Video Game-Like Tech Draws Younger, More Skeptical Workforce to Construction
By Construction Dive's author, Jenn Goodman
Mittie Cannon, founder of an Alabama nonprofit construction training program for girls, knows that a job in the trades offers many perks: good pay, job satisfaction, the ability to work as part of a team and opportunities for advancement. But those incentives are not always enough to attract young women to the construction industry, which they see as dirty, tiring work that’s more appropriate for men.
Interactive technology is helping to change their minds. Through support from local businesses and ABC chapters, Cannon’s Power UP Loud program offers weekly workshops in middle schools focused on topics like plumbing, electrical and site work. In addition to traditional training, the girls experience the industry via simulators and VR headsets that mimic some of today’s most popular video games like Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console and the Sony PlayStation.