What's an apprenticeship, anyways? How's it differ from a job, internship, or trade school?

Did you recently graduate, or are you trying to figure out what's next? If you’re trying to figure out your next career move, you’ve probably heard the word apprenticeship tossed around. But what exactly does it mean — and why would you choose it over a regular job, college, or trade school?

Let’s break it down in plain English.

An Apprenticeship Is “Earn While You Learn”

At its core, an apprenticeship is a paid job where your employer also trains you in a specific skill or trade. It’s a career shortcut with three big perks:

• You earn a paycheck from day one – this isn’t like unpaid internships.

• You’re learning real skills on the job – tour training is hands-on, not just theory.

• You finish with recognized credentials – Often a journeyman card, license, or industry cert that travels with you.

Think of it as some college plus employment. That employment is usually at a percentage of what you'd be paid if you were fully trained, and you can make incremental gains in your wage as you go.

For example, if you join an electrical apprenticeship, you might start at $20/hour. While you work, you’re logging hours under a licensed electrician, learning the ropes. A couple of nights a week, you take classes to cover the technical stuff like reading blueprints or understanding code requirements. In 3–5 years, you’re a journeyman electrician making $35–$45/hour with no student debt.

Pretty solid deal, right?

How It’s Different From a Job, Internship, or Trade School

A lot of people confuse apprenticeships with other early-career paths. Here’s how it stacks up:

1. Regular Job

✅ You earn money

❌ You’re not necessarily learning a career skill

❌ No clear path to advancement

2. Internship

✅ You might learn something new

❌ Often unpaid or short-term

❌ Rarely leads directly to a skilled career

3. Trade School or College

✅ You learn skills in a structured environment

✅ You can focus without work distractions

❌ You pay tuition (sometimes a lot)

❌ You don’t earn money until after graduation

4. Apprenticeship

✅ Paid from day one

✅ Hands-on training from experienced mentors

✅ Credentials that often lead straight to a career

Who Are Apprenticeships For?

Apprenticeships are for anyone who wants to:

• Learn a trade or technical skill without massive student debt

• Get hands-on experience instead of sitting in a lecture hall

• Earn while building a career path that can grow for decades

Now, it'd be fantastic if apprenticeships were so popular in this country that they were considered a standard, parallel path to college. Unfortunately, we're not there yet (but many people are working on it). You can get into an apprenticeship immediately after school, and some states are fantastic as this type of youth apprenticeship -- see South Carolina, North Carolina, and Wisconsin for a few examples. That said, the average age of an apprentice in the U.S. is around 27 years old. Most apprentices try something else -- maybe some college, maybe service jobs, or an industry that wasn't a fit -- before discovering and joining an apprenticeship. If you're around this age, you're at the right place. If you're younger, congratulations, your simple awareness from this blog post put you ahead of the average apprentice.

What industries offer apprenticeships?

Historically, apprenticeships in the U.S. were offered almost exclusively in the building trades and some manufacturing positions. While these industries still dominate with their head start, it's no longer true that apprenticeship are just for construction. There are apprenticeships in:

• IT and cybersecurity

• Healthcare (like medical assistants or lab techs)

• Manufacturing and robotics

• Energy, especially green energy and utilities

• Teaching and education

What happened? Over the past 10 years, a lot of people in government, workforce, and industry looked up and realized the apprenticeship model wasn't limited to the trades at all. Earn while you learn can work in many different industries -- WorkHands has software developer apprentices, for example. Culturally, many of these new industries are still figuring out how apprenticeship fits, but this isn't a new idea. Countries like Germany, Switzerland, and the U.K. have had varied industry apprenticeships for some time now.

Bottom Line

An apprenticeship is the middle ground between school and work that gives you the best of both worlds. You’re not stuck in debt, you’re learning real skills, and in a few years, you’ll have a career that pays well and travels with you. Also, it's not terminal! Sometimes, there's this worry that you're stuck with whatever you apprentice in. That couldn't be farther from the truth. You can apprentice as a carpenter today and become a structural engineer or contractor tomorrow. Apprenticeships mainly change the pathway we expect for college -- for the better, we'd argue.

If you’ve been debating college, a random job, or trying to break into a new industry, give apprenticeships a serious look. Ask your friends, your school, and your colleagues about them. The more apprenticeships are requested, the more likely we'll see them become part of the norm in every industry.