Tell your kids it's OK

[alloy]

Its really ok.

 

[PHPaul]

Exactly. Younger grandson was not interested in college, barely made it out of High School.

Took a job as a laborer for a construction outfit, applied himself and moved up steadily.

With Winter layoffs looming, he applied for and was accepted as a plumber's helper. Again, applying himself and is partnered with a licensed burner tech. They told him their goal is for him to have his own burner license in a couple of years. Decent money, indoor work and a profession that isn't likely to go away any time soon.

 

[DavidR8]

Years back, an Alberta apprenticeship manager told me that exactly one person had applied to the masonry apprenticeship program that year.
I suspect more than one journeyman mason hung up their tools the same year.

And we wonder why you can’t get quality work done these days.

Michael Pollan wrote a book called “The Millionaire Next Door”.
His research indicated the most popular vehicle among millionaires was a Ford F-150 truck and the drivers were all tradespeople.



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[Superburban]

Where does one go these days to find out what apprenticeship programs are available in the area? That is somewhat a rhetorical question. Schools today give all kinds of information on colleges, and some still aloow the military recruiters to talk to the kids, but I do not recall ever hearing of any even hinting at any apprentice ship programs that may be available.

 

[DavidR8]

I’m not sure how it works in the US but in Canada, apprenticeship is managed at the provincial government level.
There are agencies that provide support to apprentices and industry.


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[FanMan]

My son in law, once he figured out that his degree in English literature wasn't going to point him on a sparkling career path, went back to school for a CNC machining program that was a partnership between the local community-technical college and the state of Connecticut. A one year program, now he's working in a CNC plastics shop. There are also high school level vocational schools in most places, but kids gotta ask, the school guidance counselors are all still in the "you gotta go to college" mindset.

 

[bakrch]

I’m not sure how it works in the US but in Canada, apprenticeship is managed at the provincial government level.
There are agencies that provide support to apprentices and industry.


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I envy Canada with regard to this. I work for a very large company, and one of our sites is in Hamilton,ON. My counterpart up there was an absolute rockstar. He informed me how it was in Canada and how he would not even be allowed to touch a machine if he hadn't gone through the government education, and I believe license is acquired this way?

Well, it showed considering how much I learned from the guy before he left the company. He was quickly promoted to Operations Specialist and toured the states to help get the rest of our sites up to par, but was met with resistance at every turn by folks who were obviously threatened by him. He had no ulterior motive, he just wanted to improve the company. It was his job. Poor guy, I miss him dearly.

In the states, (at least in my area) all one needs to do is lie on their resume. Get hired and sink or swim. Most will sink. There is no standard of education and no way for the employers to check a candidates experience.

It is a systemic problem though as employers will leverage anything a candidate does not know against them. Not exactly fair considering most of us know that there is more to learn with machining than we could ever learn in a lifetime. I get it, they cannot pay over a certain amount with how the job shops out there are cannibalizing each other and need to find clever ways to bring talent in. This forces them to train from within and keep the wages low, but then a shiny dollar or two per hour increase from another shop steals them away. That is a great way to train your competition!

14 years at my current position and I just recently saw the same thing happening all over, and essentially the same wages from over a decade ago during a 2 year job search that I just gave up on.

I am 41 and the youngest in the shop, next youngest is 58. Something really needs to shake things up here.

My son in law, once he figured out that his degree in English literature wasn't going to point him on a sparkling career path, went back to school for a CNC machining program that was a partnership between the local community-technical college and the state of Connecticut. A one year program, now he's working in a CNC plastics shop. There are also high school level vocational schools in most places, but kids gotta ask, the school guidance counselors are all still in the "you gotta go to college" mindset.

My mother still pleads that I should go back to college. At what point does this become emotional abuse? lmao.

 

[matthewsx]

When my daughter was a senior in HS there was some concern about what classes to take that year. She's extremely smart and had pretty much exhausted the options at our local (rural) school. I finally went down there and talked with the guidance counselor, I'd never bothered since my wife has a masters degree in education and the kid was a straight A student. It turned out she would have only had to take one class (actually could have tested out of it) to complete high school but she wanted to graduate with her friends, great kids all.

Long story short I convinced her to try the "Manufacturing Technology Academy (MTA)" program at the district vocational facility half an hour away. She was worried about how her credits would apply since one of the classes she needed would be through the community college but it turned out not to be a problem. The program was supposed to be two years and included math, engineering, robotics and some shop work; they let her get up to speed over the summer and she started that fall. There is definitely a (not good enough for college) aspect for the kids that attend classes there which range from auto mechanics to web design and of course the MTA program she was in.

Well, it turned out she loved it, they designed and built an underwater drone and competed at a statewide meet. Her classmates there were smart and very hard working, and accepted her even though she hadn't started out with them.

Now, it was always known that she would go to university. She graduated at the top of her HS class and gave the valedictorian speech. She's now a Senior at The University of Michigan in Bio-Medical Engineering. Last summer she did an internship in San Diego and she was so excited to tell me about one of the projects she was assigned. They had her cutting encapsulated samples on a band-saw and polishing them for a failure analysis study.

I was that guy who spent all of HS at the auto shop and probably would have become a machinist if my dad hadn't kept me from taking the machine tool technology program in our district. I understand now why he made me take chemistry instead and can appreciate why that was the only time he interfered with what classes I wanted to take. I'm planning on completing the two classes I need to finish my degree in the next year or so now.

I just wish it wasn't such an either/or choice for kids these days, tradespeople need more education now and engineers should really have some real world experience to design stuff that actually works and can be built.

Cheers,

John

 

[Latinrascalrg1]

In America the Word Apprenticeship is covered in high school in history class.....And then People Wonder when they check the want ads how Someone can Get a job that requires 3 to 5 years of work experience in A field if they cant get A job in the field to get the needed experience...Chicken or Egg scenario!

 

[Superburban]

There is a concrete company near me that has "Apprentice wanted" on their sign. Except for the reality show, that is the first I have heard of any place doing an apprenticeship.

In America the Word Apprenticeship is covered in high school in history class.....And then People Wonder when they check the want ads how Someone can Get a job that requires 3 to 5 years of work experience in A field if they cant get A job in the field to get the needed experience...Chicken or Egg scenario!

I have often wondered that.