How to Become an Intel Semiconductor Technician in 10 Days

^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

When Lisa Strothers, 36, was laid off from her mortgage industry job in April of last year, the Arizona-based single mom wasn’t sure what to do next.

A few weeks later, she told Insider, she received an email about the “Quick Start” program — a 10-day crash course on how to be a semiconductor processing technician. The program, the product of a new partnership between major semiconductor companies — notably Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — and three community colleges in Arizona’s Maricopa County, was looking for applicants to take part in a test pilot version of the program that June.

Strothers, who has a Bachelor’s degree in film and media studies and a Master’s in human services, said she wasn’t very familiar with the semiconductor industry at the time. She decided to apply because the program appeared to be open to a wide range of candidates, and she was guaranteed an interview with a semiconductor company if she successfully completed the course. It was also convenient that the program was set to be held at Mesa Community College (only a 15-minute drive from her home) and she wasn’t working, which made the two-week, four-hours-per-day commitment feel manageable.

“They let you know in that email, ‘You do not have to have experience. We’re going to train you. We’re going to provide you with the basics that you need,'” she said. “So that’s what intrigued me and made me move forward, because it was like, ‘Okay, this is a chance to get into the tech field without having any experience.'”

She applied, went through a virtual interview process, learned she had been selected, and started soon after. Since officially kicking off in July, over 600 students have taken part in the program at one of three Maricopa County community colleges (MCCC).

The program’s recent origins — and brevity — reflect the growing demand for US workers in the semiconductor industry. Last summer, President Biden signed into law the Chips and Science Act, which included over $52 billion in semiconductor subsidies to bolster supply chains and reduce the US’s dependence on China and Taiwan.

The legislation has helped spur the building of US factories that produce the semiconductor chips that power everything from iPhones to cars to washing machines. But in the US, the center of the industry is Arizona, the nation’s leader in semiconductor investment and the home to two of the three largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world: Intel and TSMC. Since February of 2021, 24 semiconductor-related companies have announced plans to expand or relocate their operations in Arizona, per Axios.

Programs like the one enrolled in by Strothers are designed to address a shortage of skilled workers. Deloitte estimates that the industry could face a shortfall of 70,000 to 90,000 workers over the next few years — something that’s already caused the opening of a TSMC facility to be delayed until 2025.

On cue, community colleges and universities across the country are partnering with chipmakers like Intel, TSMC, Micron, and GlobalFoundries to try and close the gap. The Quick Start program’s website says that semiconductor companies will hire over 20,000 workers in Arizona in the coming years.

^{A Quick Start program class Cesar Becerra}

How to become a semiconductor technician in 10 days

In addition to a $15 registration fee, the tuition for the 10-day MCCC course is $291. But the tuition isn’t paid up front, and any Arizona resident who successfully passes the course has their tuition fully covered by grant funding — non-residents are partially covered. Costs are subject to changes in future grant funding, an MCCC representative noted.

Strothers said that most of the 15 to 20 students in her class — which consisted entirely of women — didn’t have any tech background. The test pilot group was sourced by Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, a Phoenix-based nonprofit, in collaboration with MCCC.

As of June, 66% of students who enrolled in the program have been people of color, one-third have been women, and nearly half have been between the ages of 18 and 29, according to MCCC data.

Strothers said the 10-day course consisted of a mix of lecturing and hands-on experience, and that all of her instructors were Intel employees, which provided valuable firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to work in the semiconductor industry.

In lectures, she said she learned about the specific role semiconductor processing technicians play in the manufacturing process. During the hands-on portion, students put on “bunny suits” — garments used to minimize contaminants — and practiced performing troubleshooting on a variety of tools in a simulation fab.

^{Lisa Strothers Lisa Strothers via BI}

The course concluded at the end of the two weeks with a final exam, which Strothers said had written and hands-on components. She passed the exam and received her program…