Are you interested in a new career and want to learn a trade? Attending a trade school is the fastest way to start earning in a new trade specific to your skill set. Most trade school programs are completed in less than 9 months. They offer you a focused curriculum and prepare you with just the right knowledge and skills you need to apply for an entry-level position. Now, are you asking yourself, “What is a trade school?”
What is a Trade School?
A trade school, often called a vocational or technical school, offers training in a specific trade or job specialty. Many 4-year colleges focus on electives the first two years and then students finally start to specialize in a specific degree. Trade schools focus only on what the student needs to learn to get an entry-level position in a given trade. Like an apprenticeship, trade schools offer real world training in actual workshops allowing students to learn as they perform trade practices and techniques directly from an instructor with experience in the industry.
After completing trade school, students may need to pass certification or licensing exams to show proficiency in their given trade to prospective employers. Once exams are completed, graduates apply to work in local workshops, organizations, and trade-specific companies. Trade schools are one of the shortest paths to earning out of the many college options available.
What Careers Do Trade Schools Offer?
Trade schools offer many different careers, from construction, welding, and HVAC to allied health care and even computer technology. Most trade schools specialize in a specific trade like cosmetology, healthcare, computers, or construction to name a few. MIAT College of Technology specializes in aircraft maintenance, HVACR technician training, welding technology, energy technology, wind power technician training, and robotics and automation technology
Career #1: Aircraft Maintenance Technician
Trade schools that specialize in aircraft maintenance teach students to inspect, maintain, and repair aircraft and helicopters. Aircraft maintenance technicians repair and perform scheduled maintenance on aircraft. In trade schools, aircraft maintenance technicians learn how to diagnose and repair mechanical or electrical problems, repair aircraft components and systems, replace defective parts, examine aircraft parts for defects, follow instructions in maintenance manuals, inspect completed work to make sure aircraft are flight ready, and keep maintenance records for future use.
Some of the training for aircraft maintenance is applicable to airframe and powerplant technicians. Trade schools prepare students in airframe and powerplant technology programs to become FAA certified airframe and powerplant technicians. Trade school graduates are then able to choose from a wide range of entry-level employment opportunities in both aviation and other technical career fields.
Career #2: HVACR Technician
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers (HVACR Technicians) install, maintain, troubleshoot, and repair heating, ventilation, cooling, and refrigeration systems that control temperature and air quality. At a trade school, HVAC technicians learn how to work on residential, industrial, and commercial job sites. They manage electrical components and the wiring of HVACR systems. Students learn how to inspect, troubleshoot, and test systems and components. Trade school students learn proper mathematics and how to read schematics and blueprints. Students also learn how to record maintenance and repair jobs for future use and warranty claims.
Many HVAC technicians attend trade schools so they can get a certification to prove standard knowledge, productivity, and safety protocols. One of the certification exams is awarded by an association called the North American Technician Excellence (NATE). Prove your proficiency in HVACR systems by graduating from a trade school training program and becoming certified as an HVACR technician.
Career #3: Welding Technology
Trade school trains students to become welders, cutters, solders, and brazers. Welding specialists learn how to join or cut metal parts and fill holes, indentations, and seams in metal products. At a trade school, welders learn how to study drawings, symbols, blueprints, sketches, and specifications. They learn proper mathematics to successfully calculate welding and cutting of materials. They learn how to inspect materials, monitor welding temperatures to avoid overheating, and to determine the proper technique to maintain welding equipment and machinery.
Trade school teaches welders the art of metal arc welding, pipe welding, soldering, fitting, and fabrication. They teach students about MIG welding and TIG welding. Trade schools also teach students the latest trends and practices for a successful career in welding technology.
Career #4: Wind Power Technician
With the growth in the renewable energy sector, trade schools are training students in many different energy technology fields including wind power. During a wind energy program Students learn how to inspect, maintain, and repair wind turbines and their components. Training involves in-person repair of wind turbine parts and systems as well as off-site monitoring of wind turbines to measure performance, energy generation and up-time. Training offers entry-level positions as wind service technicians, control room operators, as well as wind turbine sales representatives. Renewable, environmentally sustainable wind energy is a vital resource and an important industry for everyone’s future.
How Long is a Trade School Program?
Unlike many 4-year colleges that mandate elective courses, many trade school programs can be completed in less than 7 to 9 months. Students attending trade schools can start earning in months rather than years. For those that have other responsibilities, just want to prepare for a trade, or are looking for a dedicated trade program, then attending a trade school may be the right option for you.
Are you interested in learning more about the programs offered at a trade school? If you’re mechanically inclined, enjoy working with your hands, and are looking for technical career training with a future, MIAT College of Technology can help. Engaging, hands- on vocational training at MIAT College of Technology can open the doors to a wide variety of exciting careers.
Our aircraft mechanic and maintenance training can lead to employment opportunities in many industries, including aviation maintenance, HVACR (heating, ventilation, air conditioning & refrigeration), wind energy, power plant operations, and industrial machinery. With MIAT College of Technology, you get real-world, career-focused education. MIAT students learn directly in shop facilities that include aircraft, engines, wind turbines, and lots of other equipment to ensure you’ll be ready to hit the ground running in your future job.
MIAT’s goal is to produce graduates who are in the top echelon of their initial on-the-job training due to the foundational knowledge they receive at MIAT. To learn more about Energy Technology career training and to explore if MIAT is right for you, fill out the form on this page.
Contact us if you are interested in becoming a wind turbine technician today.
For important information about the educational debt, earnings, and completion rates of the students who attended this program visit the following disclosure links.