Machinist’s Corner: Apprenticeships wanted

Lately, I haven’t been hearing much about machinist apprenticeship programs.

I have been hearing about vo-tech schools, as well as job shops hiring people off the street to just push buttons. Do apprenticeship programs still exist in the U.S.?

The answer is “yes!”

The Madison Area Technical College and Gateway Technical College here in Wisconsin are two examples of schools offering machinist apprenticeship programs. I can almost guarantee that you can find a similar program at any large technical college near you.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), a machinist apprentice requires 4 years of training, including 7,888 hours of on-the-job training, 432 hours of paid related instruction and additional hours of unpaid related instruction. (Note that 7,888 + 432 = 8,320, which is 4 years when divided by 40 hours per week and 52 weeks in a year.)

Wisconsin’s requirement that apprentices complete a transition-to-trainer course during their final year of anapprenticeship is a way of paying it forward. As journeymen, they will be responsible for passing on their skills to new apprentices. This 8-hour course teaches a journeyman how to serve as a mentor and job coach, provide hands-on skill training and give positive and effective performance feedback—a great idea to help future generations of apprentice machinists.