Further and continuing education for machine carpenters
What you can build on your journeyman certificate
Your journeyman certificate is not necessarily the final station. Machine carpentry lies in a field between craft, industry and design, and that offers a wide range of possibilities for further study — either straight away or after a few years in the trade. Some paths lead deeper into the craft, others towards production, management or design.
§Keep skills sharp with courses
The most down-to-earth form of further training is short, targeted courses — for example AMU courses — which you take alongside work. They can cover new materials, CNC programming, assembly techniques or certificate renewal. It's a way to stay updated without taking an entire new qualification.
§EUX as springboard
If you choose the EUX path during the qualification, you get both the journeyman certificate and a higher examination certificate. This gives you the entry-giving subjects needed to study further without having to attend upper secondary school afterwards. EUX is therefore relevant if you already know early on that you want to progress later.
§Higher educations in continuation of the profession
With machine woodworking background and the right entrance subjects you can apply for several further education programmes that are close to the trade's world. Several of them are natural steps up for a skilled worker who wants to work more with production drawing design or management.
| Direction | What you work with |
|---|---|
| Production technologist | Optimization and management of production, e.g. in a furniture company |
| Design technologist | Design and development of products furniture and interior design |
| Building technician | Technical work in construction, a step towards becoming a structural engineer |
| Building constructor | Design and management of construction projects |
| Architect | Drawing and design of buildings, rooms, and furniture (typically via the EUX route) |
§Academy educations alongside work
If you have a few years in the trade, you can take an academy education part-time while you work. It is higher education at a level above vocational education, and can for example be about management, production or innovation. The advantage is that you can stay in your job and build theory on top of the experience you already have.
§The way towards leadership and self-employed
Some machine woodworkers move towards leading a production, becoming a work leader or starting for themselves. Here it is less a specific education and more a combination of professional skill, experience and business understanding that is required. Courses in for example finance, calculation and management can be a good investment if you want to go that way.
§Choose based on what draws you
There is no one right path forward. If you want to stay in the craft and machinery and become even better courses and specialization are obvious. If you aim for production design or management production technologist design technologist and constructor point that way. What matters is that the journeyman's certificate keeps doors open — you can always build further later.