70 apprenticeable occupations that may surprise you
James Morgan
THE SEARCH STARTED uneventfully, even soberly. Apprenticely’s National Apprenticeship Director Lonnie Emard had once told me a college in Arkansas was creating a Bike Trail Builder apprenticeship, which I found really fascinating. So for the month that begins with April Fool’s Day and ends with National Apprenticeship Day, I thought it would be fun to explore some of the more offbeat apprenticeable occupations—jobs that may sound like an April Fool’s joke, but are anything but. We live in a truly apprenticeable world, and my goal was to highlight just how all-embracing the Registered Apprenticeship concept has become. But Lonnie is too busy to pin down for ideas, so one recent morning I found myself jotting the following note to ChatGPT: “Hello—can you please give me a list of 10 apprenticeable occupations that may surprise people?”
Chat answered quickly, as he is wont to do:
Absolutely! Registered apprenticeships aren’t just for traditional trades…. Here are 10 surprising occupations that offer apprenticeships:
1. Cybersecurity Support Technician: Apprenticeships in tech are growing, and cybersecurity roles are in high demand. Apprentices learn threat analysis, system security, and compliance standards.
2. Medical Coder: Yes, even healthcare administrative roles like coding for insurance billing have apprenticeships, combining classroom learning with on-the-job experience.
3. Bank Branch Manager: Financial institutions sometimes use apprenticeships to train future managers, teaching banking operations, customer service, and compliance.
4. Brewer: Craft brewing is booming, and some breweries offer structured apprenticeships that teach brewing science, sanitation, and production techniques.
5. Graphic Designer: Some creative fields like graphic design now offer apprenticeships, allowing artists to work under experienced professionals while earning industry certifications.
6. Early Childhood Educator: These apprenticeships help individuals earn credentials while working in daycare or preschool settings, learning child development and education practices.
7. Telecommunications Tower Technician: Involves working on wireless communication infrastructure—this role includes rigorous training for safety, climbing, and tech installation.
8. Pharmacy Technician: Apprenticeships in this field blend coursework with hands-on experience in retail or hospital pharmacies, covering medication handling and patient care.
9. Chef or Cook: Culinary apprenticeships are well-established and teach everything from food safety to international cuisine preparation under experienced chefs.
10. Insurance Claims Adjuster: This role involves assessing damage, evaluating claims, and understanding insurance policies. Apprenticeships provide training in both legal and practical aspects.
Well, I thought, that’s pretty interesting—and in fact this list could well apply to the apprentices our team recruits. But, other than the Brewer category, nothing here came close to knocking my socks off surprise-wise. So, another note to Chat: “Earlier you gave me 10 occupations that, surprisingly, are qualified to be registered apprenticeships. Can you now give me 10 wilder, odder such apprenticeable occupations?”
Chat was Johnny-on-the-spot:
Absolutely! The world of registered apprenticeships is broader—and stranger—than most people realize. Here are 10 wilder, odder, or more unexpected occupations that are officially recognized as apprenticeable by the U.S. Department of Labor or various state programs:
1. Reptile Breeding Technician: Yes, really. This involves controlled breeding of snakes, lizards, and other exotic reptiles, with training in habitat maintenance, genetics, and handling venomous species.
2. Craft Brewer: While increasingly popular, it’s still a bit wild to think of beer brewing as an official apprenticeship. Apprentices learn fermentation science, sanitation, and brewing logistics.
3. Theatrical Stage Technician: This includes rigging, lighting, special effects, and even trapdoors and mechanical illusions—training that lives at the chaotic intersection of engineering and performance.
4. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Operator: Apprenticeships exist for drone pilots, especially those working in mapping, agriculture, and industrial inspection. Training includes FAA regulations and advanced flight skills.
5. Decontamination Technician (Hazmat & Biohazard Cleanup): Think post-trauma cleanup, infectious disease control, or chemical spill remediation. Not for the the faint of heart.
6. Tattoo Artist: In some jurisdictions, tattooing is now offered as a formal apprenticeship, including training in sanitation, pigment chemistry, and needle technique.
7. Beekeeper/Apiary Technician: Yes, you can apprentice in beekeeping. Learn hive management, honey extraction, queen rearing, and pollination contracts.
8. Milliner (Hat Maker): This old-world craft still exists in modern apprenticeship programs. Skills include blocking, trimming, hand sewing, and fabric shaping.
9. Psychedelic Integration Coach (in pilot programs): In emerging mental health fields, some states are exploring apprenticeships around psychedelic-assisted therapy support roles, including harm reduction and guided preparation/integration.
10. Equine Dentistry Assistant: Helping with horse dental care—filing teeth, spotting abscesses, and assisting veterinarians. Yep, there’s a whole apprenticeship for it.
