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Jeff Beavers on Trades, Tech, and the Future of Power with NECA
22 Plays7 days ago
🔥 Episode Summary
In this episode, hosts Jason Shearer and Akram “AK” Khalis sit down with Jeff Beavers, Executive Director of Network Integration at NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association), to discuss the evolving landscape of smart buildings, skilled trades, and the electrification of everything.
From climbing poles in the Air Force to defining future-ready standards for fault-managed power and limited energy systems, Jeff shares a career-spanning perspective that blends traditional electrical wisdom with cutting-edge tech. Together, the hosts and guest explore the convergence of AC/DC power, workforce shortages, the future of skilled trades, and why e-sports gamers might be tomorrow’s electricians.
🛠️ Topics Covered
- Jeff’s early telecom roots in the Air Force and journey into infrastructure
- The history and evolving mission of NECA in shaping power standards
- Limited energy systems and why the term matters for the future of design
- The parallel between AC adoption in 1900 and DC/FMP adoption today
- Global standards: Will RJ45 and USB-C power the world?
- The labor shortage and how to reach the next generation of tradespeople
- Micro-lessons and podcasting as tools for workforce education
- Industry partnerships with Google, Cisco, and IBEW to train the future
- Recruiting gamers, influencers, and digital natives into the trades
🥃 This Episode’s Drink
- Jeff: The “Old Fashioned” … water! (With a splash of ginger beer to spice things up)
📅 Release Schedule
New episodes drop every other Monday, blending smart buildings, big ideas, and a splash of your favorite drink.
🎧 Who Should Listen?
- Electrical and low-voltage contractors
- Code and standards professionals
- Data center and MEP engineers
- Workforce development leaders
- Policy makers and educators
- Young professionals and students exploring skilled trades
📣 How to Support the Show
- Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, or YouTube
- Leave a review and share with your network
- Explore NECA’s Podcast: Connectivity, Powered by NECA
- Follow Jason, AK, and Jeff on LinkedIn
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome everybody to the Distilled Buildings Technology Podcast where smart buildings are shaken, stirred, and data-driven. I'm your host Jason Scheer.
00:00:30
Speaker
um your host AK. And today we're here with ah Jeff Bevers from NECA. Jeff, welcome to the show. Glad to be here. Thanks for the invitation. and look forward to learning and some, uh, the conversation.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Jeff Bevers' Career Journey
00:00:45
Speaker
Yeah. So Jeff, like we, one, one thing we always like to hear from people, you know, not necessarily specific to the topic or like what we do today, but I'm always really curious around like, um, like career journeys, like where, where did you start like in your journey, you know, your professional career, you know, ultimately like ending up at, at Nika where you are today?
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, no, I love it. I love the conversation of what brought us all three together at this point in time. And so, ah Jason, I mentioned ah passing through Jackson, Mississippi to head down towards Pascagoula and then over to Hurlburt Field.
00:01:22
Speaker
That's the Air Force base there. So at 19 years old, when I joined the Air Force, I had a couple of choices and they chose one for me and it was in telecommunications. I was a communications cable splicer.
00:01:35
Speaker
And so they, you know, they did everything from the spikes in the cable itself to line construction, right? Climbing telephone poles. It's like, I remember the, ah in basic training to even get into our career field, you had to take a fear of heights test and a colorblindness test.
00:01:51
Speaker
And so imagine they just put on a some gaffes on your feet as they climb up this pole. ah It only went up about five feet, but to me it felt like 50, but you know, you just to see how you do. And he also put on this belt, how you climb an antenna 60 feet up and see if you, you know, how you behave. And so they said, okay, you passed.
00:02:11
Speaker
It's like, where does, where does joining the cable come in here? I'm doing these fear of heights tests. And so, yeah, so as a communication cable splicer, uh, anywhere from like 25 pair to 3000 pair cable and fiber optic splicing,
00:02:27
Speaker
And ah back when you had to use a microscope and you had to manually move the fiber to splice it, nothing was automated. and Right. And so it was a fascinating career field. And so since 19 years old, I've been able to stay in this career field, which I soon found out are so diverse in the specialties and areas, not just the technologies, but from construction to installation, to troubleshooting, to switching to design and project management. Right. Yeah. And so I've been able to ah do that. and it's just been great. So did that, got out, worked worked on the same base as a civilian contractor, and it and it introduced my world to ah contracting, what that means. But then it soon after that, met my wife who went to Germany, did a couple of years there. I worked for a defense contractor, AT&T Network Systems, doing things like, if you remember the old
00:03:22
Speaker
mini mainframe. It was an AT&T 3B2 computer. Everyone had dumb terminals back then. This was probably mid nineties. And, uh, when, uh, cat five was introduced, I think people were installing a certified cat five before there were even standards for it.
