Career as a machinist

So you want to be a machinist?

Explaining a career as a machinist to middle school students and high school students who may be thinking about entering this high-in-demand skilled trade. What types of classes, extracurricular activities, learning opportunities, and experiences would benefit students thinking about a future career in machining?

Introduction

Have you ever thought about a career in machining? It’s a high-in-demand skilled trade that offers great job security and stability. But before you make your decision, it’s important to know what types of classes, extracurricular activities, learning opportunities, and experiences would benefit those thinking about a future career in machining. Let’s take a look at some of the ways students can prepare for this exciting career choice.

Classes to take

If you are interested in becoming a machinist, there are certain classes that will give you an advantage when it comes time to apply for jobs or enter apprenticeship programs. These include math classes such as geometry and trigonometry; science classes like chemistry and physics; computer classes such as CAD/CAM; and technical classes such as production machinery operation. All of these courses provide helpful skills for those entering this field.

Extracurricular activities

Joining clubs related to engineering or machine shop can also help any student interested in pursuing this type of career path. Participating in extracurricular activities gives students the opportunity to learn more about the subject matter while networking with other people who already work in the industry. Additionally, these clubs often offer hands-on experience with modern equipment, which is invaluable training for those looking to get into machining professionally.

Learning opportunities

Engineering camps are also great learning opportunities for those considering a machining career. Many universities and colleges offer summer engineering camps specifically tailored towards high schoolers looking to explore their options when it comes to STEM careers like machining. These camps provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn more about the trade from experienced professionals while gaining valuable hands-on experience operating various types of machinery.

Experiences that benefit students

Finally, work experience is always beneficial for anyone considering any kind of career path. There are many entry-level positions available at local machine shops offering good wages and valuable experience working with professional equipment and tools. Additionally, many shops offer internships or apprenticeship programs that can be extremely helpful when applying for long-term employment after college graduation or just wanting to acquire a general knowledge on how things work in the industry as a whole.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you're thinking about becoming a machinist, there are many ways that you can prepare yourself now so that you can hit the ground running once your chosen career begins! Taking related classes in high school and getting involved with engineering organizations or camps will give you an edge over other applicants when it comes time to apply for jobs or internships down the line! For middle schoolers who may not have access to all these options yet, doing research on your own into different aspects of this trade will set you up well for success later on! By taking advantage of all these resources now, students have everything they need ready to go so they can excel when their dream job becomes reality!

Wisconsin Apprenticeship System

Are you looking to enter the trades or technical fields through an apprenticeship program in Wisconsin? Here's your brief guide to accessing the Wisconsin Apprenticeship System.

This past Sunday (6/13/21), an article appearing in the Business section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel written by Ricardo Torres focused on Wisconsin's system of apprenticeships. In short, the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has obtained grant funding to support the hiring of five "apprenticeship navigators," whose sole job is to match those who are interested with various apprenticeship opportunities across the state.

You can read the full article by Torres appearing in the Journal Sentinel on 6/13/21 by clicking here. The article does a great job of getting answers from the DWD based on a list of key questions posed by Journal Sentinel staff.

Below are the names and contact information for these navigators, taken from the article. Four of the five are serving residents in specific counties, while the remaining one is serving former inmates anywhere in the state. 

 

Jessica Gitter

Counties served: Buffalo, Crawford, Jackson, Juneau, Kenosha, La Crosse, Milwaukee, Monroe, Racine, Trempealeau, Walworth, Vernon. 

Contact info: jessica.gitter@dwd.wisconsin.gov; 262-894-5624.

 

Dawn Pratt

Counties served: Barron, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Ozaukee, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Washington, Waukesha, Waushara, Winnebago.

Contact info: dawn.pratt@dwd.wisconsin.gov; 414-216-4926.

 

Jessica Williams

Counties served: Adams, Ashland, Bayfield, Brown, Burnett, Calumet, Door, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Kewaunee, Langlade, Lincoln, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Menomonee, Oconto, Oneida, Outagamie, Portage, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Shawano, Taylor, Vilas, Washburn, Waupaca, Wood.

Contact info: jessicae.williams@dwd.wisconsin.gov; 920-404-6877.

Jeff Kennedy

Counties served: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Lafayette, Marquette, Richland, Rock, Sauk.

Contact info: jkennedy@wdbscw.org; 608-249-9001 x. 230.

 

Milton Rogers

Counties served: Works with former Department of Corrections (DOC) inmates statewide.

