Finding success without a four-year degree
By Marcie Howerton, Student Submission
How many times have you been told that you must have a four-year degree in order to be successful?
Nowadays, earning a certificate for skill-based jobs is just as important as a degree. Skilled trade programs are one option where earning certificates, associate degrees and even apprenticeships are the key to success.
Jeremy Zadonia, a journeyman toolmaker working at Nexteer, attended Delta College in the 1990s and has a successful career with the education he earned.
Growing up, Zadonia was exposed to several areas of skilled trades through his father. Once in high school, he decided to attend the Bay Arenac Skill Center to gain more hands-on experience and knowledge of skilled trades.
After graduating, Zadonia knew he wanted to be a journeyman toolmaker and had to choose between an apprenticeship or college.
Apprenticeships are sponsored by businesses and allow students to train and go to school while working for the company. They pay for the education aspect of the training, which makes apprenticeships more desirable.
With a solid foundation and work ethic, Zadonia found a machine shop that offered an apprenticeship in tool making. While working and proving himself as a solid employee, Zadonia completed entry-level tasks such as roughing and cutting stock, and running manual mills and lathes. He was offered the apprenticeship and began attending Delta in 1996.
Zadonia took classes that taught him the skills he needed to be a successful tool maker. Blueprint reading, physics, trigonometry, machine tools, hydraulics, pneumatics and metallurgy gave him the book-knowledge he needed to complete the hands-on aspect of his job.
He was also required to complete 8,000 hours of on-the-job training in order to gain his journeyman card. A journeyman card basically proves that a person has completed the education and required hours in order to be certified in a trade.
Zadonia’s education and work experience gave him the ability to proficiently run grinders, lathes and mills, and taught him the computer and programming skills needed to go along with it.
Zadonia received his journeyman card in 2000 and says that attending Delta College was key to his success.
“The teachers stressed the importance of the bookwork as a foundation for what I needed to do with my hands,” says Zadonia. “I learned that having the knowledge of both was important for success.”
Zadonia also stated that he was impressed to see that Delta continues to maintain their trades program and that current updates give new students the opportunity to learn state-of-the-art machinery.
Delta recently completed a $2.3 million renovation to the skilled trades area with money awarded to them by the Community College Skilled Trades Equipment Program (CCSTEP) Grant. The updated technology will allow students to enter a competitive job market.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a career as a tool maker is expected to increase slightly over the next eight years. Currently, Michigan has the highest number of tool makers in the nation with an average salary of $53,000 per year.
| Occupation | Employment (total in MI) | Hourly mean wage | Annual mean wage |
| Electricians | 23,320 | $28.41 | $59,090 |
| Millwrights | 2,570 | $30.33 | $63,090 |
| Machinists | 27,020 | $20.14 | $41,880 |
| Tool makers | 14,600 | $25.59 | $53,220 |
| Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers | 13,410 | $19.07 | $39,670 |
In order to compete in today’s market, Zadonia says that future tool makers need to gain as much hands-on experience as possible with all types of machinery.
He also feels that it’s necessary to keep up with technological advances, and that students going into the trades today need to understand that just because a certificate or a journeyman’s card is earned, doesn’t mean their education is over.
“Learning how to run and program new machinery is vital to maintain relevance within the field,” says Zadonia. “I may have over 20 years in this field, but every day I learn a different or better way of completing any given job.”
