In his role as the producer of the TV show “Dirty Jobs,” Mike Rowe has traveled to every state in America. Alongside plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, pipefitters, bricklayers, farmers, and fishermen, he has showcased to a wide audience that it is the work of these skilled workers that keeps our civilized society functioning smoothly.
Television celebrity Mike Rowe holds many titles: award-winning TV show host, producer, narrator, podcaster, spokesperson, bestselling author, and recording artist. A poster he saw in the guidance counselor’s office during his high school years in 1979 still vividly remains in his mind. For decades, this poster has inspired him to work tirelessly to reignite America’s passion and enthusiasm for technical trades, revitalizing the foundation of skilled trades education in the United States.
In a recent interview with “Epoch Times,” Rowe reminisced about the poster. Titled “Work smart, not hard,” the poster highlighted the contrasting images of a “happy college graduate with a diploma” and a “pitiful bug who won a high school vocational comfort award” side by side.
Years later, Rowe still remembers the guidance counselor pointing to the poster and asking, “Which one of these people do you want to be?”
“It was a very shocking moment for me,” Rowe said. “I remember thinking, ‘I’d like to reach across the desk and smack him because the punchline of that poster is a guy like my granddad—a skilled tradesman thoroughly mocked, ridiculed, and marginalized.'”
At the time, Rowe was struggling with uncertainty about his future.
“I was 17, took some tests, did well, and he (referring to the guidance counselor) wanted me to go to Penn, Maryland, or James Madison. But I didn’t have the money, and there was no way to borrow it. ‘Debt’ was the one real four-letter word in our house. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My plan was to go to a community college, where I could afford the tuition, $26 a credit, and then figure it out,” Rowe shared.
Decades have passed since that conversation with the guidance counselor. Over the years, after eventually enrolling in a four-year college, Rowe transformed his fame and success into the prominent “mikeroweWORKS Foundation.” Established in 2008, the foundation has been dedicated to dispelling myths and misunderstandings about the skilled trades industry and narrowing the skills gap through partnerships with job search websites, corporations, and scholarship offerings.
“When we attended high school, we were all pushed towards college,” Rowe said. “The issue isn’t that college is bad; it’s that this effort comes at the expense of all other forms of learning.”
Rowe believes that the removal of shop class and home economics classes “may be the dumbest decision in the history of modern education.” He argues that the lack of hands-on experience in such courses, coupled with societal devaluation of technical trades, has resulted in significant talent gaps in fields that are unaffected by artificial intelligence (AI).
A graduate of Towson University in Maryland, Rowe went on to become an opera singer, a host on QVC, the largest television shopping network in the U.S., and ultimately a legendary figure on the show “Dirty Jobs.” In the program, he narrates his “twisty, turny path” guided by his mother, Peggy Rowe, a former schoolteacher turned bestselling author and frequent guest on his podcast, “The Way I Heard It.”
“I worked at QVC for three years, then freelanced for eight years, did about 300 different jobs, and then my mother made a strange phone call about my grandfather’s 90th birthday approaching. She thought of the perfect birthday gift for him,” Rowe recalled. “I asked, ‘What’s the gift?’ She said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if he could see you on TV before he died, doing something that looks like work.'”
At the time, Rowe was hosting the local Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) program “Evening Magazine” in San Francisco. He joked that it was a tribute to his hardworking grandfather’s life, and mainly “to fulfill my mother’s wish.”
Subsequently, Rowe and his cameraman ventured into the sewers of San Francisco to film a sewage inspector at work.
“My dad was an electrician, but he only went to seventh grade. By the time he was 30, he was a skilled welder, plumber, steamfitter, HVAC technician. I’ve seen him add equipment to someone’s roof without blueprints. He just had the knack. Mechanically, he understood how everything worked. He could take apart a clock behind you blindfolded, then put it back together,” Rowe reminisced.
To Rowe’s surprise, the story of the sewage inspector he recorded garnered much attention, with the show receiving numerous letters. The audience’s enthusiastic engagement inspired him to continue the program. Thus, a new program segment was born: “Somebody’s Gotta Do It.”
“We sort of stumbled into starting a television show like Forrest Gump,” Rowe remarked.
However, as Rowe discovered his true mission, the real hard work began.
“MikeRoweWorks was an organic component of the ‘Dirty Jobs’ show in 2008,” Rowe admitted. As the producer of the TV show “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe traveled across states and worked with various technical workers, including plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, pipefitters, bricklayers, farmers, fishermen, and many others, emphasizing that it is the work of these skilled workers that sustains the normal operation of our civilized society.
“Like the show itself, it was a tribute to my dad, Carl Knobel,” Rowe explained. “At the time, it was just a simple attempt to show people these 2.3 million empty skilled trade jobs, which are great jobs. In 2009, the U.S. was in an economic recession, with unemployment reaching 12 million, but on ‘Dirty Jobs,’ we saw ‘help wanted’ signs everywhere. It was clear that the issue at the time was not the lack of job opportunities but the lack of enthusiasm for existing jobs. That was the skills gap, and that’s why I launched the program on Labor Day 2008. This year, we mark 17 years with this program on Labor Day.”
Rowe has since continued to serve as the narrator and host of some of the most popular programs on the international Discovery Channel, including “Deadliest Catch.” He recently awarded the 2025 Work Ethic Scholarships from his foundation, totaling $5 million, with 526 students selected as recipients.
“So far, we’ve donated $16 million to over 2,600 recipients, supporting 21 technical industries in 46 states,” Rowe expressed.
Each scholarship recipient sets a shining example for those considering careers in technical trades, jobs that AI cannot accomplish.
“”There has been a labor shortage.” Rowe stated. “Every year, 5% of skilled workers retire, but only 2% are there to take over their roles.”
Therefore, Rowe’s initial mission of “Working Smart and Hard” has evolved from a temporary PR campaign highlighting hundreds of job openings to a lifelong commitment to the technical trades industry.
“I went to Capitol Hill, did some public service announcements; the fans of ‘Dirty Jobs’ really took it to another level,” Rowe described. “They helped me build an online trade resource center so that anyone could access the ‘Mike Rowe Works’ website and see thousands of job listings. This caught the attention of major corporations like Ford, Caterpillar, and many others in need of skilled labor. They wanted to fund me, so I thought, ‘Maybe we could establish a work ethic scholarship.’ We offered $500,000 in the first year, $700,000 in the second year, $1 million in the third year, and the number of scholarships keeps growing. This year, there were 10 times the number of applicants compared to last year. I can’t celebrate victory yet because I haven’t completed the mission.”