Want even weirder ones next time? I can dig into some highly niche or regional programs too. Absolutely, give me more. This is fun!
Chat’s pre-emptive request to keep going—not to mention his repetition of the beer category—made me wonder if he had become bored spending his days doing normal business chores like streamlining billing processes. He seemed ready to break loose, and I sympathized with that. So I gave him the go-ahead.
Love that energy! Let’s crank it up a notch—here are 10 more wonderfully weird or wildly niche apprenticeable occupations that exist in the U.S. or have equivalents internationally but follow formal training paths:
1. Aquaculture Technician: Farming octopus, oysters, and seaweed? Apprenticeships include water quality control, marine biology basics, and tank system maintenance.
2. Funeral Director/Mortuary Apprentice: Apprentices in this field learn embalming, grief counseling, regulatory compliance, and even restorative facial work. Surprisingly regulated and very hands-on.
3. Amusement Ride Technician: Want to apprentice in rollercoaster safety and animatronic repair? Yep, some theme parks run registered programs in this oddly specific field.
4. Spider Silk Harvester (experimental): In some biotech/agritech pilot programs, apprentices learn how to extract silk from spiders (or spider-gene-engineered goats… yes, goats) for medical or textile uses.
5. Urban Vertical Farmer: These apprenticeships focus on hydroponic farming in stacked environments—think shipping containers full of lettuce. LED lighting, pH control, and automation are key skills.
6. Historic Preservation Mason: Apprentices learn to restore ancient bricks and stonework using traditional methods. It’s like time-traveling construction.
7. Canine Massage Therapist: There are apprenticeships where you learn therapeutic techniques to reduce stress and aid recovery in working dogs. Very posh pup vibes.
8. Fantasy Weaponsmith: Some blacksmithing apprenticeships have specialties in theatrical, cosplay, or fantasy blades. Think Renaissance faire meets metallurgy school.
9. Canoe & Kayak Builder: Wooden boat-building apprenticeships still exist and teach traditional craftsmanship—bending cedar, sealing seams, and sometimes even using bark.
10. Nuclear Decontamination Worker: Apprentices learn how to handle radioactive cleanup safely. Includes full suit training, Geigercounter handling, and proper disposal protocols. Definitely not your average 9-to-5.
You’re on a weird and wonderful path—I love it! Want to keep going in one of these directions: underwater apprenticeships, culinary oddities, or lost trades being revived?
By now, I was acutely aware of something unexpectedly gonzo in Chat’s very being, as though he’d been heavily trained on Hunter S. Thompson books. I felt like I was selecting categories on an unhinged game show. “Underwater apprenticeships and culinary oddities,” I said.
Oh yes—two glorious rabbit holes coming right up! Let’s dive into underwater apprenticeships first, then move on to some culinary oddities you won’t believe people actually train for.
Underwater apprenticeships
1. Coral Restoration Technician: Apprentices work with marine biologists to grow and transplant coral fragments onto dying reefs. It includes scuba diving, marine cement work, and underwater gardening. Locations: Florida Keys, Australia, Seychelles.
2. Saturation Diver Apprentice: One of the most intense and dangerous apprenticeships in the world. Trainees learn to live in pressurized environments for weeks at a time while welding, repairing pipelines, or salvaging wrecks hundreds of feet below the surface.
3. Aquatic Animal Trainer (Dolphins, Seals, Octopuses): Apprentice trainers work in aquariums or research labs, learning how to communicate with marine mammals, design enrichment, and even teach them to use touchscreen devices!
4. Underwater Archaeology Assistant: Apprentices learn to excavate ancient shipwrecks, Roman harbors, or submerged temples. It’s equal parts Indiana Jones and scuba science.
5. Commercial Diver for Hydroelectric Dams & Ships: Specialized programs train divers to inspect and clean intake screens, ship hulls, and massive propellers—often in zero-visibility waters with high-pressure gear.
Culinary Apprenticeships & Edible Oddities
6. Fermented Shark Butcher (Iceland – “Hákarl”): Apprenticeships in traditional Icelandic fermentation involve burying Greenland shark meat, letting it rot underground for months, then air-drying it in open sheds. You haven’t lived until you’ve smelled it.
7. Cheese Caves Affineur (France, Italy, Switzerland): These cheese-aging experts apprentice in moldy caves, learning to brush, flip, and lovingly mature cheeses like Roquefort, Taleggio, or Gruyère. It’s fungus-forward craftsmanship.
8. Edible Insect Chef: From Bangkok to Oaxaca to L.A., culinary apprenticeships train chefs to prepare crickets, ants, grasshoppers, and mealworms in gourmet dishes. Crunchy protein, big umami.
