![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Electricians-Brandon-Schroyer-on-the-job-at-War-Memorial-Stadium-where-new-lights-are-going-in-7.6.2.jpeg\")
Brandon Schroyer on the job at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, where electricians are putting in new lighting. (Courtesy Brandon Schroyer)Electrical Techs Start At $65K In Cheyenne<\/p>\nThe sparks are flying for electricians, thanks to retiring baby boomers and a boom in the construction of data centers. It\u2019s a perfect storm that is creating high demand for electricians, while also increasing their wages in Wyoming.<\/p>\n
Master electrician Josh Ryan, an instructor in the Business, Agriculture and Tech Department of Laramie County Community College, said he\u2019s seeing a surge in interest for programs like his as word spreads about this lucrative career field.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge demand for electricians building data centers,\u201d he told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cData farming and data centers have really blown up, especially in the southern Wyoming area.<\/p>\n
\u201cLand is relatively cheap, water is relatively cheap and utilities are relatively cheap. So, there\u2019s been a lot of big names who have come to our local backyard, and the demand for building these data centers is extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerry Payne with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 322 told Cowboy State Daily he has a project in Kemmerer that will need 540 electricians. His counterpart with Local IBEW 415, Truett Thompson, needs another 400 to 500 electricians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had 400 to 500 guys building power lines the last couple of years,\u201d Payne said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s incredible what\u2019s going on out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those jobs are just the tip of the iceberg, Thompson added, saying that both he and Payne have had numerous calls from prospective projects that will need several hundred more electricians as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much working gong on in the state, it\u2019s hard to keep track of,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the underground on Meta Phase 1 and our shops are looking at the second phase of that too. Then we\u2019ve got the potential for a combined cycle plant that\u2019s coming in. That will be a little bit bigger than what Black Hills energy has.\u201d<\/p>\n
That kind of demand has made job prospects hot and fast for most, if not all of Ryan\u2019s graduates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say half of my students already had jobs lined up by the time they graduated,\u201d he said. \u201cI did have a couple students who were still kind of looking, but I think they were taking the summer off.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least 70% of my students had jobs or got started right after graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Schroyer on the job at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, where electricians are putting in new lighting. (Courtesy Brandon Schroyer)Electrical Techs Start At $65K In Cheyenne<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 23% growth in the electrical trade sector for Wyoming. While it lists median wages nationally as $62,350 in 2024, up from $54,000 in 2015, Wyoming stats look better in job postings at places like ZipRecruiter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With major data centers like Meta and Microsoft taking note of the state\u2019s ideal climate and proximity to fiber optics lines, the starting wage for a Level 1 technician at an unnamed data center in Cheyenne startsbetween $65,000 to $75,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lowest listed wage on a recent day on ZipRecruiter was $23 an hour for an entry-level position at data center provider Lunavi. The ad mentions opportunities for overtime, suggesting the annual wage would be higher than expected from hourly wages alone.<\/p>\n
Those kinds of wages have been attractive to students like Brandon Schroyer, a second-year electrician apprentice from Laramie, who said finding work was a snap for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first job, they hired me on the spot with zero experience,\u201d said Schroyer, who first attended LCCC\u2019s Electrical Technology Program, but is now finishing up at a program paid for by his present employer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That company ran into trouble later, but Schroyer\u00a0easily found a new job when the time came.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can easily get multiple job offers,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then, in between everything, I\u2019ve had my information on one of those recruiting sites, and I think I had four or five phone calls from companies wanting apprentices.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that allowed me to be a little choosy. Like, this one\u2019s only offering this much money, or this one has better benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing Pains For Electrical Segment<\/p>\n
Ryan remembers growing up at a time when students were told the only way to make something of themselves was to go to college and get at least a bachelor\u2019s degree, if not master\u2019s or better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That attitude that college is better has, he sees it, contributed to the perfect storm that\u2019s brewing in most of the trades, including the electrical sector that he\u2019s been part of for about a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started in the trade in 2015, there were still quite a few old hands who were around with a lot of knowledge,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThey\u2019d already worked 20-plus years in the industry, and they wanted to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retire they did, in large numbers.<\/p>\n
