Nation's Fastest-Growing Job Only for Those Who Like to Get High
- Demand for wind turbine technicians outpacing health and tech
- Companies competing to hire students before they graduate
The Colorado Highlands Wind Farm in Fleming, Colorado, on May 5, 2016.
Photographer: Matthew Staver/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Sean Fritzler snapped his 13-pound climbing harness onto a metal cable and clambered 260 rungs up four ladders to the top of a wind turbine as tall as the observation deck on the Statue of Liberty’s crown.
Fritzler reveled in the lofty solitude afforded by the nation’s fastest-growing occupation as he popped open the nacelle hatch. The 15-by-30-foot space was crammed with equipment that makes electricity from wind captured by blades that sweep a vertical area as long as a soccer field. He vaulted up top, clicked an industrial-sized carabiner to a pipe, and stood to take in the 360-degree view. Below, black cows looked like ants.