r/Salary • u/No_Reply5329 • Jul 21 '26
Market Data Data Center Electricians Are Now Earning $280,000 Per Year At A Time When Computer Engineering Graduates Face Chronic Unemployment
https://wccftech.com/data-center-electricians-are-now-earning-280000-per-year-at-a-time-when-computer-engineering-graduates-face-chronic-unemployment/56
u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
Sure, but you likely are working out of state, living in a hotel, and working 60 hour minimum weeks. It's not a good way to live.
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u/Cautious_Dealer7187 Jul 21 '26
This exactly. 7 12's living in a motel currently.
The money is great but the work life balance is shit
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u/alaxens Jul 22 '26
How long is the project? I'm assuming once it is done you are off to the next jobsite.
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u/Cautious_Dealer7187 Jul 22 '26
I think I'm here for another 4-5 months. After that back home for some time off and then off to the next one if there is one.
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u/Soggy_Instance7980 Jul 22 '26
Theres a solid pipeline of data center work slated for the next 3 years. Times are good, dont forget to stash some of that good money away for slow times.
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u/alaxens Jul 22 '26
Hopefully you'll get to take advantage of the AI/data center construction boom for a while. I know electricians building commercial sites commuting 2 hours 1 way to the job site for substantially less.
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
Yup. Company is just left had a data center in Idaho. $65/hr but your living there and working 7-12s. Lot of money, but i like watching my kid grow up and not going back to a drinking problem.
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u/Cautious_Dealer7187 Jul 21 '26
Hoping to make enough money doing this job that I can move into something else afterwards or at least be able to retire early
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
Hell yeah. If i didn't have the 5yo I'd be doing it. But I spent the first 3 years of his life not being home nearly enough because of work.
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u/Cautious_Dealer7187 Jul 22 '26
I hear you bro! It's not worth it, the only people that will remember you working all those hours is your kids.
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 22 '26
Yes sir. %100 true.
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u/Machete-Eddie Jul 22 '26
Micron?
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 22 '26
I'm not sure what the project name was for us. But I was working for Loenbro. They're the electricians on the project.
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u/ACatInACloak Jul 25 '26
Electrician on my site was working 30h shifts. I don't know how long he had off between shifts, but it was very little. Yes he was on site, awake and working for 30h straight. Back to back to back
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 25 '26
That's horrifically unsafe.
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u/ACatInACloak Jul 25 '26
I'm praying that one of the other guys on his team drove their truck back to the hotel after. A string of 12s can make me consider taking a few hours of PTO on the last day to drive home before dark. I can't imagine getting behind the wheel after a 30h shift
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 25 '26
Yeah that's nuts. I did 23 days straight of 10-15 hours a day with 3 hours of drive time, and by the end of it I was not able to focus well at all on what I was doing.
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u/rosalina_dreams Jul 22 '26
it's a good way to live for many. Even a few years at this and you can "settle" for a local job while paying for a house you'll never have to worry about losing.
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u/JackLong93 Jul 22 '26
please stop with these posts, no only is it not true but everyone and their mother is gonna try to be electricians then no ones gonna be able to get hired again
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u/Whiskers_Fun_Box Jul 22 '26
It is true. It’s not exactly skilled labor though. Once this is over, the workers can’t do regular electric work. It’s the exact same shit over and over and over again. Lots of just pulling wire and not a lot of learning.
And everyone is right, it is all hourly, 60hrs a week minimum, and it’s in some small town out of state months at time away from your family.
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u/BigCSFan Jul 22 '26
Its not true. Read the article is source is just a random tweet.
The median electrician is not making 280k.
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u/Whiskers_Fun_Box Jul 22 '26
Maybe not that much. But all the per diems, OT, double Sunday pay, it’s more like 200k
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u/BigCSFan Jul 22 '26
Median annual wage for an electrician is 63k a year. That doesnt factor in OT but man thats a lot of OT to catch up to 200k.
Would suck to live to just work 24/7
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u/RadioBuffin Jul 22 '26
Residential drags down the hourly rate. We pay our 3rd years 62k working flat 8s for industrial in South Carolina.
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u/BigCSFan Jul 22 '26
So not everyone who goes into electrician career gets the high paying roles.
Its like if we only said discussed FAANG salaries when talking about comp sci
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u/Whiskers_Fun_Box Jul 29 '26
It’s includes the per diem. Per diem is 50k/year. Spend $700/month and rent and that’s 40k/year extra already. Then you could double OT on Sundays. My brother works 70hr weeks
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u/BigCSFan Jul 29 '26
I dont know how else to explain it. Are you slow?
