A 5-week course and a guaranteed job: Meta commits $115 million to solve the skilled-trades shortage stalling its AI build-out

Trade jobs are the future, and Meta knows it. The company is launching an initiative called America’s Workforce Academy to train data center technicians in partnership with commercial real estate giant CBRE; Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction trade association; and civil rights organization National Urban League. 

Meta is committing $115 million this year to provide free training and a guaranteed job upon the program’s completion. The company is covering all the costs for the five-week program, from tuition to housing to a daily training stipend. No prior experience is necessary, and the training is open to everyone from recent grads to people making a career pivot. 

“America’s Workforce Academy is our commitment to building that workforce with the same ambition and long-term thinking we bring to the technology itself,” said Rachel Peterson, Meta’s vice president of data centers. “America needs hundreds of thousands of skilled tradespeople—electricians, mechanics, fiber technicians, and more—and this program creates clear, accessible pathways into those careers.”

The initiative comes as Americans debate the increasingly unpredicta...