That retirement cliff left a workplace with far fewer people available to train new recruits. That\u2019s a big deal in the electrical industry, because the profession requires a certain ratio of journeymen to apprentices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can imagine, you can\u2019t have a bunch of people who really don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing hooking up power,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cSo, you have to have quite a bit of leadership and oversight to the apprenticeship aspect of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s program helps address a need by providing a lot of hands-on experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustry has been flooded with first-year apprentices,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cThey\u2019re desperate for a journeyman level, or even a second-, third-, fourth-year apprentice. So, I felt like we could do a lot better and have a lot more students who could benefit from it, if we could get them some of those classroom hours and those on-the-job hours knocked out before they even jumped into work.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Electricians-Brandon-Schroyer-far-left-on-the-job-at-War-Memorial-Stadium-7.6.25.jpg\")
Brandon Schroyer,left, on the job at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, where electricians are putting in new lighting. (Courtesy Brandon Schroyer)<\/li>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Electricians-A-student-at-LCCC-in-the-electrican-program-7.6.25.jpg\")
A student in the electrician program at Laramie Count Community College. (Courtesy Joshua Ryan)<\/li>\n![\"Surging](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Electricians-Surging-demand-for-electricians-in-Wyoming-is-filling-up-programs-to-train-them-like-th.jpeg\")
Surging demand for electricians is filling up programs to train them, like this one at the Business, Agriculture and Tech Department of Laramie County Community College. (Courtesy Joshua Ryan)<\/li>\n![\"Surging](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Electricians-Students-at-LCCC-explore-a-career-as-an-electrican-7.6.25.jpg\")
Surging demand for electricians is filling up programs to train them, like this one at the Business, Agriculture and Tech Department of Laramie County Community College. (Courtesy Joshua Ryan)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nArrow leftArrow rightEarn As You Learn For Free<\/p>\n
With so much difficulty hiring workers, companies have been bumping up wages and offering some juicy perks, including earn-as-you-learn programs, where the company is paying the costs of training.<\/p>\n
Schroyer is finishing up his program that way, with an earn-to-learn program his employer is paying for. The employer also helped him get the tools he needed, paying for some of what was needed outright, and advancing Schroyer the rest.<\/p>\n
Starting wages for a new apprentice with no experience at first glance may sound low. But first looks are misleading, Ryan said.<\/p>\n
While the starting wage for someone with no experience is $20 an hour, most of these jobs do come with the opportunity for overtime, as well as many other perks, which quickly brings the starting salary level up to more like $80,000 annually, Ryan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the whole story either though, because raises kick in on an accelerated timetable.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery six months, they get a raise,\u201d he said. \u201cSo usually, even the ones who aren\u2019t over-performing or going above and beyond, they\u2019re getting at least a dollar raise every six months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those raises start to go up even more once the four-year apprenticeship period ends.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you get your journeyman\u2019s license, the sky\u2019s really the limit,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cI know guys who have gone to work for general maintenance at a hospital or school district or at a factory producing general goods,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can then move up to lead men or foreman level if you want to continue in the construction world.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 8,000 hours as a journeyman, electricians are then eligible to apply to take the master electrician exam, and from there, they can get a contractor\u2019s license to start their own businesses.<\/p>\n
A Career That Travels<\/p>\n
Starting his own business someday was one of several attractive features of the electrical trade that attracted Schroyer. His dad owned his own business as a landscaper, and Schroyer would someday like to own his own electrical business as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the meantime, though, the wages and the portability of the career convinced him this was the way to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife is a nurse, so that was one of the things I looked at,\u201d he said. \u201cShe could have a job anywhere in the country. So, I wanted that same ability with whether we ever decide to move or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Electricity touches every sector of society in every community across America, Schroyer pointed out. There\u2019s nowhere he could go that an electrical trade wouldn\u2019t be useful.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many different avenues to take with this career,\u201d he added. \u201cI can do residential, I can do commercial, industrial. I could teach once I get my journeyman\u2019s license.\u201d<\/p>\n
One other thing he really likes about the trade is the sense that he is making a real difference, one that people can physically see, with the work he does.<\/p>\n
Right now, he\u2019s part of a team that\u2019s helping light up a University of Wyoming stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m born and raised in Laramie, and this place means a lot to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI get to put these lights up that this whole town is going to see for the next 30 years. That\u2019s a really cool feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n