Tract Altoona Technology Park

Tract Altoona Technology Park is Tract's data center in Altoona, IA. It is planned, and it will be about 1 GW when it is done.

A data center this size takes a small army to build. At the busiest point, about 1,920 workers will be on site at once. Electricians are needed the most — about 540 of them at peak — to run the power. Pipefitters and HVAC crews handle the cooling, ironworkers and welders put up the steel, and cable techs wire the computers together.

Skilled-trade jobs on data centers are some of the best-paying work you can get without a four-year degree. With overtime, experienced electricians and pipefitters often make over $100,000 a year, and the work comes with health care and a pension through the union.

Altoona is part of a bigger building boom in Iowa, and workers drive in from all over the area. It is the same across the country: builders cannot find enough skilled workers. The U.S. needs about 140,000 more trade workers by 2030 to build all the data centers, and most builders say hiring is their hardest problem. Microsoft's president has called the shortage of electricians the biggest thing slowing data centers down.

Jobs like this one are why the local trade halls are busy. The work goes through local unions and contractors, and you start through a Iowa apprenticeship. The trade pages for Iowa show you how. Sources: a national survey of data-center building plans, plus U.S. jobs and pay data.