Bridging Technology and Talent In the Age of AI: Expanding the Talent Pipeline through Semiconductor Apprenticeships

Cory Johnson:
We joined right now by Mike Russo. He is the CEO of the National Institute for Industry and Career Advancement. Mike, glad to have you, give me 10 seconds.

Mike Russo:
We are focused on making sure strategic industry sectors have what they need to continue to innovate. Our major focus is really the development of the nation’s talent pipeline to support those sectors. So think of tech-based industries and advanced manufacturing and the supply chain needed to support them, broadening that supply chain. So that’s really our main focus.

Cory Johnson:
Yeah, it’s so interesting, the problems in finding… We’re in this wonderful era right now where we’ve had super, super low unemployment, and yet the weakest sector for unemployment has been the strongest sector for the last 10 or 20 years in general, which is technology.

Mike Russo:
Yeah, that’s true. Well, if you think of the proliferation of technology and just how it’s growing and expanding, you can imagine it’s natural that you’re going to need a workforce. But if you think of what’s been happening through the education system, both from a K-12 preparedness for STEM-related fields, whether it’s interest or whatever, as well as a rising cost of college, you could understand why there’d be an imbalance there.

Cory Johnson:
You don’t have to tell me. I got three going to college next year, another one in the pipeline. And it is also interesting how you get the mixed levels of outcomes. You have a lot of colleges that are very expensive, but the people come out of there with degrees that don’t have the value that the same degree might have from an elite institution. And then of course, you’ve got so many people who aren’t getting that opportunity to get an elite four-year post high school education, and yet the jobs in the tech industry, I feel like that’s right where your sweet spot of getting workers ready to work in tech.

Mike Russo:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think you hit the nail right on the head there is that A, there’s a shortage of talent. B, there’s fewer people that can pursue those types of degrees. And then how do you make sense of that? So that’s really the foundational element, one of the foundational elements of our strategy. So what we’re really working on, we also have the National Center for Skills-Based Learning within the institute. So what we’re really focused on is leverage in the existing K-12 system, career and technical education, community college system, but also importantly registered apprenticeships designed for those industries so people can actually pursue those careers without having that degree. Sure, they can go back and get the degree to go up the ladder, but that’s really a foundational pillar of our strategy, getting more people into the pipeline without having to write the big check.

Cory Johnson:
So to really be that fulcrum point from say a high school education to a job working on some level at a semiconductor fab and maybe moving on from that.

Mike Russo:
Absolutely. So for example, a part of the strategy is we’re, throughout the nation, starting, we call it our Gateway Apprenticeship Program. It’s GAP, but basically it’s a pre-apprenticeship program. So as we roll that out to the career technical education centers around the country, students that graduate from those career technical education programs in high school will have already checked some of the foundational boxes they need to pursue those careers. And through our infrastructure, National Talent Hub, by the way, is something you should look at on our website, but through that infrastructure, they can transition seamlessly right into those careers and already have some of those skills needed. And if they do that through a registered apprenticeship, which we sponsor, they’re able to actually start further up that ladder and get credit for what they’ve already learned of value to the employer more quickly and also really focus on filling the gaps that they might have, not have to relearn things.

Cory Johnson:
I think about this sometimes when I talk to people who are in the military and trying to imagine transition from the military into a domestic life and corporate life, and thinking about those skillsets that came from skills learned in the military, while those might translate, what are the skillsets that you’re talking about that people might have that would translate with a little bit of education into tech that people don’t know are tech skills?

Mike Russo:
Yeah, that’s a very good point. So that’s another pillar. So we were working on… You think about diversity, more people in the system. I mentioned K-12, everybody goes to school. So there’s diversity built right in, broadened the pipeline. Returning service members is one of the three other pillars. Those folks that come out of the military, hydraulics, pneumatics, statistics, process control, problem solving, troubleshooting, leadership skills, showing up on time.

Cory Johnson:
Showing up on time.

Mike Russo:
Yeah.

Cory Johnson:
On time is late. That’s a skill.

Mike Russo:
You laugh, but it’s true. So they bring really some strong foundational skills. The challenge was initially when we were looking at it is that the MOS is the… Different branches of the service have different MOS’ they’re called. And we were trying to figure out how to map that. We ended up coming up in our system, in National Talent Hub, doesn’t make any difference where you’ve acquired the skillset, you can come in, establish a profile in that system. It will read where you came from, what you know and match you to the current. It’s a dynamic system, the current needs of industry.

It also aligns curriculum from all the various providers of training and education in real time. It’s a dynamic system aligns training. So think about the veteran or the individual, the adult looking to map a career education, think about the employer with the job requirements and think about whoever provides the training, it in real time aligns them. So those veterans come out, instead of getting ghosted because they don’t have five years of specific advanced manufacturing skill, they actually can leverage it and get respect for what they have learned and go right into those programs.

Cory Johnson:
I want to talk about the CHIPS Act and I want to talk about AI. Let’s start with CHIPS Act. How does the $50 billion going in to encourage semiconductor companies to build plants in America through all kinds of tax breaks and incentives and RD credits and so on. How does the CHIPS Act and the construction of fabrication facilities in the United States change the game for what you’re doing?

