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

nytimes.com

181–190 of 436 posts

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

#181
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck with robots traing to lay up bricks, or doing plumbing in a home.

Ummmm in time it's inevitable as in 2026 you do not need any skill to be a computer programmer. AI has replaced that once valuable skill and will continue it's way through ever white collar job til the robots (5 to 10 years) start taking the blue collar jobs away. The blue collar job boom is great present day, but what they are helping build is their machine driven replacement. Maybe this all sounds hyperbolic, but i…

Vibe coding by people with no programming skills is not going to happen. What will happen is moving to higher and higher code representations. A compiler is already doing 99% of the actual coding when you realize that the only language computers understand is assembly.

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

#183
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…

If the demand is great enough, they can fly trades to site and put them up in a hotel, just like any consultant.

> put them up in a hotel

the hotel rates in Abilene TX are comically high and all the RV parks are filled up too. I have friends/roots there so make the drive from Dallas every so often. The stargate datacenter is certainly a popular topic of discussion both good and bad.

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

#184
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Jesus comes back and kills everyone who isn't Christian (and actually most Christians too) I don't recall this part what's the reference

Are you under the impression that after the seven seals and seven trumpets and four horsemen and oceans turning to blood and earthquakes and famines and everything leading to a new Heaven and new Earth that most people will survive unscathed? The entire thesis of Christian eschatology is that everyone who isn't Christian burns in hell. And Matthew says regarding the end times "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, L…

>"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

It's in the context of describing false prophets? It makes sense.

>Heaven is meant to be a very exclusive club that even most Christians won't get into

This is just false. At least be accurate if you have a major problem with the bible? I'm not really sure this is a great context to discuss further.

I was just looking for your reference about Jesus coming back to kill all the christians. Unfair to spout these types of things without some sort of basis right?

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

#185
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.

Is the Anthropoc data center buildout union ceritifed?

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

#186

Next, plumbers. The future of data centers seems to be more liquid cooling and less ductwork. Take a look at this new 1 megawatt server rack.[1] It has more pipes than cables. All that coolant flow and all that electrical power in a crowded space is scary. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ssp1t-g_wM

Listen to the video again, he clarifies early on that this is supporting multiple racks. A megawatt is 1000kW. If you took 5 B300 systems (10 rack units each), you'd still only be at 75kW, which if you're doing redundancy properly, means you have wired 150kW to the rack, but you're not generating a megawatt of heat.

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

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true, it is difficult to even find an opening for the training to start the process, the schools are limited and have short enrollment windows that are fiercely competitive (at least in California).

I applied for an apprenticeship several years ago when I was testing the waters to rotate out of tech after covid. Tested into the highest percentile, had previous high voltage experience with OEMs, a mech eng degree, still ended up like 200 people deep in the queue. That was the end of that interest. You basically have to be friends or family with someone to get into IBEW.

this is a bizarre timeline of reality where an ME degree gets you waitlisted for an electrician apprenticeship

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

#188
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is zero wood in a data center (or commercial building in general) excluding doors, millwork, and fire-rated plywood for mounting equipment on. It’s simply not allowed. Data center are tip-up warehouses with walls made of reinforced concrete, metal bar joists, metal columns, and metal roofs. Any interior wall framing is made of steel.

I don't know anything about this so I am curious: that doesn't sound like a lot of wood work so why are the AI companies recruiting so many carpenters?

Steel stud framing is done by carpenters, any interior partition wall framing is done by carpenters. Also any soffits, front for gypsum ceiling clouds in offices, etc will be framed by carpenters. Maybe Meta has them install doors as well?

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

#189

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.

All electric homes existed as far back as the 1960s. Gas heat was generally cheaper back then (heat pump? nobody has air conditioning then) so they were not common where it got cold. Even at that though, the difference in labor for an all electric house today vs the same house with gas appliances is minimal - you get larger wires to the stove, furnace and dryer, everything else is the same. (in the near future I expect to see wires for the EV as well, but not yet and in any case this is the same even if your other appliances are gas)

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

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, an electrician just doesn't pop into existence. You have to go through years of apprenticeship and union dues payments.

I was in the IBEW when I was doing basic tech support for HawaiianTel 15 years ago... making $15/hr, union dues were nothing even at that wage and they rarely ever go up. This cry of "OMG dues suck" is so stupid for what you get in return. But go ahead and buy more into republican propaganda.

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