00:03:40
Speaker
Right. So they would do a continuity test and say it's, uh, certified, but then, so we saw the advent of, uh, um, twisted pair with a thickness. So I was able to go from that to, to higher education being like a plant maintenance and doing moves as and changes on a via switches. And then ah probably the last 20 something years have been in the and engineering or design side with MEP firms, a design firm here in basic Casey that you know about is black and beach.
00:04:14
Speaker
Oh yeah. Big huge, huge design firm. yeah Absolutely. 100 plus year old company. And then boop was in their federal department for a few years. And so, yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
And then fast forward about early 22, January, as when I moved over to NECA, they saw, they they, the CEO, David Long, is very forethaking. He saw the rise of limited energy systems and really saw that that needed a voice and to address that.
00:04:43
Speaker
not just for what our contractors can do with opportunities there, but to address things that are lacking in industry. You know, whether whether it's a skilled workforce, certifications, training, licensing, which may not be a popular topic, but there's, and then outreach to the inspector community. You know, they need to know this technology. So they they they they accept it and help adopt it.
00:05:09
Speaker
And then outreach as well to the end users so they understand what this technology is. And so, yeah, it's been a whirlwind of a career. It just seemed like a blur, but it's been exciting.
NECA's History and Technological Influence
00:05:20
Speaker
So probably a long story to get to where we are today. I'm glad to be here That's fascinating. That's awesome. Yeah.
00:05:30
Speaker
Cool. So we typically, Jeff, get get to know the audience by saying, you know, thinking about what what type of drinks they want. And I think your choice was the classic old-fashioned. Tell us a little bit more how that goes.
00:05:44
Speaker
Oh, I said a classic old-fashioned water. Oh, old-fashioned water. Nice. Yeah, I don't need the coconut water or the ah water with electrolytes or water with ah flavor.
00:05:58
Speaker
It's just tap water. Yep. in my coffee cup. And of course, the older I get gentlemen, you know, the more it's like, okay, that water is the magic elixir my body needs.
00:06:10
Speaker
And so, but today I've, I've splurged a little bit with some sugar and some sparkly, and this is a ginger beer. Of course, you know, I guess it's the key ingredient for a Moscow mule, but anyway, i've I've taken the mule out and just kept the ginger beer.
00:06:26
Speaker
excellent excellent that's one That's one of my wife's favorites is ah is a Moscow mule and a co copper mug with ginger beer. Yeah. All right. Right. Awesome. right.
00:06:39
Speaker
So tell us a little bit more what's Nika.
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, Nika. Well, you know, Nika's been around since um since alternating current was was invented. Right. And so probably the around 1900
00:06:56
Speaker
Right. So we're into our 120th year of NECA. And then, but we also work alongside with IBW has also have been around for 120 years when, and when it was, ah became a trade.
00:07:09
Speaker
And, and so ah from that history, i mean, our, our, a lot of our, our history is not just the workforce, but it but it's driving ah safety codes and standards and things like that. So when alternating current was brand new,
00:07:26
Speaker
By the way, I'm going to chase a rabbit here. Is the same questions in 1900 when AC was brand new are the same questions we have today with POE, fault managed power, right? Because they they there was a thought about alternating current about um ah slow to adopt because of the learning curve, this new technology.
00:07:47
Speaker
Because DC, although it had a short life, it's already had a foothold in the industry. So it's changing the culture. But um here we are. Fast forward today this with this revolution of of return to DC, but not our grandfather's DC. Now it's a safe, safe form. So well all today and current was brand new. Again, some of the same parallels because everyone is trying to get in, you know, get in on this new industry.
