Find your trade, find your future

Explore this list of trades to learn more about them, and find the right one for you.

• Auto Body Painter

  What You’ll Do: Touch up paint on vehicles, total change of outer color on vehicles per customer’s requests, and restore paint to pre-accident conditions.

  Projected growth in the field: 8%

• Body Shop Technician

  What You’ll Do: Repair and replace damaged parts, repair dents and damage from collisions, and be able to align panels to pre-accident conditions.

  Projected Growth in the field: 8%

• Carpenter

  What You’ll Do: Carpenters construct, repair, and install building frameworks and structures made from wood and other materials.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 8%

• Caterer

  What You’ll Do: Provide food service for a variety of functions. Caterers must be well-verse in all stages of food and food presentation, from appetizers to desserts. You will work closely with clients to prepare a menu and plan for the event, and be around event guests while setting up and serving; therefore, caterers need people skills as well as culinary skills.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 9%

• Chef

  What You’ll Do: Oversee the daily food preparation at restaurants and other places where food is served. They direct kitchen staff and handle any food-related concerns.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 10%

• Civil Engineer

  What You’ll Do: Conceive, design, build, supervise, operate, construct, and maintain infrastructure projects and systems in the public and private sector, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and systems for water supply and sewage treatment.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 11%

• Concrete Foreman

  What You’ll Do: Perform the tasks of a foreman by overseeing the entire concrete process from beginning to end. This includes the placing, finishing, protecting, and repairing of concrete in engineering and construction projects. 

  Projected growth in the field: 11%

• Construction Foreman

  What You’ll Do: Plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise construction projects from start to finish.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 11%

• Diesel Technician

  What You’ll Do: Inspect, diagnose, maintain, and repair any and all components of trucks, buses, and equipment, including, but not limited to the diesel engine

  Projected Growth in the Field: 9%

• Industrial Maintenance

  What You’ll Do: Maintain and repair factory equipment and other industrial machinery, such as conveying systems, production machinery, and packaging equipment. Millwrights install, dismantle, repair, reassemble, and move machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 7%

• Mason

  What You’ll Do: Perform skilled masonry work through building, altering and repairing brick and other materials. You will also repair, maintain and alter buildings, retaining walls, and other brick or stone surfaces.

  Projected growth in the field: 12%

• Mechanical Engineer

  What You’ll Do: Design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices, including tools, engines, and machines.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 9%

• Pharmacy Technician

  What You’ll Do: Pharmacy technicians help pharmacists dispense prescription medication to customers or health professionals.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 12%

• Physical Therapist Assistant

  What You’ll Do: Physical therapist assistants, sometimes called PTAs, and physical therapist aides work under the direction and supervision of physical therapists. They help patients who are recovering from injuries and illnesses regain movement and manage pain.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 30%

• Pipefitter

  What You’ll Do: Cut, thread, or hammer pipes to specifications, using tools such as saws, cutting torches, pipe threaders, or pipe benders. Assemble or secure pipes, tubes, fittings, or related equipment, according to specifications, by welding, brazing, cementing, soldering, or threading joints. Lay out pipe systems, supports, or related equipment according to blueprints.

  Projected growth in the field: 16%

• Principal

  What You’ll Do: Elementary, middle, and high school principals oversee all school operations, including daily school activities. They coordinate curriculums, manage staff, and provide a safe and productive learning environment for students.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 8%

• Registered Nurse

  What You’ll Do: Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 15%

• Roofer

  What You’ll Do: Roofers replace, repair, and install the roofs of buildings, using a variety of materials, including shingles, bitumen, and metal.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 11%

• Roofing Estimator

  What You’ll Do: Gather materials such as blueprints, specifications and proposals to identify labor, material and time needed for roofing projects and present information to clients in the form of estimates.

  Projected growth in the field: 11%

• Sonographer

  What You’ll Do: Diagnostic medical sonographers and cardiovascular technologists and technicians, including vascular technologists, also called diagnostic imaging workers, operate special imaging equipment to create images or to conduct tests. The images and test results help physicians assess and diagnose medical conditions.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 17%

• Sous-Chef

  What You’ll Do: Work closely with the executive chef in the scheduling and training of other kitchen staff, creating daily menus and new dishes, and kitchen management. Sous-chefs must be well rounded in all areas of the kitchen, as they will help train employees to fill that role. Sous-chefs must also be able to fill the role of executive chef when they are off duty and/or they move on to other jobs.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 10%

• Teacher

  What You’ll Do: Kindergarten and elementary school teachers instruct young students in basic subjects, such as math and reading, in order to prepare them for middle school.

  High school teachers help prepare students for life after graduation. They teach academic lessons and various skills that students will need to attend college and to enter the job market.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 7%

• Truck Driver

  What You’ll Do: Pick up, transport, and drop off packages and small shipments within a local region or urban area. They drive trucks with a gross vehicle weight (GVW)—the combined weight of the vehicle, passengers, and cargo—of 26,000 pounds or less. Most of the time, delivery truck drivers transport merchandise from a distribution center to businesses

  Projected Growth in the Field: 4%

• Welder

  What You’ll Do: Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers use hand-held or remotely controlled equipment to join or cut metal parts. They also fill holes, indentations, or seams in metal products.

  Projected Growth in the Field: 6%

• Wrecker Operator/Driver

  What You’ll Do: Tow, recover and relocate various pieces of equipment. Maintain equipment used in daily tasks.

  Projected growth in the field: 6%