Tulsa Tech Instructor Urges More to Join Oklahoma's Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturing and machinist are listed as some of the top 100 most critical jobs in the state of Oklahoma, according to Workforce Oklahoma, yet there is still a shortage of workers.

The industry continues to grow, with many manufacturing and machinist jobs available across the state, but the number of workers is still trying to catch up to the demand.

It's a message that Aaron Polliard, the machining instructor at Tulsa Tech, believes to be true.

"Manufacturing is definitely coming back to the United States," Polliard said.

Polliard sees the need for more people in the industry.

"We have a lot of people retiring and aging out, and so right now, as the coordinator of the machining program, I have more job offers in my email that I have students in the program," Polliard said.

He hopes students like Jaime Balderas will show others the different paths that are possible with this job.

"You don’t really know where you’re going to end up, honestly, because of how many things you can do," Balderas said.

Things like welding, supervising machine parts, working with cars, or even aerospace. There are many options available for people in the industry.

Nathanual Brown recently started training at Tulsa Tech in Broken Arrow. He said he isn't worried about finding a job wherever life takes him.

"I know the want for the position is worldwide. There are several countries that are looking for people in this business, and there’s not enough of us; therefore, we need more people," Brown said.

Manufacturing has a hand in so many things we use on a daily basis. Polliard said the world as we know it would not exist without manufacturing.

"It has an aspect and controls just about everything we do," Polliard said.

The jobs are there, but it's the career people need to find.