

I have friends on both sides of the union debate in construction. There are pros and cons. the unions try to tell you that they are much better, but in reality there are pros and cons and you need to figure out what is best for you.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#136

Post by elmer2 »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #123
unsupp0rted wrote: post #87

[flagged]

USA is not building anything. Private companies are. And unlike regular infrastructure projects (housing, transportation, energy) this won’t really benefit the public at large when it’s done. It’ll just enable companies to churn out more slop, faster, and reel us further in. Or to put it another way, a semiconductor, car or airplane factory wouldn’t really count as “infrastructure”, would they?

"this won’t really benefit the public at large when it’s done"

I'm currently enjoying subsidized AI usage at relatively cheap prices from these same companies. It's cheaper than a cell phone bill and most people can afford it.

"Or to put it another way, a semiconductor, car or airplane factory wouldn’t really count as “infrastructure”, would they?"

No, but flying on an airplane 50+ years ago was only for the rich. Everyone I know now has flown somewhere, and it's very obtainable. I remember cell phones in the 80s being > $1 minute and a sign of being wealthy.

Capitalism can and does bring the costs of these things down.

Data centers will definitely benefit the public, as long as the government doesn't decide on creating their own monopoly.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#137

Post by csdreamer7 »

badc0ffee wrote: post #131
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that age started over 100 years ago.

The conversion to all-electric homes is more recent, and hasn't even started in some places. Here in Canada, some jurisdictions require newly constructed houses and apartments to have electric heat and cooling (heat pump, with resistive heat as a backup), an electric dryer and stove, and an electric water heater (tank or tankless). Others jurisdictions are still using gas furnaces and gas-fired hot water tanks.

I live in one of those all electric homes too, made in the 2000s. Doesn't change that a bust will dry up the work and homeowners won't fork over the money for something that has few benefits for their daily life and requires expensive changes to the house.

To add to this there are jurisdictions that will require you to still pay a small monthly fee to support the gas pipes if you cut off gas service.

It is really nice not having a gas bill and not requiring maintenance for gas appliances, but most people won't care if they lived with it for long enough.

The only case I see it working is in a disaster area or blighted areas where the builder decided to bulldoze and rebuild the houses. The southern California fires for example; the city gave priority to permits to houses that went all electric since the gas pipes were destroyed. Permitting and inspection is so much simpler with all electric.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#138

Post by WarmWash »

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #123
unsupp0rted wrote: post #87

[flagged]

USA is not building anything. Private companies are. And unlike regular infrastructure projects (housing, transportation, energy) this won’t really benefit the public at large when it’s done. It’ll just enable companies to churn out more slop, faster, and reel us further in. Or to put it another way, a semiconductor, car or airplane factory wouldn’t really count as “infrastructure”, would they?

>won’t really benefit the public at large when it’s done

Then the public should make them look like fools and not pay for AI. But if people are paying for it, then they are probably capturing most of the value it produces. Paying Anthropic $20/mo is a trivial cost to recoup if it assists with your work, even at $60 or $100 it still makes sense for many.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#139

Post by pfdietz »

kvisner wrote: post #89

I would be very careful about basing your career decsions based on this trend. The data center build out will always be very boom and bust, which would really suck to work in. One year you would be making 300k working on dataceters and the next you would make 30k because thousands of electricians are now competing to build a few single family homes.

On the other hand, the economy is going to be increasingly electrified. Demand is going to be there in some form.
Post reply on HN