Contact info: miltonj.rogers@wisconsin.gov.

 

If you found this post helpful, you may also enjoy the following posts from this blog:

The real purpose of K-12 education 

Description: "We have to realize that K-12 education should be about preparing students for life, not university, and that some of the greatest, most rewarding career opportunities out there can be found in the vast vocational/trades/technical college realm."

Technical college scholarships

Exploring careers in the trades

Manufacturing and the trades in schools

Description: "A look at the return of manufacturing and the trades in schools and in conversations."

Trades vs. STEM in schools

Aaron S. Robertson 

NOTE: The following is my response a few days ago to an interesting question posed to me by a candidate for the local school board in my hometown. I thought it was worth sharing here, as this is a question that all K-12 school districts across the country must continuously grapple with. The candidate's question dealt with limited resources (physical classroom space, number of hours in a school day, budgets, etc.) and where more emphasis should be placed if trades and STEM courses found themselves in too strong a competition for those limited resources. Very thought-provoking, and not a very easy answer, in my opinion.

Trades vs. STEM: This is a really thought-provoking question you raise, and I'm admittedly finding it a little difficult to answer. I'm a strong proponent of having both tracks (trades and STEM) well-represented in K-12 schools, along with a rigorous liberal arts curriculum.

With technology rapidly changing, STEM fields are undoubtedly the future. There will be technologies and even whole sectors and industries created that we can't even imagine right now.

On the other hand, when it comes to the trades, there will always be steady demand. We'll need skilled workers to continue manufacturing goods, building and repairing our vehicles, installing and maintaining our plumbing and HVAC systems, building and remodeling our homes and commercial buildings, etc., etc., etc. Demand to fill openings across the trades, as you're probably aware, is especially hot right now, as we're trying to reverse debilitating training and employment trends caused by having shifted away from offering these programs in schools for a number of years.

Should the two tracks ever get into a tug of war over limited budget resources, I'm wondering if it would be best to survey students and parents (along with maybe even conducting some in-depth interviews and focus groups), as well as look back at prior course enrollment data, to aid in determining what should definitely be saved, and what might have to be scaled back or even cut altogether? That way, we can say we've done all we can to best represent local flavor and demand.

There can also be a case made that many of these courses and training opportunities can easily be found elsewhere, for those who are really interested in seeking them out. In the STEM arena, for example, there are many professionally-facilitated in-person academies, workshops, and boot camps out there for youngsters, as well as online courses through popular Web sites like Khan Academy and Udemy.com. At the end of the day, we must realize that there are only so many hours and resources available in a school day, and so it's really up to families and motivated students to extend their learning beyond the classroom and school day in ways that are meaningful and satisfying for them.

What do you think? If trades and STEM courses found themselves in too much competition for limited resources in K-12 schools, what should be saved? What should be cut? Are there other solutions we're not thinking about here? Feel free to share your thoughts and insights in the comments section below.

The real purpose of K-12 education

We have to realize that K-12 education should be about preparing students for life, not university, and that some of the greatest, most rewarding career opportunities out there can be found in the vast vocational/trades/technical college realm.

Aaron S. Robertson

Recently, I finished reading a book called, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups, written by Leonard Sax and published in 2016.

Dr. Sax is both a medical doctor and a Ph.D. psychologist, and the inspiration for a lot of his writing comes directly from both his office visits with children and families, and from his numerous talks and tours at schools and in communities across the country and even the world. He currently has four published books out, one of them in a second edition. I recently ordered his Girls on the Edge: The Four Factors Driving the New Crisis for Girls (2011) from Amazon, and just started reading it yesterday.

In the coming days and weeks, I plan on writing a number of posts here tied to The Collapse of Parenting. I'm spending a lot of time with the book, going back to revisit certain parts and really digging deep and reflecting on what I've been observing and experiencing in my short time in education so far. It's a wonderful read, and I highly recommend it to parents, expecting parents, those working in education (both K-12 and college level), and even employers and recruiters, who can certainly benefit from the rich insights and data the book offers on the younger generations coming up in the workforce.

To follow along with these specific posts, I've created the tag/label, The Collapse of Parenting. Click that link, and you'll be taken to all of the posts.

