What to Expect When Working with a Journeyperson

During the learning stages of your professional career, meant for you to acquire the necessary skills to carry out your chosen trade in the most competent of ways, you’ll work with a journeyperson. 

Such a professional tradesperson will share with you their wealth of industry-specific knowledge and experience, but what exactly should you expect from this particular professional connection? Let’s take a closer look at how a journeyperson can shape your career path. 

What Is a Journeyperson?

A journeyperson is a qualified tradesperson who will assist you in your daily professional activities. The designated worker is an experienced individual who will ascertain your skillset while pinpointing any areas that need further fine-tuning. There are two types of journeyperson qualifications: compulsory or voluntary qualification. 

The compulsory journeyperson qualification process is widely used in the construction industry and validates that journeypersons are properly trained after having completed all their training hours and provincial or territorial qualifying examinations. This mandatory process largely includes regulated trades, such as electricians, pressure system welders, or refrigeration technicians, to ensure the safety of labourers.  

A master tradesperson (compagnon d’apprentissage) and a journeyperson are two different things. A master tradesperson doesn’t necessarily have a journeyperson competency certificate (JCC). A master tradesperson is a skilled individual, but not a certified journeyperson, who’s assigned by a company on a voluntary basis to help a new recruit.

The designated master tradesperson has at least five years of workplace mentoring experience or three years for persons holding a competency certificate (college or vocational studies diploma or attestation of vocational specialization) or credential recognition (Reconnaissance des compétences de la main-d’œuvre program). 

The targetted master-apprenticeship trades aren’t lacking, here are a few examples: welder-assembler, sawmill machine operators, or CNC (computer numerical control) machinists. 

To access the complete list of trades to know whether the journeyperson process is compulsory or voluntary, click here.

Working with a Journeyperson: What Should You Expect?

In terms of the apprenticeship period, let it be said that it really depends on the trade in question. If it relates to a trade for which qualification is compulsory, the apprenticeship periods are typically regulated as 2,000-hour blocks. For a voluntary-based certification trade, the apprenticeship period can oscillate between three and 36 months.

If you attach great significance to your workplace autonomy, rest assured: a journeyperson is there to assist you and will simply allow you to better ascertain both your weaknesses and strengths to swiftly improve your work performance. Take it as a mentor-mentee relationship instead of strictly supervision. 

Moreover, for the purpose of customizing apprenticeships, it’s essential to maintain a specific apprentice-journeyperson ratio. A journeyperson can’t mentor more than one apprentice at a time: in specific trades, it’s a two-to-one ratio, two journeypersons for one apprentice. 

Should a trade or journeyperson qualification be voluntary, the process isn’t all that different. However, in such a case, you’d receive a professional qualification certificate issued by the Government of Quebec at the end of your apprenticeship period. 

If your chosen trade is targeted by the voluntary journeyperson program, it’s within the perimeters of the Workplace Apprenticeship program (PAMT). This program allows you to receive a salary by working for a company enrolled with the program, while also gaining useful trade-specific knowledge for which you will earn a certificate at the end of your apprenticeship. 

For more information about the apprenticeship-journeyperson ratio, check out the CCQ website.

In a Nutshell

As a trade apprentice, you’re in a favourable position to benefit from a journeyperson’s field expertise to ensure you’re performing your tasks as intended. The purpose of this practice is to ensure your safety and that of the public, but also so you can learn from a person who has most likely already been through the same challenges you’re facing. 

One of the advantages of pursuing an apprenticeship with a journeyperson is specifically to draw a parallel between what you learned during your training and the reality of fieldwork. You’re enhancing the likelihood of professional success by preparing for every conceivable situation!

To shed more light on the matter, you’ll find below a list of all construction-specific trades open to apprenticeship opportunities and whether it’s a compulsory or voluntary practice.