Entering the trades
Get into a trade without guessing
You earn from the first week, you finish without tuition debt, and you hold a licence nobody can take from you. The hard part is choosing the right trade and getting through a competitive application — which is what these tools are for.
- Trades covered
- 10
- Tuition via apprenticeship
- None
- Tools available
- 13
The case is simpler than people make it
A registered apprenticeship is employment, not schooling. You are paid from the first week, typically starting near 40 to 50 percent of journeyman scale with scheduled increases as you accumulate hours and classroom credits. By the final year most apprentices are at 80 to 90 percent of scale.
Meanwhile, the four-year degree path costs tuition and four years of wages you did not earn. The gap at graduation is frequently over $150,000 in favour of the trade, before student loan interest is counted.
None of that makes a trade the right choice for you. What decides that is whether you can accept the conditions — weather, on-call rotations, travel, and what the work does to your body over twenty years. That is the honest question, and it is the one the Trade Matcher weights most heavily.
- Median pay across these trades
- $55,170
- National, per year
- Annual openings
- 507,000
- Growth plus replacement
- Tuition debt
- $0
- Via registered apprenticeship
- Years to journeyman
- 3–5
- Depending on trade
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2023 national wage estimates.
- 01
Decide which trade
Match trades against how you actually want to work — not against which pays most, because the spread within a trade is wider than the spread between them.
Trade Matcher - 02
Run the numbers
Compare an apprenticeship against trade school and a four-year degree over ten years, including forgone wages and loan interest.
Trade ROI - 03
Check your readiness
Meeting the minimum gets you considered, not accepted. Find what is missing while there is still time to fix it.
Readiness Check - 04
Prepare to start
Price a realistic first-year tool kit, and ask your local or employer for their required list before you buy anything.
Tool Kit Cost
- Career guideHow to become an electricianInstall and maintain the power, lighting and control systems in homes, businesses and industrial plants.$61,590 median4–5 years
- Career guideHow to become a plumberInstall and repair the water supply, drainage, gas and fixture systems that keep buildings habitable.$61,550 median4–5 years
- Career guideHow to become a hvac technicianInstall, service and troubleshoot the heating, cooling, ventilation and refrigeration systems buildings depend on.$57,300 median3–5 years
- Career guideHow to become a welderJoin metal for structures, pipelines, pressure vessels and manufactured goods to a qualified procedure.$48,940 median3–4 years for structural or pipe apprenticeships
- Career guideHow to become a carpenterFrame, finish and build the structures and interiors of residential and commercial buildings.$56,350 median3–4 years
- Career guideHow to become an automotive technicianDiagnose and repair the mechanical, electrical and electronic systems in cars and light trucks.$47,770 median2–4 years to reach full diagnostic capability
- Career guideHow to become a machinistProduce precision metal parts using manual and CNC machine tools to engineering tolerances.$50,840 median4 years for tool and die
- Career guideHow to become an industrial maintenance technicianKeep production equipment running by maintaining mechanical, hydraulic, electrical and control systems.$61,170 median4 years for millwright apprenticeships
- Career guideHow to become a heavy equipment operatorRun excavators, dozers, loaders and cranes to move earth and place material on construction sites.$56,160 median3–4 years
- Career guideHow to become a rooferInstall and repair the roof systems that keep water out of residential and commercial buildings.$50,030 median3 years
Tools
- CalculatorOhm's LawSolve for volts, amps, ohms or watts from any two known values.
- CalculatorVoltage DropCheck whether a conductor run stays inside the 3% branch-circuit voltage drop recommendation.
- CalculatorWire SizingFind the minimum conductor size for a load based on ampacity, temperature, bundling and distance.
- CalculatorConduit FillCheck conductor fill against NEC Chapter 9 limits and find the trade size you need.
- CalculatorBox FillCount conductor volume allowances to confirm a device box is legally large enough.
- CalculatorPipe SizingSize water supply piping from fixture unit counts, pressure and developed length.
- CalculatorDrain SizingSize drain, waste and vent piping from drainage fixture unit loads and slope.
- CalculatorDuct SizingSize round and rectangular duct from airflow and friction rate, with velocity checks.
- MatcherTrade MatcherAnswer twelve questions about how you want to work and see which trades actually fit.
- ComparisonTrade ROICompare the cost and payback of an apprenticeship, trade school or a four-year degree.
- CalculatorSalary CalculatorEstimate earnings by trade, experience level, region and overtime.
- ChecklistReadiness CheckSee whether you meet typical apprenticeship requirements and what to fix before applying.
- PlannerStarter Tool KitBuild a first-year tool list for your trade and see what it costs at three quality tiers.