00:08:15
Speaker
right they they there There were no apprenticeships or building codes for electricity. right So everyone and their brother, so to speak, was was calling themselves an electrician. wire Electricians.
00:08:26
Speaker
Right. And so we had to work to help with to create the very first ever like fire code, electrical code. And that's our history today. Heavily involved with the National Electrical Code, as well as ah standards for best practices.
00:08:40
Speaker
And then not just in ah arc flash or bonding ground, you get stuff like microgrids, energy storage, right? We're creating a standard Nika 726 on fault managed power installation.
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah. And then we have a Nika 500, which is which is lighting, but we're enhancing that to include POE lighting and automation. So, right. So we're evolving, uh, uh, trying to,
00:09:06
Speaker
do our best to lead the industry for safe communities and safe adoption of these technologies. So if if it delivers a power or signal, we like to say that that we're experts in it.
00:09:19
Speaker
Got it. And and in the genesis for NECA 100 years ago was really just to put some structure around safety and standards for AC current.
00:09:32
Speaker
Absolutely. You know, the ah the same holds true today. is a bad install will be the reason why technology is slow to get adopted. yeah It's not the technology's fault if it's done poorly and and there's, you know, the the GFCI is not working. Or in this case, POE lighting doesn't work because of poor installation. So that is the genesis of it.
00:09:56
Speaker
yeah cool Safe, but high performance. Yeah. And and what what's what is your specific role? Nika, I imagine, Jeff, is ah is a pretty large organization given how Um, how long it's been around, um how many different, you know, companies and individual like electric electricians are, you know, NECA represents, um, what, what is your specific mission at, at NECA?
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm the executive director of network integration and services, or someone would say, oh, you're the low voltage guy at NECA. So I'm giving a voice to that industry. I mean, as you can imagine, the, the big brother is the electrician.
00:10:35
Speaker
yeah with the telecommunications or, or or that the limited energy being the the little brother, although they've been around for as long as the telegraph has been around, probably we said, you know, long before AC was here, yeah but it's always been more for entertainment or amenities. Right. But now we've seen this issue of now with limited energy being part of mission critical and life safety.
00:10:57
Speaker
So that's really my goal here. My, uh, uh, role at NECA, right? is is ah It's outreach to our contractors, right? We have members in every state and of course, outside the continental US s this is making them a aware of opportunities out there, as well as educate them on the these new technologies and trends, but also working with our government relations folks, right? Because because when it talks to regulatory issues, right? Cybersecurity, those are big issues. Trying to try to
00:11:32
Speaker
get in front of them to create awareness. Hey, we need to do something about this because, um, I think about that quote from, uh, you remember where Dr. Ian McCallum from Jurassic park, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. Or I'm ah um'm a, proudp model I'm on boot trip. So y'all were so focused on if you,
00:11:49
Speaker
could do it. You didn't think if you should do it, right? So we have all these, our industry is recognized by the federal government as an essential, it's a critical industry.
00:11:59
Speaker
But yet it to to to many, the people who dole out the money, it's still like entertainment, it's Netflix, it's email, but no, it's, it's, it's, it's ah it enables other critical industries, transportation, transportation,
00:12:13
Speaker
Right. ah Healthcare, care banking. And so it's raising awareness that this is a critical industry. And we need not only workers, but we need technical competency and technical competency of of designers, the installers, the maintainers, the inspectors.
00:12:29
Speaker
And as well, ah awareness to the end users to where they make informed decisions and not just go cheap.
Future of Energy Systems
00:12:35
Speaker
Right. There's nothing in the world that can't be made cheaper and sold for less. And that's a pitfall for our industry.
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah. And is that, does that give obviously Nika members, what has been their, would say their opinion or their reaction to the conversion of it and OT, knowing that obviously to your point, a hundred plus years ago, we were, we were trying to converge into AC and now we know that we're trying to converge back into DC.
00:13:03
Speaker
What has been the, the reaction to, from the members? Yeah, I think it, it's a, If you talk to them one-on-one or if it's a, if it's not a, if it's not a diverse group, like, um, half of our contractors do structure cabling or they're in, uh, in, in, in low voltage of some sort. So they see it.
