By now you may well be asking yourself, how does a person learn all these incredible skills? All I can say is: practice makes perfect! Become a metal roofer! Or a sheet metal worker.
You'll learn skills that will make the people around you turn green with envy; you'll work in exceptional places, meet nice workmates and experience real team spirit. The entry requirements here in Germany aren't too tricky. But for anyone who wants to aim high, there are some genuine opportunities for promotion in this trade.
During a three-and-a-half-year apprenticeship, topics include covering and maintaining roof and wall surfaces, regenerative energies, green roofs, occupational safety and environmental protection. At the vocational school, special metalworking techniques are taught: joining, seaming roofs, forming profiles and metal sheets, soldering and welding techniques, making profiles and covering surfaces. Once the journeyman's exam is in the bag, the next step is to become a master or, depending on personal qualifications, move straight on to college, to study energy and building technology, for example, or civil engineering.
www.beruf-spengler.de
Well? Does that sound appealing? If the answer is "yes", the Central Association for Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning – Zentralverband Sanitär-Heizung-Klima – offers a website full of information. Or you can ask our friendly staff here at the museum. Because if you're looking for a trade with tradition and a future, the sheet metal workers and coppersmiths are the right people for you!
All depictions: © Europäisches Klempner- und Kupferschmiedemuseum, Foto: Klaus Hofmann
