Page 13 - Careers & Stuff 2021

Matt Truszcienski
Getting Paid to Learn
APPRENTICESHIPS ARE A GREAT WAY TO LAUNCH A CAREER
BY KIM HOEY
Four years ago, Shawn Galligan was working part-time jobs in retail and wondering what he
was going to do with his life. Today, he is an electrician with a great job and bright future.
It all started when a friend suggested he look into an apprenticeship.
“I was completely green. I knew some basic tools,” Galligan, 29, says of the day he started looking into apprenticeship opportunities in construction — plumbing, welding, pipefitting, HVAC — and decided he might be well suited to electrical work. His lack of experience wasn’t a problem. He was picked up by M. Davis & Sons construction out of Wilmington, started attending class
two nights a week and working 40 hours as a paid electrician’s helper. Another M. Davis employee, Matt
Truszcienski, 31, graduated from his apprenticeship program as a pipefitter this past spring. He says of the program: “If you’re willing to work, willing to learn, it’s hands-on and someone is by your side.”
Some 1,500 Registered Apprentices are working in over 20 different occupations in Delaware right now. The most in-demand apprenticeship programs involve construction, but opportunities don’t end there. More than 390 apprentice sponsors are registered in Delaware, including employers in automotive mechanical, fire protection, hospitality, child care and medical fields.
DelawareBusinessTimes.com | CAREERS & STUFF 11
JOE DEL TUFO/MOONLOOP PHOTOGRAPHY