For this first post, I'd like to discuss Dr. Sax's thoughts on what he sees as the real purpose of K-12 education. Many Americans today, it seems, have this idea that K-12 education is designed to (or should be designed to) prepare students for admission into top colleges. It's an idea that, I can personally attest to from both my experiences as a high school student in the late 1990s and as someone working in K-12 education today, is arguably misguided, to say the very least. Actually, it's a disservice that is quite toxic. It deprives all individual students by downplaying or even outright hiding other opportunities, and it deprives our economy and society of needed talents and resources. We collectively depend on a rich diversity of skills, talents, interests, experiences, and specializations in order to produce the goods, services, ideas, and knowledge that move us forward.

 

Now, to the credit of many U.S. school districts and experts in the world of education today, the conversation and landscape is already in the process of changing. The Collapse of Parenting came out at the very beginning of 2016, and since that time, many districts have begun moving away from presenting a college-only future to students. This was actually the basis for a previous post I wrote a little more than a year ago, Manufacturing and the trades in schools, in which I heralded what I see as the return of these skill sets and opportunities in schools and in the broader dialogue.

Nonetheless, we still have a very long way to go. I don't think it's anyone's fault, in particular. This college-only philosophy simply started off by slowly creeping into education and societal thought years ago already, and, before we know it, just about everyone is buying into it - parents, students, teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, the media, pop culture, savvy marketers, and so on. It took off to the point where it has dominated a good swath of K-12 education for quite a few years now, and it's difficult to get out from under its stranglehold.

Let's explore further. There's actually a two-pronged discussion taking place here, with both parts very much intertwined. First, we'll explore the misconception that the mission of K-12 education is to prepare students for college (college, in this context, is generally understood to be the four-year university path), and then, tying into that belief, we'll look at the misconception that vocational training/work in the trades/technical college education is somehow inferior to the university track.

To begin, Dr. Sax, in my opinion, hits it right on the head with this statement when he observes that:

At some level, sometimes subconsciously, many Americans – both parents and students – have accepted the idea that a primary purpose of K-12 schooling, maybe even the primary purpose, is to get accepted into a selective college and to prepare for college. That’s a mistake. The primary purpose of education should be to prepare for life, not for more school. And many of the skills needed to succeed in life are different from the skills needed for admission to a top college. (Sax, 2016, p. 189)

And just what are those skills needed to succeed in life? Well, based on my years in business and industry before moving to education as my primary field, I would certainly say that they include the abilities to effectively read, write, and communicate. Math for everyday life and work is a must. By that, I mean the ability to perform old-fashioned multiplication, addition, subtraction, division, and percentages with relative ease in one's head. The ability to synthesize information, reflect, and think critically. Knowing how to identify quality sources when conducting research of any kind. Understanding one's rights and responsibilities as a citizen, and this is where paying attention in social studies classes comes in. Definitely personal finance. The ability to face, understand, and accept failure as a part of life and work. And teamwork, getting along with others, playing fair, sharing, personal responsibility - essentially, Fulghum's Rules, which were instilled in us in kindergarten some 30-35 years ago, and which Dr. Sax points out have largely been replaced with, "...teaching diphthongs rather than teaching respect, courtesy, and manners" (Sax, 2016, p. 50). By contrast, kindergarten students in Finland still spend their school days playing, having fun, and learning how to get along, and, somehow, it's not preventing them from thriving academically as older students.       

Dr. Sax calls this whole college-only approach buying into "the middle-class script." He writes:

When I visit schools, I often meet with students, in groups both large and small. When I meet with middle or high school students, I sometimes engage them in semi-Socratic back-and-forth questioning. I pose questions and call on students who raise their hands. What’s the point of school? I ask. Why bother? To get into a good college – that’s the answer I most often hear from American high school students. So what’s the purpose of college? I ask. To get a good job, to earn a living, the students answer. This dialogue is the basis for what I have come to call “the middle-class script.” The script reads as follows:

1. Work hard in school so you can get into a good college.
2. Get into a good college so you can get a good job.
3. Get a good job and you will make a good living and have a good life.

There are several problems with this script. The first problem is that every line in it is false.

