What comes after the journeyman certificate?
Further and continuing education building on your skilled background as an orthotist
One of the strengths of a vocational education is that it is a platform, not a dead end. As a qualified orthotist, you can stay in the workshop and become better and better - or you can build further in several directions. Here you get the typical possibilities.
§Short courses to keep you sharp
The craft develops all the time - new materials, new methods, new technology. Short further training courses, among others AMU courses, let you update your skills without taking long time off work. It can be everything from new lamination techniques to digital scanning and CAD. It's a good way to stay relevant throughout your career.
§Specialization in the trade
Many orthotists find over time a field they are passionate about and become experts there. It could be work with children with athletes with diabetic feet or with complex prosthetic solutions. This kind of expertise is built through experience courses and collaboration with clinical professionals — and it makes you a specialist who is hard to do without.
§Higher education
With a vocational education behind you you have access to several higher education options particularly at business academy level. A classic path for craftspeople with technical and production-based foundation is for example production technologist which builds on the technical understanding you already have. Want to go further certain academy and diploma educations may also be an option.
| Direction | What it gives you | Typical format |
|---|---|---|
| AMU and short courses | Update on new materials, methods and technology | Days to weeks |
| Specialization in the trade | Expert status in e.g. children, sports or complex prosthetics. | Experience plus courses. |
| Business academy. | Broader technical or production education on top of your journeyman certificate | Months to year |
§Master and self-employed
Some tool parts simply cannot be milled or turned finished – either because the steel is already hardened to over 60 HRC or because the geometry has sharp internal corners that no milling tool can reach. Here spark machining, also called EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) takes over, which shapes steel using electrical discharges instead of mechanical cutting.
“Your journeyman certificate is not a full stop — it's a comma. You write the rest of the sentence yourself.”