00:13:25
Speaker
I mean, if, if you come from the IT and telecom side, we've seen nothing but, but convergence and rapid change, right? It's nothing new, but if you're a traditional electrician,
00:13:38
Speaker
where it's still a bonding and grounding art flash and conduit. And you're so busy with that. It's hard to see beyond this year, three to five years from now of how things are changing because we're so busy.
00:13:50
Speaker
Right. So I think the reception, uh, AK is either some are seeing it and we have some very progressive contractors across the country that, uh, have, um, many, you know, many and, and, and diverse offerings within their company from a line builders, uh, to electricians, to residential, to data centers, to 5G build out. So they, they, a lot of them are very progressive and they see the opportunities because this, our industry is so diverse with our, with our specialty. Some, some are only in healthcare and with healthcare technologies, a nurse call, right? So it runs the gamut. eight k It's kind of hard, you know, some, some see it and embrace it.
00:14:32
Speaker
And therefore thinking some are just so busy with their day to day that they can't, really plan when you're out because a lot of our contractors as well, AKA they're a smaller firm.
00:14:45
Speaker
So they're they're running the business, but they're also turning screwdrivers. Right. And so they're just so busy with a tremendous amount of of workload. So it's cost of board.
00:14:58
Speaker
Yeah. And one one one thing you talked about, Jeff, was this this concept of limited energy. In in previous episodes, we've had conversations with um like Ronna Davis at Bolt Server and Mahmood at Panduit. And we yeah um we've gotten an idea around class four power, fault managed power.
00:15:21
Speaker
um But I don't I don't think that we've really heard ah much about like this classification of of limited energy. Can you can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah.
00:15:33
Speaker
Well, it's just like how we've tried to change on the IT side as a voice, as a data is a video. Well, it's all data. It's telecommunication is still a current term.
00:15:44
Speaker
And sometimes people think of telecommunications as the telephone, but telecommunications is you bring something far near. So it's still a good term, but it's trying to stay relevant with technology. But the term limited energy really makes parallels with the national electrical code and some of the language that they're using in there. So that we're, we have continuity in our terminology.
00:16:07
Speaker
um if you If you go to different ah chapters with Nika or our contractors from the from New York City all the way to the West Coast, you'll see there's low voltage, there's ah voice data video, there's sound and com, there's teledata.
00:16:23
Speaker
Well, it's all under the umbrella of limited energy now. And, you know, low voltage rolls off the tongue because we do that, but really low voltage is like, what, 600 volts and under. So it's not really telecommunications or 48 volt DC. So we're even just trying to change that to stay current.
00:16:40
Speaker
But just like if you're a structured cabling contractor and you say, ah want an RJ45 and you say, oh, you mean an APHC? It's like you know you're talking the same language, but we're just trying to have some uniformity to keep up with what's in the code.
00:16:57
Speaker
So hopefully that makes sense about limited energy. think so. So it's basically trying to take all of those, those maybe new and old technologies and group or organize them a little bit better within, within the code structure. That's correct.
00:17:14
Speaker
So that the inspectors know what we're talking about when we say limited energy, right? I mean, if you're, if you're saying, Hey inspector, I'm ready for you to to look at my VDV cabling.
00:17:25
Speaker
And when they go, what's VDV? Oh, that's limited energy, right? So it's it's consistency across the board, no matter if you're a designer, installer, end user, or an inspector. Right? So that's that's the goal.
00:17:38
Speaker
And are we anticipating that this limited energy would be the future of how infrastructure, at least commercial buildings or um would the infrastructure and commercial building would be would be designed and implemented?
00:17:50
Speaker
is that Is that the plan knowing that in short term or near the future, we would have limited en energy is the only way to transport energy and data across points A to B?
00:18:03
Speaker
Yeah. I think so. The only question is this going to be five years? It can be 20 years, right? mean, we've already seen it's a viable source of power delivery. It's recognized in the code and the, the, ah the number and types of devices that could be powered with a limited energy source.
00:18:21
Speaker
Right. I mean, if you look at a household, a residential household, if you probably three quarters of, of those devices are already DC powered with a, with a, uh, with a, uh, with a circuit board, right? Those are DC.
00:18:35
Speaker
yeah And then it's a great kind ah question, aka because because look at this. I pose this question to some folks. ah we Is this the path for a global standard?
