What Hard Skills do I Need?
There are a few hard skills you should have if you want to get into a trade. Some of these you can teach yourself.
- Be able to read a tape measure – Being able to efficiently read a tape measure is a fantastic hard skill to have. If you don’t know how to read a tape measure, you can learn HERE. In most trades, you will use some sort of measuring device. With that being said, if you can read: 1/16 of an inch all the way up to a full inch, that is a great place to start.
- Be able to do basic algebra – Math is almost always involved in some way shape or form. Whether you are doing electrical theory or trying to find dimensions to build a cylinder tank, math is needed. You don’t need calculus, or need to know how to do extremely difficult equations. However, having basic algebra math skills WILL help you significantly when getting into a trade. Some trades even have an aptitude test to get into an apprenticeship. So brush up on your math, it will only help you! If you want to check out how math is used in a trade, click HERE.
- Be able to tie knots &/OR read blueprints – Knots are used in MANY trades. Anything that involves rigging, uses knots. Trades like: lineman, boiler makers, ironworkers, they all use knots. This is a skill you can teach yourself! If you want to learn the most important knot, click HERE. Being able to read blueprints is a little bit more of a technical skill. However, it is a teachable skill and varies between trades. Almost everything that is built requires a blueprint or spec sheet of some sort!
