Colorado's Aerospace Industry Is Booming. RRCC Is Making Sure Students Are Ready for It.
July 17, 2026 | By Yesenia Robles, RRCC, MarCom
As Colorado’s aerospace industry grows, employers are increasingly having to compete for a small number of applicants.
Many of the jobs are new, and people looking for a career often don’t know they might have skills that could serve them well in these new highly skilled jobs.
Red Rocks Community College has been working with a state $1.2 million Opportunity Now grant to help find solutions, developing new cutting-edge career pathways in the aerospace and defense industry.
The work, which is now nearing its end, is resulting in career maps for five program pathways related to advanced manufacturing including Precision Machining, Mechatronics, Quantum Technician, Composites and Engineering Technician.
Not many people know what those job paths entail, but they’re all part of the booming aerospace industry in Colorado.
Sam Erickson is one of those recent hires in the industry. He started a job as a CNC machinist at a local shop, Golden Machining Solutions, just a little more than a month ago.
He’s bounced around in many career fields over the years but was most recently a stay-at-home parent to his two kids and searching for a job took some time. He credits having participated in a new machining bootcamp at RRCC with finally landing the job.
“I would not have known what it was or what I needed, I would not have applied to it,” Sam said.
With the second-largest aerospace economy in the nation, Colorado generates over $15 billion in economic activity annually, as reported by JeffCo Economic Development Corporation. According to a 2024-25 annual report from the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade (OEDIT), the aerospace and defense industry is attracting federal contracts at a record pace. OEDIT also reported that aerospace employment increased 24% over the past five years.
As the industry grows, employers want to know what skills an employee can be expected to have when they say they’ve completed a certain program. They want people searching for a career to know there are opportunities for advancement to higher wage leadership positions.
“Resumes and transcripts alone don’t tell an employer what skills a candidate has competency in,” said Matthew Sweeney, Dean of Workforce programs at RRCC. “In manufacturing, skills are the currency. So, we are exploring what skills are most important with these employers and how to build programs to provide economic mobility for untapped talent.”
Sam, for instance, is already learning that he has skills that might make him a good fit for other jobs at his shop. He’s being trained to do quality and control work checking that parts are built correctly.
“It’s what I like about the industry, there’s a lot of mobility. I can go in different routes,” Sam said. “Quality kind of suits my ... tendencies. And they’re willing to teach me.”
RRCC worked with partners from industry, both large and small shops, as well as educational partners such as Jeffco Public Schools, and the Colorado Space Institute at Arapahoe Community College as part of the grant advisory work.
The Greater Arvada Chamber of Commerce used data to create a Talent Gap Analysis. From there, the Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that works with higher education, drafted the Career and Cluster Pathway Maps which will help guide new programming.
RRCC hosted a mini conference as the final meeting for the advisory group of the Opportunity Now grant last month. One session was focused on learning about the new AI tools that can help connect employers and students. Then, the team came together once again to discuss the final tweaks they suggested for the pathway maps.
Members were excited at the idea of seeing more applicants for their open jobs, including some that may have skills more closely aligned with their needs.
“I don't think I’ve ever been engaged so intentionally,” said Brandon Toya, leader of Talent & Organizational Capability at Lockheed Martin.
The work has already led to new noncredit machining bootcamps at RRCC that aim to test out some curriculum that might help attract new people to the field.
It’s one of those bootcamps that got Sam in the door.
“I’ll emphatically tell you, if it was not for the bootcamp, I sure would not be where I’m at today,” Sam said. “As a resource, I feel like I gained quite a bit.”
More programming at RRCC is expected to launch in fall 2027.
People, facilities and equipment are the next challenges to overcome.
For that, RRCC is working with Jeffco Public Schools to look at plans for a new aerospace and manufacturing facility for the RRCC Lakewood campus.
At RRCC, the goal is for the college to become a hub for the aerospace industry’s educational needs, both preparing people for the entry-level positions, helping them level up within the career, or helping industry provide workforce-development opportunities for their existing staff.
“We are moving into the next phase of this work, to launch a facility that can house these programs,” Sweeney said. “We see a unique opportunity to transform lives in our community by leveraging the strengths of these core regional partnerships moving forward.