Journeyman

A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee. They earnt ehir license by education, supervised experience and examination. lthough journeymen have completed a trade certificate and are allowed to work as employee's, they may not yet work as self-employed master craftsmen.   Journeymen were paid daily. Each individual belonged to an individual guild that recognised three ranks of workers: apprentices, journeyman and masters. A journeyman, as a qualified tradesman could become a master and run their own business, but most continued working as employees.   Guidelines were put in place to promote responsible tradesmen, who were held accountable for their own work and to protect the individual trade and the general public from unskilled workers. To become a master, a journeyman has to submit a master piece of work to a guild for evaluation. Only after evaluation can a journeyman be admitted to the guild as a master. Sometimes, a journeyman was required to accomplish a three-year working trip, which may be called the Journeyman Years.   In some parts of the world, spending time as a wandering journeyman, moving from town to town to gain experience of different workshops, was an important part of the training of an aspirant master. Carpenters and other artisans have retained the tradition of travelling journeyman even today, but only a few still practice it. Sometimes these journeyman were known as Compagnons.   The modern apprenticeship system aims to build skills by on-the-job training. An apprentice is able to earn a living while learning new skills. The working environment is closely linked to the employer giving the individual company the opportunity to shape the apprentice, within the guidelines, to suit particular requirements. Quite often, a strong working relationship is built between employee and employer.   Sometimes in order to gain the license, the craftsmen must have required the time in the field to be met (usually a minimum of 8000 hours) and time in an approved class setting (700 hours). A journeyman has the responsibility of supervising workers or apprentices of lesser experience and training them and has the qualifications (knowledge and skills) to work unsupervised themselves.