Parceiros Mundiais

At Light Brigade, we recognize that a skilled workforce is essential to building the future of connectivity. That's why we're deeply committed to workforce development. We partner with educational institutions, state agencies, and industry stakeholders to create accessible and effective training pathways for aspiring fiber optic technicians. Our focus is on developing programs that not only meet industry needs but also align with key workforce development initiatives, such as the BEAD program, ensuring that individuals receive the training necessary to succeed in statewide and national broadband expansion efforts.

Market Research Future estimates that between 2022 and 2030, the fiber optics market value will nearly double to $13.7 with no slowing in sight. With the already explosive growth of data centers and fiber to the home initiatives, the industry is experiencing a significant shortage of properly trained technicians to perform installation and maintenance. This shortage is not new and is not unique to these areas. Over the past thirty years we have experienced a shift in attracting new talent into blue collar technical fields.

In the mid-nineties there was a dramatic shift in the K-12 education system where students were encouraged to pursue non-technical fields and go to college to earn a four-year degree to obtain a perceived "better employment opportunity". We witnessed the reduction of “shop” class offerings due to students no longer having an interest in related fields as they were encouraged to pursue a more academic white-collared path. Thus there were fewer technicians entering the electrical, datacom, and telecom fields by choice.

Historically, many new entrants to these fields were the result of a relative bringing the next generation into the field, either by encouragement to make an "honest living", or more often, to prevent them from getting into, or to remove them from, a delinquent life path. Over time, those relatives working in those fields wanted better for their future generations and we witnessed the trend of fewer generations being ushered into these fields. This was the beginning of the ever-growing technician shortage we are seeing today . The result being that we now have a significant gap in the age distribution of available technicians.

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The Growing Need to Skilled Fiber Optic Technicians

According to Zippia and, what has become the accepted metric, the median age of line technicians, datacom technicians, and telecom technicians is 43-45 years old. As these technicians age out and retire, or move on to management roles, there is not an equal amount entering the field. It is commonly agreed upon that for every five technicians that exit the industry, there is only one to replace them.

The sheer scope of the BEAD program isn't just a challenge—it's a seismic shift in infrastructure, demanding a workforce revolution. ​The baseline is an 80% shortage just to build maintain the networks which does not account for the additional demands required for the data center and fiber to the home growth. 

According to the Fiber Broadband Association, it is estimated that around 205,000 additional technicians will be required through 2029 to support B.E.A.D. builds. Other estimates forecast up to 850,000 new technicians to be required throughout the greater industry. The Government Accountability Office estimates approximately 34,000 this year alone for broadband. The number of new technicians required for building and maintaining new and existing data centers as that number changes daily, but what we do know is that there is a lack of training opportunities for layer 1 technicians specifically working in data centers. Most data center training opportunities and credentialing revolve around power, cooling, design, and other layers of the OSI model beyond the physical layer.
 

Building this fiber broadband infrastructure will trigger an unprecedented amount of construction activity. The BEAD program will create a nationwide demand for skilled labor far beyond what the current workforce can support.The U.S. Government, in preparation for the insufficiency in the availability of high-skilled labor, has investigated different methods to improve recruitment and scale workforce training to address the shortfall many states will not be able to meet in the telecommunications industry workforce. 

Filling this demand void will require multiple channels of attraction and preparation to ensure success. Beyond the traditional methods of recruitment such as job postings, career fairs, lateral reassignments, there is a need for more innovative paths to attract new technicians. State and community college workforce development programs, as well as K-12 awareness are ideal starting points.

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