Sheet metal instructor Chris Coatsworth started his apprenticeship in the skilled trades at 18. His dad was a sheet metal worker, and he knew he didn’t want to go to college.
“I liked doing stuff with my hands, and I did not feel that a desk job would be good for me,” says Coatsworth, who is now an instructor with Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 104 union in California. “I originally actually wanted to do architectural sheet metal, but my dad went through as an installer then transitioned into balancing.”