Maybe this is your story as well. You’re 18 or 19 years old and just not sure what you are going to do for the rest of your life. You try a few things — maybe some college, a job opening a buddy tells you about, or travel to another state to see what that’s about.
That was Cal Blair’s experience.
“I got out of high school and did about a year of college,” he says. “College wasn’t for me, so I bounced around doing a bunch of different things. Then I thought maybe I should go to Los Angeles where my father lived. It’s pretty out there. But I needed to make some money before I could go. A friend knew of a small commercial electrical company that was looking for somebody to work in the shop for a couple of weeks.” 
Cal took that job at SRT Electric and after those couple of weeks, he was ready to go to California. The company was pleased with his work and said if he changed his mind about settling in California, they would love to have him back.
“I went out to California and after a week I realized while it’s a great place to visit, I really didn’t want to live there,” he remembers. “I came back to Colorado and took SRT up on their offer. I had no electrical experience and no thought or desire that this was what I wanted to do. But, once I got into it, one of the things that really drove me and kept me going was that this trade is not just physical; it has a mental side. There’s a lot of thought, there’s a lot of planning, there’s a lot of knowledge, there’s a lot of math. I was always really good at math and problem solving. So those things interested me. It was easy to stay focused because you were constantly learning.”
Cal credits a good group of people surrounding him in those early years, and he especially credits a ‘really good journeyman’ for helping him. He spoke up about his desire to go to school and after a few years, SRT agreed to put him in the IEC Apprenticeship Program through IEC Rocky Mountain.
“I took school extremely seriously,” Cal says. “I was fortunate to start class with two years of experience, so at the end of my second year, I took my journeyman’s test and passed it. I went back to school for my third year. The end of third year, I took my master’s exam and passed it. When I went to school in the fourth year, a lot of people asked ‘why are you going for fourth year? You have a higher license than your instructor.’ I said it’s because I enjoy it. My instructor knows stuff that I don’t know, and I want to learn more.”
Cal was top student at IEC all four years, and he competed in the wire-off — the very first one at Rocky Mountain IEC. He won the local and was invited to the National competition.
“I won the local here in Denver and I got an all-expense paid trip to Denver, because that’s where nationals were that year,” he laughs.
Effort and proven performance earned him more that the local trip, though. It opened up doors to a future.
Cal’s Next Unexpected Step
Cal graduated IEC in June 1999. The training team at IEC Rocky Mountain contacted him saying they’d love to have him teach in the program he just completed. Cal wasn’t sure about it, but the training director at the time, Cliff Rediger, kept asking. By August that same year, Cal was at the front of the classroom.
“There wasn’t much training for instructors back then like there is now,” he says. “They kind of just threw me to the wolves that day saying ‘here’s your books, here’s your classroom’ — and I started teaching. I got comfortable quickly and I’ll keep teaching for as long as I can. In fact, 2025 is my 26th year of teaching.”
Cal is adamant about electricians knowing the how and why of the tasks they do every day.
“IEC school makes the difference between a good electrician and a great electrician,” he says. “Mechanics out in the field are great, right? They can do righty tighty lefty loosey and black wire to black wire, red wire to red wire. But knowing how it works and why it works and what it does gets you to that next level. I know plenty of people that didn’t go to school and they can go out in the field and they can bend pipe and they can install light fixtures and they can do all that. But the ones who go to school know the theory behind it and that’s the part that locks you in.”
He also believes understanding the why and how of how things work keeps the amazement of electricity top of mind.
“Just how cool is it that when you hook wire up to a motor you can crank that elevator up 40 floors?” Cal says. “We go out in the field and we bend pipe and push wire down it. When you start showing students the why and how about we do them it gets them thinking. Who thought of this stuff? It helps them look at what they built and say, ‘yeah, this is cool.’”
Cal has taught all four years of the IEC curriculum, specializing in second year, as well as code review and journeyman test classes. He also tutors on Sunday nights for students who need additional time with an instructor and with new instructors who need tips on how to present complex material in understandable ways. 