00:18:47
Speaker
Because, right, there's like, what is it, 15 types of plugs for power, all these NEMA plugs. and then But if you go to Tokyo, I had this conversation with Tyler Andrews couple weeks ago. if you If you're in a Marriott in Tokyo and you have Wi-Fi, it's the same as Wi-Fi in Austin, Texas, right? Or if you have Ethernet, that Ethernet plug, IEEE is a global standard.
00:19:12
Speaker
no Yep. The 8P8C or IG45 is a global standard. The ah USB-C is a global standard. I think in Germany, right, they just mandated maybe last year that all new mobile devices are going to have USB-C.
00:19:26
Speaker
And so how do you couple that now with fault managed power, right? So you have fault managed power as a backbone, and then you have POE for the horizontal to end devices. Because then I – Also had this question here about the C 19 plug that you have on a back of appliances, your TVs, right? You could already do that with font managed power.
00:19:51
Speaker
And, um, most people, if they're traveling, they just want USB C for their docking station. So I think that the, a long, the long story short, it's a great discussion. I think this is a technology that could do probably if, if it's not a global standard for everything, it can do a lot.
00:20:10
Speaker
of applications globally. And so, you know, I think about this, you know, going back to that history of NECA and, you know, we have a book that called us, that's said it's it's an old book now, but it came out 20 years ago. it was, it was a hundred years of NECA and it talked about when AC was brand new.
00:20:30
Speaker
They said that, that, you know, there, there's a quote in there that it set the path for rapid change, rapid change, In 1900 is not the same as rapid change in 2020, 2030. Right.
00:20:42
Speaker
So that coupled with the fact that there, there, there's not enough energy to do all these things that we need for electricity. Yes. Specifically for the U S we aren't creating any more energy, but we're putting more demand on the grid. So you think about that plus globally, it's very appealing for this to become this, these limited energy sources, AKA that you mentioned as a as a standard or maybe the first choice.
00:21:10
Speaker
But so the only question is, is the rate of adoption? Yeah, five five five years or 50 years for sure. And I mean, you know, as a both a consumer and manufacturers, the idea of having, you know, global standards for, you know, for power delivery, whether that is in an RJ 45 form factor or USB C form factor.
00:21:31
Speaker
and That's, that's, that's pretty attractive from a supply chain standpoint. and I think we're all, we're all like reeling, you know, with supply chain issues, you know, over the past, the past four or five years. Yeah. If you didn't have to have ah custom solution for every customer across the globe, right. And it's all a C19 plug, for example, C19 team plug,
00:21:53
Speaker
ah from fault managed power and then you put everything with a with a rj forty five it really simplifies the the the process there for sure yeah Totally.
00:22:06
Speaker
I think we're going to get there. And my bet it's less than five years. We'll be at the global adoption. and then And then I think the rate can be dependent on obviously how much the, I think the components and the products needs to change. But I think the global the global adoption should happen in less than five years.
00:22:26
Speaker
don't know what you think, Jeff. Give it a number. Yeah. That range of five or 50 was too long. That's a pretty military big spread. It is spread, but but if you figure 20 years is nothing these days because P.O.E.' are already 20 years old.
00:22:42
Speaker
I always try to make parallels to if I was here during the horse versus automobile era, it would have seemed forever. Now we just think it was a blink and it was gone. ah That was probably a 50-year process for when the automobile totally replaced the horse.
00:22:58
Speaker
Mm-hmm. as a primary, but, but it really only took 10 years for the automobile to replace the horse as the primary mode of transportation. So although that air is claimed as 50 years, it's really only 10 years.
00:23:10
Speaker
and And that was what ah early nineteen hundreds So, and but that's really, yeah i mean, we can look at the U S I'm sure some countries, AK may advance quicker because they probably have fewer barriers or maybe some are, are, are, are improving and they, they, they leap to,
00:23:29
Speaker
fault managed power and PUE versus, I mean, if I look at broadband and know, there were countries like in Asia that had fiber the home long before the U S had, but yeah yet we were so, at so how far advanced with technology, but it was part of the culture change.