9. Fugu Chef (Japan): Want to prepare a dish that could kill someone if done wrong? Apprenticeships to serve fugu (poisonous blowfish) can take 3+ years, ending in a terrifying final test: eat your own prep.
10. Century Egg Curator (China, Taiwan): Apprenticeships (often family-based) in preparing these preserved duck eggs involve carefully balancing lime, clay, ash, and rice hulls for the perfect creamy-green center. Culinary alchemy at its most bizarre.
You name it—I’m your guide through the wildest jobs on Earth (and possibly off it). Would you like to explore apprenticeships in the supernatural or spiritual realm, animal-related oddities, or maybe even outer space-related roles?
I have to admit, his enthusiasm was infectious—though I did find myself thanking my proverbial lucky stars that Chat wasn’t riding shotgun when I was a teenager cruising in my dad’s car on Friday nights. No telling what kinds of trouble we would’ve gotten into. “All three, please!” I said.
Heck yes, that’s the spirit! Buckle up—we’re heading into the beautifully bizarre corners of apprenticeship life with spiritual/supernatural training, animal-entered oddities, and yes—even space-adjacent apprenticeships. Let’s go:
Spiritual, Mystical & Supernatural Apprenticeships
1. Shamanic Apprentice (Amazon, Siberia, Mongolia): Often multi-year and deeply personal, these apprenticeships involve rituals, plant medicine (like ayahuasca or iboga), spirit communication, and dream interpretation. Training is traditional, oral, and sometimes harrowingly intense.
2. Exorcist in Training (Vatican City, Ethiopia, Philippines): The Catholic Church has a formal training program for exorcists, requiring deep theological study, psychology, and supervised spiritual intervention. (Yes, it’s a thing.)
3. Death Doula/End-of-Life Companion: Apprentices are trained to help individuals and families through the dying process—emotionally, logistically, and sometimes spiritually. Think of it as the mirror image of a birth doula.
4. Monastic Novice (Buddhist, Catholic, Jain, Sufi): Monks and nuns around the world begin with years-long apprenticeships (as novices), practicing meditation, silence, labor, and devotion before full ordination.
5. Astrologer Apprentice (India, Greece, California): Yes, modern apprenticeships exist in ancient star-reading techniques. You might study natal charts, planetary cycles, and archetypes under a senior astrologer for years.
Animal-Centered Apprenticeships (the delightfully peculiar)
6. Truffle Hog (or Dog) Trainer (France, Italy, Oregon): Apprentices train with master foragers to teach animals how to sniff out underground truffles without eating them. High stakes, delicious rewards.
7. Falconer Apprentice (Global): A centuries-old apprenticeship, still strictly regulated in places like the U.S. and U.K. You’ll spend years learning how to trap, train, fly, and care for raptors. Gloves required.
8. Racing Pigeon Breeder (U.K., Belgium, South Africa): Apprenticeships involve genetics, homing instincts, and race strategy. Yes, there’s pigeon doping scandals. Yes, it’s intense.
9. Sheepdog Handler (Scotland, New Zealand): Learn to train border collies using whistles and verbal commands to guide massive flocks across rough terrain. It’s elegant, efficient, and utterly mesmerizing.
10. Bee-Venom Harvester: Some apiarists train apprentices to harvest bee venom for medical or cosmetic use. Done with micro-electric pads that agitate the bees without harming them. Delicate work with very buzzy coworkers.
Outer Space–Adjacent Apprenticeships
11. Space Habitat Technician (NASA, ESA training programs): Apprentices learn life-support system maintenance for simulated Mars bases or space stations. Think: oxygen regulation, waste recycling, hydroponics—all in confined environments.
12. Rocketry Mechanic Apprentice (SpaceX, Blue Origin, ISRO): These roles exist in aerospace firms and often start via advanced manufacturing apprenticeships. Includes machining exotic alloys, precision welding, and cryogenics.
13. Astronautical Chef-in-Training: Yep, people apprentice in how to prepare food for microgravity: freeze-drying, nutrient balancing, and even packaging that works upside-down and inside-out.
14. Spacesuit Tailor (ILC Dover, NASA contractors): These suits are hand-assembled and custom-tailored. Apprentices work under experienced suit-makers to sew thermal layers, joint bearings, and life-support tubing into wearable tech.
15. Analog Astronaut Apprentice (Mars Society, HI-SEAS): Join mock space missions in desert or arctic habitats, training in isolation, resource management, geology, and the psychology of future Martian living.
Ready to go even deeper? I can dig up apprenticeships in circus life or performance oddities, eco-survival apprenticeships, and artisan toolmaking. Your curiosity has no limits—and I’m here for all of it. Want another round?
