It Takes Guts, Not College, to Fix Wind Turbines for a Living

Maybe you think they’re majestic. Maybe you think they’re an eyesore. No matter how you feel about wind turbines, there’ll be a lot more of them in coming years. And someone will have to keep each one of them spinning. In fact, wind turbine repair technician is estimated to be one of the fastest-growing jobs in the US this decade, with at least 5,000 new roles by 2032. One onshore wind veteran who’s been doing the work for 13 years spills to WIRED about what it’s like.

First things first: If you hate heights, being a wind turbine technician is probably not the career for you. Sure, we’ve had people who aren’t comfortable with heights be successful in the job. But I can safely say you’re climbing up 300 feet a day. (Sometimes literally: Older wind farms have turbines that you get up using ladders, although most places now use an elevator or trolley system.)

A mechanical background or an electrical background is helpful. I got a job with a builder right out of high school and worked my way up until the housing market fell off around 2008. That’s when I decided to enroll in a one-year vocational program to train in power generation, with a big focus on wind energy. I was hired immediately after school and basically traveled the United States as a wind technician. Around that time, there was a big push for wind generation. And really, that push hasn’t stopped. We're in a world right now where we're just trying to keep up. I really want to cement renewables as the primary means of power generation moving forward. Some of my best days at work have been when I get to be the first boots on the ground touching some new technology, figuring it out, and coming up with answers before anybody else does.

It's a blue-collar job, right? It's a 7-to-3, 7-to-5 day, five days a week. You're required to take on-call and overtime assignments on the weekend. So you're out in the field, you're out in the elements. That’s the biggest challenge. In the Midwest, I go from one extreme to the other—the hot, humid summer months and then freezing cold months. You dress for the weather. Almost every company I’ve worked for gives you an allowance for gear like balaclavas, hand warmers, foot