1. Working hard in school is no guarantee of admission to a top college. We all know stories of kids who worked hard, earned good grades, and didn’t get into any of their top choices.
2. Getting into a good college is no guarantee of a good job. The media and the blogosphere are full of stories of young people who have earned bachelor’s degrees from Princeton and Harvard and who are now waiting tables or simply unemployed.
3. Getting a good job is no guarantee of having a good life. (Sax, 2016, pp. 187-188)

He goes on to explain this last point by describing colleagues in the medical field as a prime example:

I have seen some such adults among my own physician colleagues. This man may be regarded as a successful surgeon; he may earn $600,000 a year; but he's miserable. He's unhappy because he is working 80 hours a week at a job he has come to loathe. If you are working 80 hours a week at a job which shrivels your soul, then you are a slave. I don't care whether you are earning $600,000 a year or more. Life is precious. Each minute is a priceless gift. No amount of money can reclaim lost time. If you are wasting your time on work you detest, you may come to feel resentful about the time you are losing. If you are a physician, you may come to resent your patients. I have learned to recognize such physicians, and I try to steer my patients away from them. (Sax, 2016, p. 190)

And now, here's where that tie-in to frowning upon vocational/trades/technical college training and education comes in. Dr. Sax explains how high school students expressing an interest in wanting to become mechanics are viewed in Germany and Switzerland compared to their peers here in the United States. He notes:

I find that parents in the United States, more than in any other country, have bought into the middle-class script. In Germany and Switzerland, for example, there is no shame if a 15-year-old chooses to train to become an auto mechanic rather than embarking on the university track. And that’s true even if both parents are university professors. Mechanics in those countries are respected and they earn good money.

Mechanics can earn good money in the United States as well, but there is a stigma, a lack of respect, attached to 'blue-collar' work in the United States today, which is utterly lacking in Mitteleuropa. In the United States, it is hard to imagine the child of two professors choosing to go straight into 'vocational training' to be a mechanic unless that child has been diagnosed with some sort of learning disability. Most Americans today regard 'vocational training' as a low-prestige option for below-average-IQ kids or for kids with learning disabilities. (Sax, 2016, pp. 188-189)

The four-year university path isn't for everyone, nor should it ever be. It's merely one of many post-high school avenues in which to try to find meaningful work, personal fulfillment, and the tools and resources to build a decent quality of life. And like any path in life and career, we must accept that, at the end of the day, there are no guarantees of anything. Things like meaningful work, personal fulfillment, happiness, and success, are all in the eyes of the beholder. They must come from within, because they are different for everyone. You may find them easily, or you may never fully discover them. They may last for many years, or they may quickly come and go. What's special and fulfilling today may become an ongoing burden tomorrow, as we see in the case of the $600,000-per-year surgeon. You may have to reinvent - or rediscover - yourself every so often.

“Most Americans today regard 'vocational training' as a low-prestige option for below-average-IQ kids or for kids with learning disabilities.” - Dr. Leonard Sax

As many of my regular readers here know, I'm a Ph.D. student. And as I reflect in a previous post, Embracing lifelong learning,

While it's true that this is the highest level of academic degree that can be attained, it's certainly not the be-all-end-all of learning. It doesn't make me a genius. It doesn't give me everything I'll ever need to know. All it demonstrates is that I can conduct original scientific research. Big deal. Far more people out there know a heck of a lot more than I do and are far more successful than I am without that formal education. And I sincerely hope that you become one of them.

As someone who has climbed the degree ladder of the university track, I often encourage high school students to explore careers in the trades and other opportunities in the vocational and technical college realm. There are a ton of them now - culinary arts and hospitality management, dental hygienist, real estate and property management, graphic design, early childhood education, Web and digital media design, information technology (IT), criminal justice and law enforcement, nursing, paramedic and EMT, fire protection, truck driving, marketing and sales, funeral service, human resources (HR), cosmetology, aviation. We can go on and on. There are so many awesome opportunities today in this vast realm, and many vocational and technical college scholarships go unfilled or with very little competition, which makes for great odds for someone who's seriously interested in exploring and putting in the work. There are plenty of traditional apprenticeship and other on-the-job-training opportunities out there, as well.

I share with high school and college students that if the vocational/trades/technical college programs were held in higher regard, discussed more, and presented as viable options when I was in high school (I graduated in 2001), then, who knows, my life's work and overall course may have been altered quite radically from what it is today. As I share in that previous post I wrote just over a year ago, Manufacturing and the trades in schools:

I graduated high school in 2001. While I was in high school in the late 1990s, manufacturing in the United States was undergoing a serious exodus. Perhaps the hardest hit areas were in the Midwest, where manufacturing was a way of life, providing many families with a stable, comfortable, middle-class lifestyle. Many of the men in my family, along with many of our family friends, were skilled machinists. And many of them lost their jobs in the late 90s, including my father, an uncle, and even my mother, who did assembly work. Many plants during this time closed up shop and moved down to Mexico, where labor and other resources were much cheaper.