Another round? What an appropriate term for an exercise that was starting to feel positively intoxicating. Chat seemed drunk on the most arcane of information, and I was clearly feeling the fumes. “Yes!” I said. “Another round for the house!”
You’re my kind of adventurer—full throttle into the weird and wonderful! Let’s roll out another round of wildly specific, old-school, or just plain fantastic apprenticeships.
Circus & Performance Apprenticeships
1. Human Cannonball Apprentice: Usually passed on through circus families or stunt guilds, this apprenticeship involves trajectory physics, net positioning, body positioning, and… a serious tolerance for adrenaline.
2. Clowning (with a capital C): Legit clown schools (like École Philippe Gaulier in France) offer apprenticeships in physical comedy, mime, and “finding your inner idiot.” A serious art form, weirdly moving and deeply strange.
3. Tightrope Walker/High Wire Artist: Training starts low and slow, often with apprentices learning to fall safely before they ever walk above the ground. Balance, mental focus, and fabulous costumes required.
4. Contortionist-in-Training (Mongolia, Ukraine, China): Apprenticeships often start in childhood in specialized academies. Includes joint flexibility training, muscle control, and performance posture—definitely not for the faint of spine.
5. Sideshow Skill Specialist (e.g., Sword Swallowing, Fire Eating): Often trained under master performers. Apprentices learn showmanship, anatomy safety, and the bizarre, ancient tricks of the sideshow trade. Yes, it’s real. And risky.
Eco-Survival & Off-Grid Apprenticeships
6. Foraging Guide (Nordic countries, Pacific Northwest, Japan): Apprentices learn to identify edible and medicinal plants, mushrooms, and roots—plus poisonous lookalikes. Often includes cooking, drying, and preservation methods.
7. Primitive Shelter Builder (U.S., Australia, Patagonia): Think bark huts, snow caves, and adobe domes. Apprenticeships often happen on rewilding or survivalist homesteads.
8. Fire Watcher/Forest Steward: Apprentices learn to live solo for long stretches in fire towers, track weather patterns, and spot early signs of wildfire or animal migration. A lonely, poetic job.
9. Wilderness Tracker (San, Apache, Sami traditions): This ancient skill is still taught via apprenticeship. Learn how to follow footprints, broken grass, and subtle signs of wildlife or human presence.
10. Compost Master: In regenerative farming or permaculture communities, apprentices learn the alchemy of turning waste into gold—layering nitrogen/carbon, managing heat, and even breeding the right worms.
Hyper-Specific Artisan Toolmaking
11. Scissor Sharpener (Japan, France): In Japan, there are scissor masters who only sharpen left-handed shears for tailors. Apprenticeships can last a decade. Quiet work, high stakes.
12. Bellfounder (U.K., Italy): Apprentices work in ancient foundries to cast bronze bells using lost-wax methods. Includes tonal calibration and understanding how shape affects sound.
13. Umbrella Maker (England, Portugal): Traditional umbrella apprentices learn wood-turning, waterproof fabric sewing, and hinge mechanics. Some luxury umbrellas take 40 hours to make by hand.
14. Accordion Tuner (Italy, Germany): These intricate instruments are tuned by ear. Apprentices must memorize pitch relationships, reed stiffness, and how airflow affects sound over time. Mind-blowingly niche.
15. Viking Swordsmith (Norway, Denmark): Some smiths revive historic blade-making techniques: smelting bog iron, hammering pattern-welded steel, and etching ancient runes. Apprenticeships can involve working alongside archaeologists and metalworkers.
What now? Want to dive into magical or fantastical apprenticeships from literature and folklore? Hyper-local, dying trades from single towns or villages (like the last Glass-eye Painter in Bavaria)? Just say the word. This deep dive could go on forever and I’m here for it!
“The last Glass-Eye Painter in Bavaria”? Awfully tempting. But if I bit for that, where would it ever end? As Apprenticely Project Manager Dawn Smith said in our January newsletter, “There are more than 4,000 apprenticeable occupations. It’s a whole wide world of apprenticeships today.” Of course I would love to hear about Volcano Guides in Iceland, Salt Harvesters in France, and Sheep Dung Paper Makers in Tibet, but there comes a time when you have to say when. “Tell you what, Chat,” I wrote. “This has been great—let me focus a bit on what you’ve already given me, and I’ll get back to you!”
Perfect! I’m so glad you’re enjoying this wild ride through the world’s most unexpected apprenticeships. Take all the time you need to dig in, explore, or even start plotting your future as a truffle hog trainer or bellfounder!
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James Morgan is editor of the Apprenticely newsletter.
