Education · 1 of 5

The path

An apprenticeship, not a degree. About four fifths on the job, one fifth in a classroom.

1. 1

   Finish high school

   Grade 12

   Math, shop and physics. Get a driver's license, because no service company will hire you without one.

2. 2

   Get taken on as an apprentice

   Weeks to months

   Apply to a union local, a mechanical contractor, a gas utility or a non-union training program. This is the hard step, and persistence beats grades.

3. 3

   Register the apprenticeship

   Days

   With your state apprenticeship agency or the federal Office of Apprenticeship, so your hours are recorded and count toward the license.

4. 4

   Work and study

   4 to 5 years

   Typically four to five years, roughly 8,000 hours on the job plus several hundred classroom hours a year covering gas codes, venting, combustion, sizing and safety.

5. 5

   Sit the license exam

   After your hours

   Your state or city board tests you on the gas code and on practical work. Pass it and you are licensed to work unsupervised.