Data Centers Are Booming and Pipe Welders Are in Demand — Here's How to Get In

Data Centers Are Booming and Pipe Welders Are in Demand — Here's How to Get In

From The Lost Art Of the Skilled Trades by Andrew Brown

May 12, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the growing demand for welders in the U.S. and the UA Welder Finishing School program that helps pipe welders gain certification quickly.

The U.S. needs 320,000 more welders by 2029 — and data centers are accelerating the shortage. UA Training Specialist Bob Derby joins Andrew Brown. There's a program most people in the trades have never heard of: the UA Welder Finishing School. It takes pipe welders with existing skills — from trade schools, non-union shops, or plant work — and gets them UA-certified and dispatched to a job in 8 weeks or less. At no cost to the individual. Meanwhile, data centers are creating a surge in piping and welding work that shows no sign of slowing. The labor market is wide open — and the UA wants to fill it. Bob Derby is a UA Training Specialist with nearly 30 years in the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry. He came up through the apprenticeship as a pipe welder, earned his certified welding inspector credentials, became an instructor, and eventually trained UA members across the country as a regional and national instructor. He now leads workforce development efforts and helped build the UA Welder Finishing School program. If you're a pipe welder working non-union and wondering whether the UA is an option — or a young person trying…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Brown

Guest: Bob Derby

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry

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