Too Old To Learn A Trade?

Are you ever too old to learn a trade?

We’ve all uttered the phrases “every day’s a school day” and “you learn something new every day”. Have you at any point followed those statements with an age limit?

At Options Skills, we have people of all backgrounds and experience levels coming to us to learn a trade.

We also have people of all ages and there’s one question we’re regularly asked by the more mature candidates. “Am I too old to learn a trade?”

Job For Life?

Leave school, find a career path and stick with it. Essentially, find a job for life. As teenagers, we’re encouraged to enter into particular industries, whether that’s through university, training  courses, apprenticeships, etc. by family, friends and even teachers.

But what happens if that industry just isn’t for us? Do we go for it anyway because of the stability of it all or pursue our passion?

What happens if initially it is an industry we want to go into but we later change our mind? Do we stick with it due to the amount of time we’ve invested or start again with something new?

We spend so much of our lives at work that it’s important to be happy in what we’re doing. Over the years, many people find their roles become less fulfilling and begin looking at other options.

Should we be discouraged from switching to a new career? One that could suit us better and make us happier?

Age Barriers?

We recently published a poll on Twitter asking tradespeople at what age they joined the industry. We found that the majority of participants became trades workers when they were between the age of 16 and 24. A few people were even younger than that when they first started learning the ropes alongside their dads. For many of those people, they have remained in the trades to this day and are still as happy with their career choice now as they were when they started out.

However, it’s clear that it’s becoming more and more common for people to change their careers later in life. No longer is it just 18-24-year-olds attending university and undertaking apprenticeships and training courses.

20% of participants in our poll said they were 25-34 when they joined the trades. 7% were between the ages of 35 and 44 and 4% were over the age of 45.

While it’s clear that more people in the industry learn their trade at a young age, almost a third of those polled were 25 or over.

CALLING ALL TRADESPEOPLE!👷‍♂️👷‍♀️

We’re doing a little research and would be interested to know, at what age did you join the trades industry? @TradesTalk @proelectrician @PB_mag @phpi @Installermag #TradesTalk #SkilledTrade #Tradespeople@snlhomerepairs @EarthNicks @grbservices

— Options Skills (@OptionsSkills) September 6, 2019

At Options Skills, we get hundreds of people each week from all over the UK and even further afield contacting us and looking to become an electrician, gas engineer or plumber. We’re seeing more and more people choosing to learn a trade as mature learners.

Why Learn A Trade?

There are a number of reasons to join the trades and you can see just some of those reasons in our blog post: Why Consider A Career In The Trades Industry?

But to be brief, training can be done around existing responsibilities, whether that’s work or family life. In some trades training, you’ll have the opportunity to earn while you’re training like with our NVQ Level 3 Electrical training. You’ll be able to get straight on the tools and each day will be different both in your training and on the job.  You’ll be in an industry that allows you to work on an employed, self-employed or sub-contract basis and this means both flexibility and a high earning potential.

Coming from another industry, you have the chance to transfer your existing skills to the trades. Whether that’s time-management, organisation or even IT skills, you can utilise these skills to give you a head start in the trades industry.

Research undertaken by Jobbio found that just 23% of Brits are always happy in their jobs.  In comparison, in a survey by One4All Rewards, they found that over 50% of trades workers scored their workplace happiness at eight or more out of 10.

There’s a demand for high-quality tradespeople and there’s no reason why you can’t be one of them – whether you’re 18, 38 or 58.

Get in touch with Options Skills on 0800 802 1306 today to find out more about our trades training courses.