After the journeyman certificate — what can you build on?

When you have your journeyman certificate you have a trade and an income – but you also have a strong ticket forward. Vocational educations are built so a skilled background opens a long range of courses and further education. Here are the most important paths for an industrial technician.

The fastest form of further education is short courses where you update or expand a specific skill without leaving the job market for long. In the metal and industrial field there are labor market educations (AMU) covering e.g. CNC, measurement technology, robots and quality control. They are short, practice-based and can be taken while you work.

• 01AMU courses within CNC, metal processing, and measuring
• 02Courses in robots and automation
• 03Supplier and machine courses, e.g. on a new CNC control system
• 04Courses in quality control and documentation

With a skilled background you can apply to several business academy educations that typically last a couple of years and combine theory with practice. They are close to what you already know and lift you towards development planning and management in production.

If you want to go further yet, there are several longer paths. A skilled background can be built further toward machine master or a professional bachelor in technology and production. If you have taken the education as EUX or supplement with an access course, you can also work your way toward an engineering degree, e.g. mechanical engineer. It requires more time and typically some supplementing but it is a real path from workshop to engineer-near functions.

You can also stay in the craft and become better at breadth. An industrial technician can over time sharpen their profile toward, for example, CNC programming, robot technology, measurement techniques, quality, or prototype manufacturing and become the specialist colleagues ask for advice. In production, the deep expert is sought after.

Ways forward — briefly

• 01Short courses (AMU etc.) — maintain and expand specific skills
• 02Business academy — production technologist, automation technologist, operations technologist, etc.
• 03Machine master and professional bachelor — toward technology operations and management
• 04Engineer – especially with EUX or a qualifying course
• 05Professional specialization — become the deep expert in a craft niche.

“A journeyman's certificate closes no doors. It is the foundation you can choose to build as high on as you want.”