The Global Electronics Association is Paving a “Seamless” Pathway to a Dream Job

In the spring of 2026, four astronauts on the Artemis II mission showed the world that shooting for the moon is always a worthwhile goal. That’s a lesson Charlotte Newell, a one-time barber and Habitat for Humanity volunteer, learned early in her electronics career.

Newell, now an IPC-credentialed technician and cable design engineer at aerospace company Intuitive Machines, used her IPC certifications—industry credentials administered by the Global Electronics Association—and community college coursework to pursue a job in the aerospace industry, even before earning her college degree. Since beginning her journey with IPC training in soldering and cable harness assembly, Newell has worked as a space suit technician and helped build the lunar landing IM-2 Athena, which launched in 2025 and completed the southernmost lunar landing ever achieved.

It’s a dream job for the former barber, who attended space camp as a child, but never knew there was a path to the industry available to her.

“I never thought I’d be here,” Newell says. “It was really intimidating for me to even think about going into aerospace, imagining all these smart people I’d be working with. Then, by taking my classes and then later getting my IPC certifications, it was seamless.”

Sending a lunar lander to space might not be the first thing jobseekers think of when they consider a career in electronics—but in fact, it’s hard to find any career path that doesn’t rely on electronics in some way. “The electronics industry has been important for a long time, but today it is essential in today’s world, literally every single industry,” says John Mitchell, CEO of Global Electronics Association, which supports the health and growth of the $6 trillion electronics industry by ensuring both the supply and worker pipelines stay strong.

Electronics, Mitchell says, is at the heart of the technology that powers our ordinary lives, and now represents more than $1 of every $5 in global merchandise trade. And at a moment where entry-level jobs are in drastic decline—early-career job postings are down by 35% since early 2025, the World Economic Forum reports—electronics remains a field with multiple entry points for degree-holders and non-degree-holders alike, and a projected 7% job growth by 2034—much faster than the average across occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“There’s just so many opportunities…I couldn’t name the amount of jobs just off the top of my head if I wanted to,” says Emily Daley, a 2026 electrical engineering graduate of Michigan Technological University. Daley joined the Global Electronics Association as an undergraduate, eventually becoming chapter president; after graduating in April of 2026, she transitioned immediately into a product engineering role at a manufacturer specializing in thermal management.

Wanted: changing perspectives in changing times

While Daley, Newell, and Tarman credit the field and the Association for connecting them with in-demand career opportunities, employers have their own motivation: bring new voices and experiences into the workforce to support innovation and advancement in the field.

“As a company, we have a lot of people that have been around the industry for a really long time,” says Jack Fischer, senior vice president at Intuitive Machines, where Newell worked on the lunar lander. “A lot of very young people that are coming in new to the industry—we can teach them all the lessons learned. They can teach us why some of those lessons don’t apply anymore.”

Other employers echo that point of view—Meredith LeBeau, chief technology officer at Michigan’s Calumet Electronics, says that today’s elementary school students can identify AI usage better than some of her in-house engineers, because the technology has been part of their entire lives. That’s why the Association is partnering with stakeholders across the country to create access points throughout the education and exploration process, from scholarships and certifications to mentorship and Registered Apprenticeships.

As workers like Newell prove, with foundational training and certification in electronics, the sky really is the limit. Although in her case, it’s more like near space. Following her work on the lunar lander—which she and all the Intuitive Machines team members signed before launch—she’s now designing and drafting cable harness for the company’s first data relay satellite, Altus One, expected to launch on the IM-3 mission in late 2026.

“I never thought aerospace was for me,” Newell says. “But now that I’m here, I feel like it’s somewhere I should have always been. And my name is on the moon.”