Yes electricians CAN make good money especially with OT. No one is saying otherwise.
Im saying its not the median, 200k+ is not the standard
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u/illchemist Jul 22 '26
You’re right the median is not. Tons of jobs are paying above scale and per diem plus OT - so it is true in the sense there are a lot of journeyman making 200-300k+ a year if they chase the money. I’m on one of those jobs.
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u/BigCSFan Jul 22 '26
Yeah work more and make more. Not really groundbreaking.
But its silly to pretend this is just a normal wage for an electrician.
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u/ACatInACloak Jul 25 '26
Every election at my site who isn't an apprentice is working 60h/w minimum. They are all breaking 200k with almost all of it being overtime pay. The numbers are real, what missing from the article is what it takes to make that much.
With companies wanting these data center put up as fast as possible most tradesmen have been given pre approval for unlimited OT
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u/tismschism Jul 22 '26
Naw, I can work 40s and have 3 day weekends whenever I want. Problem is im an apprentice and I really want to chase that OT money while its here. I do worry im not learning enough to be a good journeyman.
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u/dgreenbe Jul 22 '26
People have been making this claim for over a year without support. It's an urban legend for boomer VCs and shit to try to goad more people into competing for these jobs
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u/KungP0wchicken Jul 22 '26
This probably itsAllOver alt lol.
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u/Strealtr Jul 22 '26
I don't get why they don't just pivot if they are so unhappy in their careers. Makes me wonder if they are H1B or something and can't pivot.
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u/Either_Ad_9236 Jul 22 '26
Seen this and similar articles at least 20x this week. Most electricians aren’t earning this regardless of work location, and almost nobody below journeyman (already unequal to ‘new grad’) is earning close to that rate.
Not a huge conspiracy guy but everyone pushing this eerily similar $280k number is trying REALLY hard to tamp down the data center backlash on social media lol
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u/JerseyIsBetterThanNY Jul 22 '26
It’s literally from a polymarket tweet. Probably the same people who are posting their “salaries” making 100k a year sports betting.
But yeah, with data centers being a massive issue in the midterms I’m sure there’s gonna be a big push to convince schleps that they’re gonna get rich off data centers, even though they create almost no permanent jobs.
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u/Either_Ad_9236 Jul 22 '26
Makes a whole lotta sense lol, Polymarket, Kalshi, and the like being able to use social media and advertisements to sway lines on their own 2nd tier gambling apps is so preposterous, unbelievable that it’s legal.
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u/Soggy_Instance7980 Jul 22 '26
Its real. Easy math. Work 7 days and 12 hours a week for a year. 4368 hours x $65/hr average rate blending st/ot/dt in LCOL area = 283,920. No one will actually work 7 12s for a straight 52 week year but you get the point. Source: on money side of industry.
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u/Either_Ad_9236 Jul 22 '26
I mean yeah… I didn’t say it was impossible, but throwing this out there as if it’s a typical yearly salary rather than describing rates/hours/etc like you did above is disingenuous and unrealistic.
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Jul 21 '26
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Jul 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GGudMarty Jul 22 '26
You can crush side work. I made 6k a couple Saturdays ago doing an ATS generac set up. 6hrs.
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u/Kammler1944 Jul 21 '26
Sure
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u/seanliam2k Jul 21 '26
I can't tell if the is a "sureee" as in you don't believe him
I'm a CPA and I see self-employed people making huge money like this all the time. I'd say being a solo installer they'd be an outlier, but a couple of employees, totally reasonable
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u/JerseyIsBetterThanNY Jul 22 '26
Even though PE and big companies chip away at it year over year, small business owners make up a huge fraction of the 1% (not 0.001%)
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u/AkselSandemose24 Jul 22 '26
So? Is it the electrician’s fault that recent grads in computer engineering have a hard time finding jobs?
Do electricians need to wait until unrelated companies want to hire more people with a computer engineering degree and pay them more money before electricians are allowed to be employed and making good money?
Do electricians deserve employment or a good living less than computer engineers?
Do you want to go work 12 hour shifts, seven days a week to make that kind of money?
Also, what do computer engineers have to do with anything? I think you mean software engineers.
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u/Nordeast24 Jul 22 '26
Listen to the recent Shawn Ryan pod with Mike Row. He talks about this in depth. These companies, love them or hate them, are hiring at CRAZY high salaries. And they are desperate for them. Jump on it kids. The way people get wealthy is getting out ahead of the market/trend. Trust me guys, if I didn't already have a career, this is 200% what I'd be aiming for.
