While “apprenticeship” and “internship” are often used to describe the same experience, an apprenticeship is usually more closely tied to a specific job opportunity and course of training.  An apprenticeship also generally lasts longer than an internship, is usually tied to a specific training program, and commonly is a paid position (an internship may be paid or unpaid).

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An apprenticeship is a job in which the worker is paid to learn a set of skills through on-the-job training. Unlike an internship—in which the intern works for little or no money and rarely receives formal training—an apprenticeship follows an earn-while-you-learn model and leads to a nationally recognized credential that recipients can take anywhere in the country.

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A career in the trades can offer you many things, but one of the best aspects is that your apprenticeship education is almost entirely free and there is no education-related debt once completed, unlike that of a traditional four-year college/university education.​