“The hardest part about teaching theory is that most students going into this trade are extremely visual or hands-on learners,” he acknowledges. “Electrical has to do with so much that you can’t physically see, right? This sequence of operations happens and it happens on the molecular level. All these things are going on when all you did was take this wire and connect it to that wire and it worked. Well, why did it work? How did it work? Or, if it’s not working, how do I troubleshoot it? You need to break a complex theory or idea down to where it’s just a simple thing.”
Another challenge is meeting students where they are at with learning and where they are struggling. Cal is grateful for the lessons his students teach him.
“Not everybody learns the same way or grasps concepts the same way,” he adds. “An instructor needs to keep flow in the classroom and not lose the more advanced students while seeking better ways to teach those who may be struggling at one time or another.”
Cal’s favorite success story is of a second-year student with much enthusiasm who always sat up front, took notes, and asked questions. But those questions were often about step one when he had already moved on to a later step. She was struggling big time with her grades.
“We got to the end of the semester and she barely got by,” he remembers. “She approached me and said she was ready to give up. ‘This is kicking my butt and you tell me the hard parts are next semester. I just can’t figure it out — I study, I take tons of notes.’ I asked her to give me some time to think about it and to come back after break. Don’t quit.”
What Cal realized was that she was so busy taking notes with her head down that she wasn’t paying attention to what he was showing on the board. When she came back to the first class after break, he told her he had a plan and told her to give him her pencil.
“She was stunned but I assured her I’d give her pencil back in a bit,” he says. “I started teaching and she watched example after example on the board. By the end of that year, she went from one of the lowest grades in the class to top in the class all because she was forced to look up and pay attention. She got a 98 on her final, and I think I was even happier than her.”
Cal says that experience built her self-confidence and taught him how to look for simple adjustments to become a better instructor. The cards and words of thanks he receives from students inspire him and continue to build his passion for teaching.
Over the years, Cal has been recognized locally and nationally for his skills as an instructor. IEC Rocky Mountain named him Chapter Instructor of the Year and he received the Legacy of Service award — both in 2019. He also was named 2019 National Instructor of the Year, as well as Alumni of the Year.
In December 2024, Cal received another award that felt even better than any previous award. He received the Apprenticeship Mentor Award from the State of Colorado Office of the Future of Work for his dedication to guiding and inspiring the next generation of skilled electricians.
“This one hit home and I felt so honored,” he says. “First that my teammate Annette Gauna would nominate me and second that the state would recognize the importance of mentorship is really special.”
In addition to being an instructor at IEC Rocky Mountain (IECRM), Call serves as instructor liaison on the IECRM Board of Trustees.
“My job is to let leadership know about what instructors are seeing and dealing with and what more we might need to get our jobs done,” Cal explains. “I let them know what students are telling me about their experience. This identifies gaps and provides much-needed information for the trustees to make recommendations to the IECRM Board of Directors.”
Full Circle
Remember that journeyman who Cal credited for great support and teaching him so much when he was an apprentice? His name is Wade Swanson, and Cal is now his business partner at K&M Electric.
“Wade is a fantastic human being and brought me on board when I was looking to make a change,” Cal says. “I worked for Wade in the field for a while and then he wanted me to come into the office and help him bid and manage projects. A couple of years ago, he offered me a partnership. We’re a small commercial shop and we complement each other well. I wouldn’t want to work with anybody else.” 
Even with all of the above demands, Cal and his wife love spending time with their three young adult children and a wealth of hobbies. Over the years, he has spent a lot of time watching his kids play sports. He loves to go fly fishing and occasionally gets to ride his motorcycle. They also are season ticket holders for Colorado Avalanche hockey and Denver Broncos football teams.
Cal knows he is one lucky guy.
“I love being an electrician, and I was blessed to somehow fall into it when I had no idea at all what I was going to do with my life,” he says. “I’ve had so many great people support me while I did the hard work. It led to this great career for me. I love teaching and knowing that people walk out of class knowing more and that I was able to make a difference.”