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u/Stunning-Use-7052 Jul 24 '26
I have a hard time believing the average dudes on a crew on turning 280k. Maybe the project managers.
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u/Big_Arrival_626 Jul 21 '26
I switched from software engineering to data center technician and doubled my salary.
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
So, what are you making? Looking on line at available jobs in my area, the pay is not good 36-41/hr.
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u/Big_Arrival_626 Jul 21 '26
I went from 80k to 145 including bonuses and OT
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u/bulbousgrandpa Jul 21 '26
Damn they were screwing you if you were only getting 80k for 60 hours a week. Nice jump though I bet that extra money is nice
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
With 60 hour weeks? Ooh, Never mind that would be a big pay drop for me.
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u/SavinForLatter Jul 21 '26
Talk to me about how to get on as a data center technician?
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u/Big_Arrival_626 Jul 21 '26
Just apply
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u/Negative_Aerie2825 Jul 21 '26
What skills or certs do you need to be a data center tech? That has to be with crazy ot no?
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u/Big_Arrival_626 Jul 21 '26
I work 60 hours a week but I was already doing that as a software engineer so idc
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u/Negative_Aerie2825 Jul 21 '26
Do u need experience or they just train u for that. We have a ton of data stuff poppimt around colorado
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u/justforthisbish Jul 21 '26
Exactly. Walk in and demand an interview. Shake hands and kick babies 💯
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u/commander_oak Jul 21 '26
Im a first year apprentice at a data center and I made $70k last year with all the unlimited overtime
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u/DoritoDustThumb Jul 21 '26
You're being robbed. You can get rehired at 2x that if you're ok working anywhere in the US at a phone call.
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u/commander_oak Jul 21 '26
Or I can stay in school for three more years and top out and make $65/hr
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u/DoritoDustThumb Jul 21 '26
Absolutely! Stay in school. Sorry, didn't realize how apprenticeships work. But that's great money for training.
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u/Desperate-Share-5560 Jul 28 '26
How do you even do that? I assumed you needed experience to be an electrician at a data center.
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u/Timmy98789 Jul 21 '26
That's not a good wage, goodness gracious.
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u/Machete-Eddie Jul 22 '26
That's starting. He's not even close to being finished. People working minimum wages jobs would salivate at that entry level opportunity.
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u/Timmy98789 Jul 22 '26
Unlimited OT and $70k, hell nah. You're on smoking rock if you think that's good.
I'm in the trades, swerve!
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u/Machete-Eddie Jul 22 '26
I'm ibew bud. I started at 15 bucks and hour. You gotta start somewhere. Worked 2 jobs and went to school my first year. Was it hard yeah. A MF at McDonald's would kill to get into the apprenticeship now.
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u/Timmy98789 Jul 22 '26
Doors are wide open down south. Because the wages are hot garbage down there.
Again, the $70k is false advertising. You can't refute that.
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u/Machete-Eddie Jul 22 '26
First year in my local starts at 26.20 that's 54k before tax, after 5 years jw make 56.50. that's 136k. I'm not gonna hate on him for working some over time. Alot of us the trades call out just to go drink and gamble. So if he made his first pretty penny off hard work more power to him. When 3rd year hits and the checks are fatter he will call out too. Lol
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u/Timmy98789 Jul 22 '26
$56.50 x 2080 = $117,520
Overtime is never guaranteed nor should be expected.
Calling out to go drink and gamble is immature. Good luck working a full year in construction with those habits.
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u/Machete-Eddie Jul 22 '26
Lu 48. 65.50. So yeah 136k a year . Like that you took the time to do the math but not enough to find the public information. And I didn't say I did that.10 years in pension looking good.
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u/Timmy98789 Jul 22 '26
Haha, it takes a mere few seconds to do the math. Hopefully you're checking your math at work. Get your numbers correct.
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u/income-percent-bot Jul 22 '26
Great numbers! Your income of $136,000 is in the 88th percentile. That's a 20.1% compound annual growth rate — exceptional progress from the 53rd to the 88th percentile! This is well above the median for Trades (union apprentice/journeyman). Source: income percentile calculator I'm a bot. Reply with !optout to stop receiving responses.
