Why the smartest career move might skip the four-year college degree

Mike Greenawalt

Submitted photo/Eric Fairchild

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OPINION — I wasn’t the kid teachers pointed to as a future CEO. Growing up in Sunnyslope and attending Sunnyslope High School, I earned C’s in most of my classes while my older brother brought home straight A’s.

What I excelled at was auto shop and metal shop, working with my hands, solving problems and building things. My neighbor, an IBEW union electrician, watched me work on cars one afternoon and told me I needed to be an electrician. That single conversation changed the direction of my life.

I completed a four-year apprenticeship at the Phoenix Electrical JATC, started my career at Palo Verde Nuclear Plant and became a journeyman electrician. From there, I spent decades working my way up, eventually becoming CEO of a $3 billion employee-owned company with 7,000 workers. All without a four-year college degree. That is what a registered apprenticeship can do.

The jobs are there, and no one is filling them

The workforce math is stark. More than 500,000 skilled construction positions sit empty across the country, and for every two workers who retire from the trades today, only one steps in to take their place.

Arizona alone will add 51,000 new construction jobs between 2024 and 2034, ranking construction among the state's fastest-growing industries. The Department of Defense faces an even more urgent need, requiring 600,000 electricians and welders over the next six years to maintain military equipment and national infrastructure. The demand isn’t coming; it’s already here.

AI is driving the need for more skilled trades talent. The data centers being built across the country and the high-tech advanced manufacturing expanding right here in Arizona are not stopping any time soon, and those projects need skilled people to make them happen.

Busting a few myths; this is the other four-year degree

One of the biggest misconceptions about the trades is that they are simple jobs for people who cannot find anything better. Today’s trades workers are highly technical professionals who install smart building systems, operate advanced robotics and solve complex engineering problems every day. When I started my career, I carried a notepad and a pencil. By the time I retired, every foreman on a job site carried an iPad. The field has never been more technical or more rewarding.

The financial case is just as compelling. While college-bound students graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, apprentices start earning approximately $50,000 right out of high school with nothing owed. By the time an apprentice reaches journeyman status, electricians in Arizona earn $60,000 to $80,000 in base pay, with many surpassing six figures once overtime and incentive pay are added.

Welders follow a similar trajectory, averaging $55,000 to $80,000 annually. A registered apprenticeship does not just prepare you for a career. It pays you to build one.

What I tell every parent and student who will listen

Start the conversation early — not during senior year when the window begins to close. Ask your teenagers whether they enjoy hands-on problem-solving, working with technology and building things that matter in the real world.

Talk to school counselors about career exploration programs and arrange visits to apprenticeship training centers. Seeing it in person changes everything. Arizona offers more than 300 registered apprenticeship programs in over 12 industries, from electrical and plumbing to clean room technology, giving students a wide range of meaningful career paths to explore.

Here’s where to start

Starting a skilled trades career does not require a perfect plan. It just requires a first step. Career and technical education programs at high schools across Arizona introduce students to fields like electrical, welding, HVAC and construction before graduation. Pre-apprenticeship programs take it further, building foundational skills and connecting students directly with paid registered apprenticeship programs.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security maintains a searchable list of registered apprenticeship programs across the state, spanning trades from electrical and plumbing to healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Scholarship and grant resources are also available for students and programs ready to move forward. The Greenawalt Foundation is one of several organizations committed to funding that next step. The opportunity is real, the jobs are waiting and the path forward is far clearer than most people realize.

Mike Greenawalt is a 45-year construction industry veteran and the founder of Greenawalt Foundation, an Arizona-based registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing opportunities in the skilled trades through scholarships, grants and workforce development. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.