Teen summer camp gets them on track for well-paying jobs without college degree

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The AI boom is contributing to a critical shortage of skilled trade workers like electricians, plumbers and sheet metal technicians.

It's estimated that by 2030, 2.1 million skilled trade jobs will go unfilled.

The shortage is already being seen at Cupertino Electric in San Jose.

"30% of our workforce is on the retirement edge of their career. Couple that with data center build-out and AI needs, and then the green energy initiatives, building solar farms and battery storage. We have a drastic shortage of electricians right now," said Nick McComb, director of field operations.

Cupertino Electric is working to meet that shortage by taking part in Heavy Metal Summer Experience, a summer camp program that gives teenagers a hands-on look at work in the skilled trades industry.

"You can't just go talk to a kid at a career fair and give them a pamphlet and say this is a great career. A lot of these kids never used a tape measure, and by the end of the week they are welding and soldering," explained Angie Simon, co-founder of Heavy Metal Summer Experience.

The experience got high school senior Emily Brown excited.

"I never considered electrician as a career. It's really this camp that made me realize that it was something that I wanted to do. When we get hands on with power drills and saws, I was really excited," said Brown.

The shortage of skilled trades workers has been building over the years as high schools began pushing students towards college and careers in engineering and computer science.

"There's historically a stigma with blue collar and construction, and we need to eliminate that," said McCombs.

Simon got the idea for the camp five years ago after talking to contractors who were worried there were not going to have enough workers in the trades.

She ran the first summer camp in 2021 for 28 high schoolers in East Palo Alto.

This year, Heavy Metal Summer Experience has 62 camp locations across the United States and Canada with 1,100 teenagers enrolled.

Silicon Valley Mechanical has been hosting a camp for five years. They've hired four campers into the trades and have three apprentices right now.

"This actually provides a 5-year college program through Foothill College, so I was interested in getting a degree, and it was free, and I was getting paid for work," said Sariah Ortega, a welding apprentice who attended the summer camp a few years ago.

An apprenticeship lasts about five years, but unlike college, apprentices earn money as they learn.

"So not only are they getting an accredited education, but they're getting paid while they're going to school and you're working with a union who's going to help you get placed," explained Hannah Pettinichio, chief administration officer at Silicon Valley Mechanical, which has been participating in the summer camp program for several years.

Skilled trade jobs can provide a good living. A trade apprentice can earn more than $100,000 by their seventh year.

"The average age getting into the apprenticeship of either sheet metal, piping and electrical trade unions is 26.5 years old. So what happens is a kid graduates high school at 18 and they float around a while, they try junior college, they try other jobs and then they finally get into an apprenticeship. If they would get in the apprenticeship when they're 18 or 19, they could retire after 30 years at 55 with full benefits and it would be an amazing career," explained Simon.

Heavy Metal Summer Experience camps are filled up for this summer, but Simon encourages teenagers to begin checking the website by January or February of next year for camps the following summer.