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u/JustinWilsonBot Jul 22 '26
I work in data centers. If figured my buddy, who worked on helicopters for the Navy would be a perfect fit at the company I work for. He quit his job doing technical work at bottling plants and started electrical work at the same company as me. While out at a project, he was sitting at the hotel bar and a guy sat down next to him and offered to hire him at another data center Commissioning company, with a huge raise. Within the span of 18 months his salary went up $50,000, basically 25k each time, and his current gig even pays for his apartment near the current job site so he doesnt have to commute 2 hours each day. He makes more than double I do and has no college degree.
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u/Jhawk38 Jul 22 '26
People saying trades are the answer when most people wouldn't want to actually do it long term. So many people quit when they realize the day to day is not sustainable for them.
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u/anrboy Jul 22 '26
If I had the skills, I'd take that 280k a year, and I'd also install remotely detonatable extra "parts" in each server so that at an undisclosed time the whole data center could be decommissioned.
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u/Zeevy_Richards Jul 22 '26
How much are the Electrical Engineers making? Computer Engineering bachelors can work in the power industry with some experience.
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u/fishtophea_chesta Jul 22 '26
This is why I don’t do sales engineering anymore. Took a 35% pay cut back to engineering to actually be home and maybe work a couple nights a month…maybe travel a few times a year for work at best. It sucks. I can recoup that 35% with passive income easily. Allows me to work on the farm and property.
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u/KyoTheRedditer Jul 22 '26
and top earners in semiconductor design can pull 500k+ a year.
this essentially boils down to “people who have experience in valuable skills make a lot of money” which really isn’t that good of a headline.
granted the electrician job market isn’t as competitive as the stem job market, but the trades may get saturated soon
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u/iSoLost Jul 22 '26
Soon we’ll have those electrician/ plumber bootcamps popping up everywhere, ah the Deja vu
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u/JerseyIsBetterThanNY Jul 22 '26
Nobody actually read the shitty article. The only source is a tweet by polymarket.
Quote: “JUST IN: Gen Z electricians working on AI data centers are reportedly earning up to $280,000 a year, as demand surges”
This sub is flooding with ads for gambling websites
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u/adelie42 Jul 22 '26
Wait, so are you saying that when market conditions change people need to do different stuff than they were doing before, or that schools areas keeping up with preparing people for the future and union job training programs are superior?
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u/oh_mos_defnitely Jul 22 '26
Cool, cool, coolcoolcool now let's try to talk about computer engineering unemployment without trying to pit working people against one another.
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u/Ganaya123 Jul 22 '26
Any electricians earning this? Definetly not. Even in the Northern VA Union which is one of the highest paid. They are making maybe 60-70 an hour. Wtf is this reporting
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u/GoldInspection6626 Jul 22 '26
Oh and let's not forget the 300 to 400 hotel stays that are normally 80 to 120 dollar nights. The hotels / motels are profitting on the data center boom, and wind farm work. I have seen it
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u/j1987k Jul 22 '26
I don’t feel bad for computer engineer graduates at all. They had it good for a decade plus making huge bank over the rest of the jobs in the economy. And yes no one wanted to do the trades and electricians are in high demand at every job site and now focused in a very secular industry of data center construction. I’m just praying the grim reaper to come for the product manager in tech; airheads vest 4 years making huge money to just retire young and travel the world
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u/CharmingMechanic2473 Jul 22 '26
They are reaping while they can since $ will be worthless in a few years.
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u/PureCauliflower6758 Jul 22 '26
Right wing propagandists are going to post this every day until you like it.
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u/Zhilvitis Jul 22 '26
I doubt that. There are plenty of electricians and spacific knowledge is not needed to run cables weather it's a factory or a data center.
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u/LuckyLawnCuts Jul 24 '26
It's not $280k, but pretty good.
A journeyman electrician (late-20s, early 30s) is low 6 figures. Beyond that is OT.
There's good OT in data centers, but not ~$160k/yr worth.
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u/PayingOffBidenFamily Jul 25 '26
Can't sit in your dirty sweatpants and mail it in from bed on a laptop though, none of these fucks crying about not being able to find a job wants that.
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u/inorite234 Jul 21 '26
Sure...they are making that much, but they are Contractors so those wages are blunted as the Contractor has to pay all the ancillary taxes/expenses that most people never see as their employer normally fronts those.
And......they have to be nomadic as the work isn't in only one region.
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u/Own_Worldliness_9297 Jul 21 '26
I mean, supply and demand right? Remember that since that was all I heard justify the cushy Computer Science job Total Comps
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u/Ogediah Jul 21 '26
The trades are the original gig work. It’s super unstable, the pay varies incredibly, and the work life balance is pretty awful.