Best advice my Dad gave me, I was no good at school but was not allowed to leave unless I got a apprenticeship, this was the same rule for all 5 of his kids. so I started my motor mechanic apprenticeship at 16 and loved it, I was working on high end prestige cars. With some money in my pocket I had my Sandman on the road as a second year. being young as soon as I qualified I packed my bags put the sandman in Dads shed and went round the world traveling for a year. when I was in Canada I had a few months working for a transport company and got a taste for heavy Diesel. after returning to oz I went back to where I did my time bt got a bit bored. I got a lucky start in mining and did my second trade so I'm now a Diesel mechanic as well. I now run workshops in mining and have had a few apprentices some good some bad. The Bad part I don't like about apprenticeships now is its basically impossible to fail or get held back and even more impossible to sack an apprentice no matter how bad.. so some end up getting signed off just to get rid of them but this is resulting in some sub standard qualified trades out there.