Working in the Fastest Growing Profession

Updated on October 12, 2016

Humanity has been onto wind power—that is, using wind for pumps and mills—for centuries. But in more recent decades, industrial turbines have been built to generate electricity on a much greater scale: Between 2004 and 2009, wind power grew by nearly 40 percent in the U.S. Yet the industry remains niche: Wind power only accounts for 4 percent of the electricity generated in the country. There’s certainly room for growth, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a very optimistic outlook for the technicians who maintain and fix turbines: It is estimated to be the fastest growing profession in the U.S. in the next decade.

Vestas is a Danish wind-turbine manufacturer with over 57,000 wind turbines in 75 countries. The company has over 16,000 turbines and employs 5,100 workers to build, maintain, operate and repair its turbines in North America. George Myers was a stay-at-home dad in Limon, Colorado, but when his children left for college Myers found a new career in wind power. For , I talked to Myers about how he managed that transition, what it’s like working in a booming industry, and what it takes to be a wind