Submission + - Employers Need Wind Power Technicians
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "NPR reports that Oklahoma is one state benefitting from the energy boom but with a wind power rush underway companies care competing to secure the windiest spots while breathing life into small towns. But the problem is each turbine requires regular maintenance during its 20-year lifespan with a requirement of one turbine technician for every 10 turbines on the ground, so even with a job that can pay a good starting salary technicians with a GED or high school diploma who complete a four-week turbine maintenance training program, there aren't enough qualified technicians to do the work. "It seems odd, with America's unemployment problem, to have a shortage of workers for a job that can pay in excess of $20 per hour. But being a turbine technician isn't easy," says Logan Layden adding that technicians typically have to climb 300 foot high towers to service the turbines. Oscar Briones is one of about a dozen students who recently finished a maintenance training program after leaving his job as a motorcycle mechanic and now has his pick of employers. "So I was in the market to find something else to do, and this seemed pretty exciting. Being 300 feet in the air, that's pretty exciting in its self. So yeah, I'm a thrill seeker.""
