Speed freak
I meet a lot of people in landscaping and last week I met an interesting girl from the construction industry. Even though she’s getting well paid in construction, she’s clearly aiming for a return to landscaping. Which is why she is speeding through the apprentice courses in landscape horticulture. The plan is to complete all four levels back-to-back, with one month breaks in between. In one year!
Now, I’ve heard of people doing two levels back-to-back, but never all four. Here’s why.
Sponsorship
Most candidates are sponsored by their employers and everybody wins. The worker works towards Red Seal status and collects EI while in school, the employer gets tax breaks, better employees for four seasons, and Canada’s trades get stronger.
The schooling usually lasts 6-8 weeks and then, for the rest of the year, the worker learns in the field; preferably, under a Red Seal tradesman. This is the point our speed freak apprentice is missing. Unless she’s super good-and she might be-the Red Seal exam might be difficult to pass.
Experience
Don’t be fooled by the four final level exams. The Red Seal exam is testing your technical book knowledge and your practical experience. The questions are worded to test your experience and the four levels you go through can’t feed you all of that experience. You have to earn it in the field, with your blood, sweat and tears. Well, mostly sweat. I’ve lost some blood to accidents and countless employees have brought me to tears.
Speeding through the four levels seems foolhardy but I’m sure it can be done successfully. I just wonder what kind of value she will deliver to her future employers, private or municipal.
Quality time with Vas
Of course, many of the workers I train in the field have a tendency to dismiss me. They know it all or so they think. How can white immigrant Vas help them?
The real deal is that even Red Seal Vas learns new things on the job. One of my future blogs will discuss what I learned in 2021 and it’s fun to see how easy it is to compose those kinds of blogs. But only if you have a good growth mindset.
Spending time with me in the field is pure pleasure. I firmly believe that. Now, I know a few people who openly disagree but they aren’t journeymen. They just talk a lot. Nor have they had the pleasure of my company.
This is the key: you become a great landscaper by doing the work in the field, in every season and in all kinds of weather. You learn from your mistakes and you pick up bits of technical knowledge as you go. That’s how it should work.
Good luck
I wish the girl good luck, I really do. I admire her pluck. She wants earn her Red Seal journeyman status in one season and get a municipal job. But she’s missing out on field experience. After all, the Red Seal exam questions are built on experience.
Here’s my advice: don’t rush through the apprentice levels unless you’re already super experienced and super confident. And once you pass, the learning doesn’t stop. It continues, which is why landscape horticulture is a great choice.