At the time, the message to those of us in high school was, "Avoid manufacturing. It's dead in this country. There's no future in it. Go to college." The four-year university was all the talk. That was the path we were all encouraged - even outright steered toward - to pursue. Many students from my generation, including myself, were the first ones in our families to go to university. Pursuing a university education, we were told, would lead to a great, comfortable living, and one that's clean - away from the oily, dirty, dim-lit environment often associated with machining and factory work back then, however real or merely perceived.

Simultaneously, the other trades, along with technical colleges and vocational schools, were largely downplayed as post-high school options, as well. These jobs and paths just weren't really talked about much, it seemed, and when they were, they were often cast in the same light as the then-disappearing jobs in the manufacturing realm - grimy, labor-intensive, whatever the opposite of the pristine, well-lit, promising, and even futuristic jobs being churned out by the white-collar world. The university, we were told by our parents, teachers, guidance counselors, the media, and broader society, was the way of the future. Many schools were scaling back or outright eliminating shop and tech ed programs, or they were on their way to doing so in subsequent years.

In closing, while progress is being made to move away from the longstanding misconceptions that K-12 education's role is to (or should be to) prepare students for university and that somehow, any other post-secondary opportunities are inferior by comparison, much work remains. Such beliefs are doing a great disservice to both individual students and to the broader society and economy to which we all belong. Our thinking must change. We must rip up this "middle-class script" and write a new one in its place.

I'll leave you with this final thought, also from Manufacturing and the trades in schools:

Want the best of both worlds? I typically advise students these days to take a serious look at a technical college or vocational school education. Learn a provable hard skill or trade first, something that you're really going to enjoy. Enter the workforce with those skills and gain some practical on-the-job experience for a while. And then consider going for the bachelor's and perhaps even beyond, if that's something you'd like to do. Maybe get a bachelor's in a business/management/leadership program. Now, you have two good things going for you - first, you have that concrete, verifiable skill set. And you'll also have that bigger-picture education that can help you set the stage for a promotion into management or even off on your own as a business owner yourself some day.

Manufacturing and the trades in schools

A look at the return of manufacturing and the trades in schools and in conversations.

Recently, I published a post on here entitled, "I was a slacker in high school," in which I discussed the regrets I still have all these years later for not taking high school more seriously. That post generated quite a bit of buzz, fielding over 500 hits in less than a day and a couple of reader comments below the post. I'm really grateful for all the interest and positive feedback surrounding that post, and I truly hope it can serve as a teachable moment.

Today, I want to talk about another important factor that affected my time in high school in, looking back on it, a negative way, as well, and how younger generations of high school students and graduates are now benefiting from a renaissance in programming, resources, and real conversations. I'm talking about the resurgence in manufacturing and the trades in schools.

I graduated high school in 2001. While I was in high school in the late 1990s, manufacturing in the United States was undergoing a serious exodus. Perhaps the hardest hit areas were in the Midwest, where manufacturing was a way of life, providing many families with a stable, comfortable, middle-class lifestyle. Many of the men in my family, along with many of our family friends, were skilled machinists. And many of them lost their jobs in the late 90s, including my father, an uncle, and even my mother, who did assembly work. Many plants during this time closed up shop and moved down to Mexico, where labor and other resources were much cheaper.

At the time, the message to those of us in high school was, "Avoid manufacturing. It's dead in this country. There's no future in it. Go to college." The four-year university was all the talk. That was the path we were all encouraged - even outright steered toward - to pursue. Many students from my generation, including myself, were the first ones in our families to go to university. Pursuing a university education, we were told, would lead to a great, comfortable living, and one that's clean - away from the oily, dirty, dim-lit environment often associated with machining and factory work back then, however real or merely perceived.

Simultaneously, the other trades, along with technical colleges and vocational schools, were largely downplayed as post-high school options, as well. These jobs and paths just weren't really talked about much, it seemed, and when they were, they were often cast in the same light as the then-disappearing jobs in the manufacturing realm - grimy, labor-intensive, whatever the opposite of the pristine, well-lit, promising, and even futuristic jobs being churned out by the white-collar world. The university, we were told by our parents, teachers, guidance counselors, the media, and broader society, was the way of the future. Many schools were scaling back or outright eliminating shop and tech ed programs, or they were on their way to doing so in subsequent years.