00:23:47
Speaker
And, uh, the fact that we had all these telcos and, you know, they had the, the model, right. The base of, uh, lease you that that beige phone all the way to the desktop, right? And and they had you locked in for years. why were what's What's the incentive to and to improve the infrastructure with fiber? change. home Right? And so there are some countries that are probably going to lead the way. I think what we're seeing in Germany with them saying, hey, we we don't need these travelers to have a whole kit of USB cords and adapters. Let's just go with one.
00:24:19
Speaker
So i think when I think that brand part of that cycle of adoption when you have these major brands are adopting is like you have these ah brand names in the U S like the Marriott's are looking at these new technologies, right? So people have a comfort level when they say, okay, they trust it. Maybe I could trust it too. So you see some nations now, Germany, others are going to look at this because it's a, it's not just a cool thing, but the fact that they want the data, yeah right? That, that inherent data, ah
00:24:51
Speaker
Uh, capability is going to be a driver. Plus the fact that it's a, it's a way to find energy. I talked about that too, again, with us. not creating any more energy, how are we going to solve these problems that require a lot of energy?
00:25:06
Speaker
And as being wise with the,
Impact of Technology on Workforce
00:25:08
Speaker
with these solutions. And of course the, the, these end devices that require less power, that's how you find energy. It's like dig it through your pockets and you go, Oh, here's a quarter.
00:25:17
Speaker
Right. So you're going to find it by being ah ah smart ah with how we do these technologies. Yeah. one one One thing you talked about, and I know we use like the, you know, like industrial revolution or, um you know, horses to automobiles a lot in those transitions, there were major disruption to trades.
00:25:42
Speaker
Where do you see, like, do you see, you know, changes or dynamics in the, in the electrical trade today, as far as, you know, skilled workforce and, you know, volume of like new talent coming in and how does, how does that affect this transition from, you know, from AC to DC or to, to limited energy?
00:26:05
Speaker
Yeah, it's a perfect storm of, uh, Think about this. we've we For decades, we've been talking about this lack of interest in trades, right?
00:26:17
Speaker
ah The path to success was a four-year degree, and people people were stepping over themselves to get into debt, to get a degree. and in which and not not And not just electrical, right? Like all trades, like electrical, plumbing, construction. Exactly. and Yeah. Exactly. So now there's this renaissance of trades is a very appealing micro has done a good job right with his thing about this and so so great there's a new interest in trades but not enough workers i mean i uh also look at this book i think it's called the uh it'll come to me but it but it talks about bureau of labor statistics
00:26:58
Speaker
And that the fact that there were six to 7 million working age males in America, they're no longer in the workforce. They're not unemployed. They're not, they're, they're, they're just no longer out there looking or available. to not Not participating. Not participating. Yeah.
00:27:13
Speaker
At the same time, we've had this, all this rapid growth. Right. ah thousand new data centers, plus all these AI data centers, these modular data centers for edge computing.
00:27:24
Speaker
Right. EV charging. Right. And all these technologies and. ah Great. You have interest in trades, but not enough workers. And so how do you recruit them, first of all?
00:27:36
Speaker
And then how do you how do you train them? Because. um I liken it to this as like, ah hey, I love concrete, but we're not in the concrete industry. We're in technology, right? And so yeah it's it's hard to do a formalized cur curriculum in these days in a rapidly advancing industry. So those partnerships with manufacturers like yourselves are so important for that real-time education and training.
00:28:01
Speaker
So it's it's workforce. You know, it's one thing it's recruiting. is It's attracting that the the potential workers. And it's developing them, but also recognize that we can't train them the way that we did it before.
00:28:16
Speaker
um yeah With the advent of automation, plug and play, i I talk about that time when I learned how to splice. Not that long ago, that was a very manual thing. We had this this fusion splicer that fit into a briefcase.
00:28:32
Speaker
and a lot of trial and error, and now it's automated. So the learning curve has been reduced significantly. You add that with plug and play copper and fiber assemblies, right? I think some manufacturers say it takes like it took probably 80% of the labor out, and there's less margin for error. So we don't have to necessarily, yeah, it's good to know those some of those basic steps, but is that necessary if it unnecessarily prolongs them for what's here?
00:29:02
Speaker
You know, i kind of like spending a lot of time on a 66 block. But people don't use 66 blocks for for gig or POE anymore. So it's like it's nice to know, but it's not necessarily ah need to know.
