Education · 1 of 4

The path

A paid apprenticeship, not a degree. About four years, most of it on the job.

1. 1

   High school diploma or an equivalency certificate

   Grade 12

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

2. 2

   Apply to an apprenticeship

   Weeks to a year of waiting

   Local unions of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters run the main millwright programs, and plants and contractors run their own. Applications open in windows, not all year.

3. 3

   Start work as a paid apprentice

   Immediately

   You are an employee from day one, working beside qualified millwrights.

4. 4

   Work plus classroom training

   About 4 years

   Registered apprenticeships run on a minimum of about 2,000 hours of paid work a year plus roughly 144 hours of classroom instruction. Millwright programs are usually about four years in total.

5. 5

   Journeyman millwright

   After the hours

   Finish the hours, pass the program's practical and written tests, and you are qualified. There is no state exam to sit.