{"id":400662,"date":"2026-07-16T12:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/400662\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:05:11","slug":"one-of-the-most-sought-after-jobs-in-the-city-of-ai-elevator-technician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/400662\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the most sought after jobs in the city of AI? Elevator technician."},"content":{"rendered":"

San Francisco\u2019s old buildings give the city a lot of its charm. But with age, things break, and with older buildings, the infrastructure that breaks down most frequently is often the elevator \u2014\u00a0so much so that one of the most in-demand workers here is the certified elevator electrician.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a\u00a0trade that, nationally,\u00a0pays over six-figures and, locally, pays $130,000 a year on average. Along with construction managers, elevator technicians are among the best-paid trades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And San Francisco is the most lucrative market in the country, said Greg Hardeman, business secretary of IUEC Local 8, San Francisco\u2019s elevator technician union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hardeman calls\u00a0San Francisco\u2019s old-world charm its Achilles heel. The technology the city used 100 years ago in its elevators is now antiquated. Replacement parts are in short supply. So are elevator technicians with expertise in the old mechanisms. Few technicians means higher demand, and higher salaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re almost like the SEAL Team 6 of the trades because we do everything, everywhere. If it moves people, we deal with it,\u201d said Mike Moore, an elevator technician instructor for over 35 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elevator technicians pull wires, align rails, and weld brackets, work typically associated with ironworkers. They also install door jambs and hang doors on tracks, work that falls under the carpenter trade.<\/p>\n

San Francisco and New York generate a lot of elevator work due to the sheer number and age of their buildings. That means both cities have the most competitive and sought-after elevator apprenticeship programs in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn San Francisco, elevators have been around forever. We\u2019re pushing our 125th anniversary next year, but we\u2019ve been putting elevators in probably longer than 130 years,\u201d Hardeman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The demand for seasoned technicians is at an all-time high, said Hardeman. He noticed a recent uptick in enrollment in the city\u2019s apprenticeship program, especially in April, the latest application period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took 750 applications and filled them up pretty quickly \u2014 in under a minute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Qualifying as an elevator technician in San Francisco isn\u2019t quite as competitive as becoming a power forward for the Warriors, but competition is keen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaun Sweeney, 32, a recent enrollee in the apprenticeship program, said he had applied during every application cycle for the past 12 years before finally being accepted into Local 8, one of the 350 technicians accepted into the apprenticeship program for the union\u2019s northern California chapter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only met a couple people who\u2019ve had the long process that I did, but I think the perseverance over those 12 years was what really set me apart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sweeney said school was never for him. His mother died after he graduated from high school and he inherited her home. The change prompted him to quit his job as a lifeguard and become a carpenter, to honor his mother and maintain the house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are fewer than 20,000 elevator technicians nationwide and only 1,400 in all of Northern California, so being among the 350 applicants who passed the initial round makes you part of a tight-knit community.<\/p>\n

\"AFrank Capley-Alfano, a San Francisco elevator technician, working on the Hamilton building\u2019s 100-year-old elevator in the Tenderloin on July 13, 2026. Photo by Hamza Fahmy\"AFrank Capley-Alfano, a San Francisco elevator technician, working on the Hamilton building\u2019s 100-year-old elevator in the Tenderloin on July 13, 2026. Photo by Hamza Fahmy<\/p>\n

Moore, 77, comes from a family of tradesmen in Daly City. His father was a lifelong elevator technician in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, Moore thought about joining the trade, but his dad said he\u2019d break both of his son\u2019s legs if he ever followed in his footsteps. His \u201cheart\u2019s intent\u201d was to go to medical school anyway, and he ended up earning a degree in biochemistry from U.C. Berkeley.<\/p>\n

When he couldn\u2019t find a job as a biochemist, he hired on as a retail clerk at Value Giant at 22nd and Mission streets.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s even tougher now. Reports<\/a> show entry-level hiring has been collapsing nationwide this past year as the rise of AI has impacted traditional career starting points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Moore had trouble getting hired in the 1970s, his dad asked, \u201c\u2018Why don\u2019t you become an elevator man?\u2019 I go, \u2018Because I want both my legs.\u2019 And he laughed and he said, \u2018No, I just wanted to make sure you went to school,\u2019\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Little\u00a0did he know he was ahead of the curve, as skilled trade jobs are now on the rise nationwide. According to LinkedIn<\/a>, construction is the fastest-growing industry in 2026 for new college graduates.<\/p>\n

Moore became an elevator technician with IUEC Local 8 and has been an instructor for aspiring technicians at the local trade school on Potrero Hill since the \u201990s. It is one of only two trade schools in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Becoming certified takes four to five years. Applicants only need a high school diploma to qualify for the program, but having more experience in the trades does help applicants get accepted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sweeney said a lot of acquaintances have asked him about his career plans. \u201cThere\u2019s people calling me that I would have never expected to call me who want to make the switch,\u201d Sweeney said. Moore says job security is another reason the union is so competitive to get into.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, Moore\u2019s son was laid off less than a year into his first job after graduating from UCLA with an M.B.A. Moore soon convinced both his son and his son-in-law to join him in the elevator technician trade.<\/p>\n

Despite the convenience and flexibility of remote work in other occupations, Moore puts more value in being\u00a0\u201cirreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you realize you\u2019re kind of shooting yourself in the foot?\u201d he said of stay-at-home remote workers.\u00a0\u201cBecause if you can stay at home and work, then somebody in India can do your work for cheaper. And that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen. If your elevator breaks down, they\u2019re not going to outsource a broken elevator to India. They\u2019re going to require somebody to come in and look at the elevator in person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close-upLogo of I.U.E.C Local 8, San Francisco\u2019s designated elevator technician union. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco\u2019s old buildings give the city a lot of its charm. But with age, things break, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[845,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-400662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-labor","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}