00:29:15
Speaker
And so it's it's attracting them. It's developing them. And you're right, Jason. It's not just like electricians or or or limited energy workers. It's every industry.
00:29:27
Speaker
And um I'm thinking about the truck driver industry, right? How now there's autonomous vehicles going between Dallas and Austin, Texas, right? These are tractor trailers, right?
00:29:40
Speaker
ah You're seeing now with ah pilots, air traffic controls. Now they're talking about virtual air traffic controls. By the way, it solves one problem, but it creates another problem because now you got this mission critical stuff that's on the network, yeah right? Installed by By who? it's It's your guess if they're competent ah to do the work.
00:30:01
Speaker
And then I'm even hearing like physicians. So it's not just trades, even physicians. They're talking about 30,000 upwards to 100,000 physician shortage in the next decade. But also, it's going to open the door for things like virtual, remotely performed surgery. Again, it's another application of the network, and that probably segues into another conversation. It's not just entertainment or voice or data.
00:30:24
Speaker
It's mission-critical applications on the same network that we have today. So, but yeah, it's a great challenge. So, Jeff, if you had one word to the new generation that's joining the electrical force, what would you tell them?
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, it's not your grandfather's electrical for industry, right? I think that the future, that there are some that – I talk about this with some of my recruiting partners. When you talk about esports, the esports community, right? And they say, what's esports? What's gaming community? And and every school every school district is going to have an esports crewome program because it's all-inclusive.
00:31:06
Speaker
And I'm telling them that that that that's a demographic that understands refresh rates, latency, They know what the cloud is. They know what hyperscale data centers are. They just don't know that there is a career field to design them or install it, right, or maintain it. So it's a new targeted outreach to them, right? Again, you don't have to choose to be to face ah shock hazards or arc flash. Maybe you want to work on a computer and do a network configuration, right, just to turn the lights.
00:31:36
Speaker
Maybe you want to do fiber optic cable or work on a 5G system. So it's it's really – it's helping them envision what the electrician is. It's technology. It has not just a circuit boards and transmission lines. It's the cloud.
00:31:53
Speaker
It's a connected cars. Although it's that, it's that it's the infrastructure that supports all those things that they already deal with on a daily basis. So hopefully it's that AKs. It's telling them what it is, but it's also trying to, to reach them early because we have to influence the parents as well.
00:32:12
Speaker
And the school districts, because again, I think that there was an incentive for the school districts to to not talk about trades, because that's what the parents don't want to hear about. Right. So they're driving them to college.
00:32:23
Speaker
And but yet there's this world of opportunity out here that's high paid and it's in demand as critical infrastructure. So it's ah it's a needed culture change. ah a okay But it's that message, I think, that we try to do as as often as we can. Yeah.
00:32:39
Speaker
so So Nika, so the the one takeaway I have, Jeff, is and you guys have you guys have a lot ah on your shoulders from an influence standpoint, right? Like you're influencing um new code ah creation, code adoption, um like outreach to you know to to to you know new people coming into the workforce, getting to parents and schools. Like, is there is there is there anything that I missed or is there anything Nika doesn't do from an influence standpoint?
00:33:09
Speaker
I think that that's, you're right. It it runs the gamut. Like if you go to our headquarters in DC, that's what we're in DC because of the influence of the leadership, whether it's with with governance or codes and standards and outreach, working with the department of labor, you know, one of those things going back to vendor relationships. And it's so important. i look forward to having more discussion with you and to see how we can, we can, cause we, we, we're all in this together. we need,
00:33:38
Speaker
laborers and workers, but we need a competent workforce that's agile and is curious. I think that in recent news, you probably saw that Google and Nikon, IBW and our electrical training lines are collaborating with a lot of education funding because who's going to build all these new data centers?
00:33:58
Speaker
Google is just one, right? there's the There's the meta, there's all these other uh, data centers, right? There's a, even a, uh, American tower who's built Taylor towers. They're going to do a thousand micro data centers for edge computing. So you need people to build that you need to train them. So there, there's some, a partnership there to help recruit and to help train. And so people may not know what the national electrical contractors association is, but they said, Oh, I've heard of Google.
