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A t age 25, Joey Smith has a thriv- ing career in construction and is already serving as an advocate to help other young people get into the industry and climb the ladder. Smith is a project administrator at Great Falls Construction in Gorham and chair of the steering committee of the Emerging Contractors Group, a group of young lead- ers in the construction industry. "I'm two-and-a-half years out of school and working full-time and comfortable with where I'm at financially," he says. "You find your niche in construction, and you can do well." Beyond stereotypes Communicating all of the opportunities in construction and related trades can be a chal- lenge. Many people stereotype the industry as hard labor. But pathways abound, says Matthew Marks, CEO of Associated General Contractors of Maine in Augusta. Finance graduates, for example, "prob- ably think there's no place for them in construction," Marks says. "But there is. They can be part of an estimating team or finance department." Also appealing? The ability to chart individual paths and leverage diverse train- ing programs. "There's no ceiling," he continues. "We've seen people learn a trade like welding, then becoming project managers and some- times owners." Teamwork can be attractive. "People coming from high school or col- lege who were part of a band or athletics or a club and enjoyed that team camaraderie – you get that with construction," he says. "It's kind of unique. You have a timeline and all of the cogs in the wheel have to come together. There's a lot of helping each other out." The industry is also intellectually engag- ing. Take trench-digging. "There's a science to how you dig a trench and where you place the material and what kind of material you put in the trench to support what you're installing," Marks says. "It's not just digging a hole." C o n s t r u c t i o n / T r a d e s P H O T O / T I M G R E E N W A Y Great Falls Construction Project Administrator Joey Smith has a thriving career in construction at age 25. W O R K F O R M E / S P R I N G 2 0 2 1 8 Construction companies want to help build careers B Y L A U R I E S C H R E I B E R business is building The BOOM ING