Education · 1 of 4

The path

A paid apprenticeship, not a degree. Roughly four years, most of it working.

1. 1

   High school diploma or an equivalency certificate

   Grade 12

   Shop, welding and math classes help. You need to be 18 and pass a drug test and a physical.

2. 2

   Apply to a local apprenticeship

   Weeks to a year of waiting

   Applications open in windows, not all year. Local lodges of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers run the main programs, and there are open shop programs too.

3. 3

   Get indentured and start work

   Immediately

   You are a paid employee from the first day, working alongside qualified boilermakers.

4. 4

   Work plus classroom training

   About 4 years

   Registered apprenticeships run on a minimum of about 2,000 hours of paid work plus roughly 144 hours of classroom instruction a year.

5. 5

   Journeyman boilermaker

   After the hours

   Finish your hours, pass your welding tests, and you are qualified nationwide.