00:34:29
Speaker
I've heard of Cisco. I've heard of that. Right.
Role of Podcasts in Industry Education
00:34:31
Speaker
And so we collaborate and it's like, okay, we, we try to work together to, to recruit and develop and retain them for the long, for the longterm.
00:34:41
Speaker
And part of that initiative, Jeff, is tell the audience about you know you're your journey into your own podcast that you created and how you're trying to amplify this message using this type of platform to get everybody to basically get educated on you know what you do and how does the association actually drive membership and and education, et cetera.
00:35:03
Speaker
Yes, it's look at every every avenue you can to get that message out. Yeah, I'd mentioned whether it's one person in an elevator or at at the ballpark, but it's like it's the it's the method that you get that out there.
00:35:15
Speaker
We have we have ah printed magazines. We have the Electrical Contractor magazine with like almost 90,000 subscribers or readers. ah We also have a line magazine and um safety magazine. But even that, like any other...
00:35:31
Speaker
publication is looking at, okay, is paper or printed the future? So we have an opportunity, like many them, in transition from printed to electronic to now it's like, you know what? Everything's electronic because that's what people want to see because they don't, they're overwhelmed with stuff in their mailbox and they want it in a digital format.
00:35:50
Speaker
But also with but the podcast, I mean, it's like in our society where sure there are there are some statistics about this, but we joke about how ah at least in the U S I think most of the youth want to become a social media influencer, but the you' you're, you're, you're going to be as you're a social media influencer now, Jeff, right? oh I guess maybe you influence two or 2 million, you're influencer, right?
00:36:19
Speaker
So, so that's the medium that we need. So it's just another medium to get the message out, whether it's technical learning or telling people about the industry. Right. and I think that, you know, the,
00:36:32
Speaker
One of the things we talk about AK is like, man, it'd be great to get in front of the gaming community. Again, those those tech savvy candidates, ah no matter their gender or where they come from, it it's about their...
00:36:49
Speaker
their, their intellect is not really climbing a ladder or carrying heavy equipment. It's intellect and curiosity and, and doing these things. So yeah, the podcast is just another way to get the, uh, the learning out there, but also recognizing even for, for their ongoing education, these podcasts are so huge.
00:37:09
Speaker
I mean, I'm at the gym and I'm no longer listening to like the ACDCs or the, uh, ah Freedom Rock, like my parents would listen to. It's podcast, technical stuff, because we're so busy.
00:37:19
Speaker
And then the the other thing, A.K., and I look forward to to your perspective here. I love long format podcast, but see, like in and out, these micro lessons are are what the attention span is, at least in America, you know, so it's always being agile.
00:37:39
Speaker
right How do you get the message to the people? And I love that you you mentioned that there are stats that help you. The numbers don't lie. right It's like, okay, we need to shift and do all audio only or or this duration is what we want. So it's it's um it's just, again, in the future, whether it's learning new technology or learning how to get the message to the masses, it's it's it's agility.
Closing Remarks and Promotions
00:38:03
Speaker
Absolutely. And where do where can people find this podcast? Yeah. Yeah, they can find it out there on NikaNet.org. There's a page for system integration. It's right there. It's called ah Podcast. It's connectivity powered by Nika.
00:38:18
Speaker
We have some other channels. You probably see it on on LinkedIn, some YouTube, Vimeo, things like that. And ah probably need to expand the channels that we put that out there too.
00:38:29
Speaker
And also this cross-promotion. yeah Yeah, that's excellent, Jeff. And we'll we'll um we'll definitely add a link to the show notes to the Connectivity podcast. um So thanks thanks again for coming on today. i think there are probably a lot of our listeners that maybe don't know about the mission of NECA. So hopefully this is good for everybody to you know to get up to speed on the mission, the mission of NECA.
00:38:52
Speaker
and And we're looking forward to seeing you. I think ah By the time this airs, we will probably have all seen each other at RealCom in Savannah.
00:39:03
Speaker
ah So thanks thanks again for coming on, Jeff. And everybody out there, don't forget to to like and subscribe. ah Check out the show notes where we'll have lots of information around the Connectivity Podcast by NECA and the ah the National Electrical Contractors Association in general.