Mike Russo:
Yeah, so it’s interesting. So on one note, it’s really powerful and really good that the US has that form of industrial policy and funding behind it. So it’s an awakening from a nation perspective. Really good. It’s an important very strategic industry sector, as I’m sure you know. The flip side of that is whenever you offer funding, people come out of the woodwork to submit proposals, “Fund me. Fund me. I’ll develop this. I will do that.” So inherently over fragmentation of efforts and people oftentimes will offer to develop something that may have already been developed. We’re a 501C3. We’ve developed what we have with federal funding. We’re the US Department of Labor’s national intermediary for innovative policy-based registered apprenticeships for semiconductor, nanotech sector, supply chain. That’s all funded.

So those funds should be spent in the same area, same regions, but to deploy, not develop. So it’s really interesting. There’s this awakening funding being spent, by the way, it’s really not that much. You say 52 billion. 52,000 million, whoa. Right? Let me tell you, 39 billion, that goes out the door to build fabs. Then the remaining 13 billion or whatever is research and workforce. Everybody’s supposed to have workforce part of their proposals. It’s really not that much money. We absolutely are combating fragmentation and helping regions to know how to best deploy and not develop. But it’s very interesting, very interesting. A good problem to have, I guess.

Cory Johnson:
Yeah. Well, look, it’s a good thing to get our workers ready for the next generation, and it’s here. And AI’s here too. And I think that we see so many second derivative, third derivative impacts of AI. I wonder in terms of the entry-level workforce, because I think that’s what we’re talking about here. What does AI mean for entry-level workers and preparing them for jobs to work in AI?

Mike Russo:
Yeah, I would say entry-level technicians of all levels, even lower-level engineers, let’s say technicians. So it’s a really interesting dynamic because if you think about artificial intelligence, and by the way, if you ask 10 people about their definition of artificial, you probably get 10 different definitions. But if you just think about it conceptually, there’s no doubt over time some of the existing workforce will be replaced because of artificial intelligence and what those capabilities are. But there’s also additional jobs that will be created because of… It’s almost like when you went to automated fabs. People say, “Gee, you build an automated fab. There goes all the people that used to run the carts around with the wafers. Now it’s all on a track.”

No, you still have 3000 workers, 2000 or technicians. They’re just deployed differently. So I think that there’s the foundational translational skills that are needed across technicians in advanced manufacturing and tech. That foundation will remain. It’s some of the other skills. Think of the little bit higher level skills or differentiators that we’ll need to prepare the workforce in. So I think there’ll be a shifting in the workforce. We need to realize what’s going to be going away and realize what we need to focus on. But importantly, which is again, a pillar of our strategy, make sure that we build those broad population with those foundational translational skills. I think the other flip side… Go ahead.

Cory Johnson:
Go ahead. No, please.

Mike Russo:
I was going to say, the flip side of artificial intelligence is really how will it impact education? Think about rural communities or people that don’t have access to this classroom, and you think about how 3D is already being leveraged in training and education, put you right in with whatever you’re working on or the application that you’re building or deploying. Think about what artificial intelligence can do also. So there’s really two sides to the AI coin, the way I look at.

Cory Johnson:
What’d you think of… There was a story in the Wall Street Journal. I started to read it online on Monday, I didn’t finish it. The physical paper came out on Tuesday. I did finish it, but it was an interesting piece about people. It started with how to change your resume and make it look ready for AI. But then it started with training and talking about getting the necessary tools and stating your past experiences as if they were AI experiences or the AI worthy credits of the things that people have done in the past. And I wonder what you thought of that piece or that idea of recasting your resume in terms of AI.

Mike Russo:
I have mixed feelings about that. That’s like chasing the cat around the yard. I think that being able to convey that you have those strong foundational skills required across all, any form of tech… Now you were talking about technician, this is our focus, not design and engineering. If you can articulate that you have those strong foundational skills that can be applied to AI, I think that is more practical, especially as we’re in an era where we’re even defining AI. So I’m not going to agree or disagree with the article. I’m not going to go there. But I do think there is something to be said for really having those strong foundational skills and being able to articulate them in a way that they apply to the tech sector, whether it be semiconductor, whether it be biomanufacturing, any form of nanotechnology, et cetera, because they will apply to NI, or excuse me, AI.

Cory Johnson:
Let me ask you lastly, what is the biggest change you think, and the ability of people to use AI to both train themselves and get themselves ready and their presentation of their work ready, of their careers ready to work in AI?

Mike Russo:
So in the presentation piece, can you imagine how someone will be able to go in front of a screen, make their presentation, make their pitch, develop their application online, and then have AI take it and refine it and play it back to you on how you can tweak that and get it ready for showtime. It’s interesting when you see now about how some of the applications that they’re talking about, you don’t even know who you’re talking to anymore. When you hear somebody online, did they really say it, right? Geez, that has to be them. It looks just like them. Well, that same technology can be used when you’re developing your presentation, your presentation skills, as well as if you’re developing design or applications, et cetera. I think the sky’s the limit. I think it’s really going to be endless moving forward on how you can refine what you present, whether it be operationally, whether it be from a design or from an education or an actual presentation.

Cory Johnson:
It’s a fascinating time to enter into tech.

Mike Russo:
Absolutely. I think it’s just moving so quickly and actually AI is at the point where it’s actually improving itself as quickly as we can sit here and talk about it. I don’t know how you keep up with that. And that’s another reason why it doesn’t make sense to try to keep your resume up with it. Make sure you have those strong skills and the attributes needed to succeed in that new world.

Cory Johnson:
He’s Mike Russo, the CEO of the National Institute for Industry and Career Advancement. Thanks for your time.

Mike Russo:
Thank you. Great talking to you.