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Following His Passion
Vancouver, British Columbia – “Follow your passion, and success will follow you.” Ross Redeker knows a thing or two about the truth contained in this quote.
Ross’ love for working with his hands has led him to become a successful and well-paid journeyperson plumber. For this 36-year-old B.C. resident, being challenged to identify and fix problems means putting all his skills to work. His previous job as a warehouse manager was not giving him the sort of job satisfaction he had been looking for and he wanted to make a change.
At that crucial point in time, Ross was worried and had many questions regarding his future career. “Was it wise for a 36-year-old to change careers?” he wondered. “Could I afford to take a rather drastic pay cut and learn new skills?”
Today, Ross is happy to have taken the risk and feels he made the right decision. He left the warehouse job to become a plumber apprentice. While completing a four-year apprenticeship program and after becoming a certified plumber, Ross obtained a total of $4,000 in grants from the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant and the Apprenticeship Completion Grant.
The Apprenticeship Incentive Grant is a grant of $1,000 offered by the Government of Canada to registered apprentices who have completed their first and/or second year or level (or equivalent) of an apprenticeship program in a designated Red Seal trade. Apprentices can receive a total of $2,000 under this grant.
The second grant, known as the Apprenticeship Completion Grant, is a sum of $2,000 that the government offers to registered apprentices who have completed their apprenticeship training and obtained their journeyperson certification in a designated Red Seal trade.
Now Ross feels that he has the job satisfaction he was looking for. “I felt at home instantly with my new career change and never for a minute regretted the pay cut I took when I started my apprenticeship,” he said. “There hasn't been one day in the four years that I have woken up in the morning and dreaded going to work as I did with my previous jobs. To be able to find a career and obtain financial help through the apprenticeship grants has been invaluable. I can almost say with certainty that if they weren't in place, I would still be at my warehouse job and miserable.”
Currently employed at Bridge Mechanical, the company that hired him four years ago, Ross is grateful to the Government of Canada for providing the apprenticeship grants. “I want to thank you for making these programs available. It has not only given me financial assistance to obtain a job that I enjoy, but it has given me a sense of pride. When people ask what I do for a living, I can say “I am a certified plumber.”
Ross continues to learn from his fellow journeypersons and supervisors, and his long‑term goal is to lead his own crew of apprentices. That will be his way of giving back to the community.