There's just one problem with this widely-held blind faith in the university system - unless we want to go back to kerosene lamps, outhouses, primitive buildings and living spaces, making our own tools and utensils, and horse and carriage for transportation, we will always need electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters, drywallers, welders, mechanics, machinists, assembly workers, automotive workers, you name it.

Flash forward to today. In more recent years, especially the present day, the tide has shifted back to fully embracing trades education. We as a society are back again to encouraging technical colleges and vocational schools as viable post-high school options. We're reviving old and establishing new partnerships to funnel students and graduates into skilled labor employment and apprenticeships. And we're simply having real conversations of substance. And, in a somewhat ironic twist, it's these types of jobs and career tracks that are the ones offering the comfortable, promising living these days. Furthermore, manufacturing facilities have come a long ways in cleanliness and lighting levels to match!

See, we've managed to ignore, downplay, or steer away from these lines of work for so long, while simultaneously over-flooding the market with bachelor's degree holders, that there are huge labor shortages - and hence big-time demand for young adults showing an interest and aptitude for them.

Now, I don't regret my university education and subsequent graduate-level studies. Through this education, I've discovered and enjoyed a lot of work meaningful and satisfying to me over the years, including various stints in entrepreneurship. I've also established and have benefited from quite a few professional and networking relationships, many of which have become close, personal friendships. But while I have no regrets on my university education, I also wish that these opportunities were discussed and presented to us in a more positive - literally, a more honest - light back then. Big opportunities that you now have if you're interested.

Want the best of both worlds? I typically advise students these days to take a serious look at a technical college or vocational school education. Learn a provable hard skill or trade first, something that you're really going to enjoy. Enter the workforce with those skills and gain some practical on-the-job experience for a while. And then consider going for the bachelor's and perhaps even beyond, if that's something you'd like to do. Maybe get a bachelor's in a business/management/leadership program. Now, you have two good things going for you - first, you have that concrete, verifiable skill set. And you'll also have that bigger-picture education that can help you set the stage for a promotion into management or even off on your own as a business owner yourself some day.  

Exploring careers in the trades

Recently, I discussed career opportunities in fields like IT and engineering, and how you can pair the skill of writing with your hobbies and interests to become a recognized expert at things you truly love.

In this post, I want to talk about exciting opportunities in the world of trades. Examples of professions in the trades include that of plumber, electrician, machinist, painter, carpenter, welder, and mechanic, to name a few.

Skilled tradespeople are in extremely high demand these days, and that's great news for young men and women like yourselves interested in exploring these fields.

High demand means the labor supplies in these fields are low, and that means you and your skills are rare, or scarce. And that translates into high pay, solid benefits, and plenty of opportunities for advancement if you stick around and take your work seriously.

Why is that? Why is the demand so high for these valuable skills and talents? What are the reasons behind such low labor supplies?

For starters, so the story goes, the trades were often overlooked, downplayed, and just ignored outright for many years by high school guidance offices, teachers, parents, the media, and society in general. The trades took a backseat to the traditional four-year university, which became the popular talk of the town, so to speak. Everyone wanted their children to attend university, and if they were given other suggestions, they took offense to that, as if they were being told their children weren't good enough for university. Of course, I'm speaking in pretty broad, general terms, but you get the picture. The long and short of it is that students were steered away from the trades as an option post-high school. Because of this, not enough young people were going into these lines of work. Meanwhile, the tradespeople already doing this work are getting older and retiring or starting to think about retirement. There weren't enough younger workers to replace them, and there still aren't enough.

Now, we're at a critical point with the labor supply. Companies can't find enough skilled workers, or young people interested in learning. Case in point: Before arriving in my current line of work as an instructional aide at a public high school, I had always worked in business, and my last position before this one was as an office manager for a remodeling contractor in Muskego. We attempted to find a young apprentice, someone who would be interested in earning on the job while learning the trade of carpentry from our highly-skilled carpenters, who are aging and in need of additional help. I put out this job ad looking for an apprentice, and we advertised it heavily in our area. No one responded.

If you're interested in exploring careers in the skilled trades, here are some great Web resources and ideas to get you thinking further:

Do you have any shop classes at your school that you can try out?

Anyone in your family or family friends in the trades that you can talk with?

5 Booming Trade Careers That Don’t Require Student Loans

Skilled Trade Jobs in Demand

Careers in building and fixing things - Khan Academy