OSE Apprenticeship Development Notes of 2023

Fine Print

• Program lasts 6 months. Learn at your own pace. Certification is by module. End point is ability to build the entire house.
• You are paying for your skills, which allow us to hire you upon Full Build Certification. This is unlike any other, as you learn baseline proficiency in 8 trades, instead of specializing in 1. And you start earning in 6 months instead of the typical 2-3 years.
• You will not be getting regular trades certification that allows you to work on standard build projects. You will be getting OSE Integrated Certification - 8 trades in one. This allows you to build a full house system - completely from foundation to HVAC and PV. If you want to become a certified specialist, this program is not for you. If you want to build Seed Eco-Homes with OSE, at entry level pay significantly above industry standards - this is for you. We hope you work with us, but if you want to go on your own - you are welcome to become an entrepreneur and do so as well. However, this requires a higher skill set, and we do offer continuing education for you to succeed if you want to continue your professional development.
• If you pass faster, you will help to teach others to get up to speed. You are expected to function as a team, not an individual.
• If you learn slower, you will let the faster learners help you up your skill set, by practicing with them.
• Weekends are off.
• School is 9-5 daily, plus travel time if we're working off site. You will take remedial time in night school, with the help of the faster learners.
• We will hire you upon completion. Pay scale is starting pay at 6 months (or later or earlier depending on how fast you learn)
• The strategy is that we all collaborate so that everyone gets up to speed - we move forward so all of us get trained. If you are not willing to help others as you want to be the superhero warrior, this program is not for you. We value team work and collaboration - so that we function as a unit, not as individual superstars. The 'superstardom' comes frpm the leadership that is a product of helping others. Your only option is to succeed in this way - or drop out.
• We strive for 95% completion rate. We recognize that some people may drop out because they cannot handle the intense learning environment, and the grit that comes from seeing a higher purpose.
• The higher purpose is to make housing affordable.
• The higher purpose ends with housing becoming free - for anyone who learns the skills to build their own house using abundant common materials - processed by open source industrial machines. Thus, we are creating a training program where anyone can learn to produce at least $100/hour value by house building - not by price gouging but by efficiency of open source collaboration.
• We start here, and what got us here will not get us there.

Staff

• Core Apprenticeship Model sez 4 staff: machine design instructor, Site Infrastructure Manager. House Design instructor. Workshop manager.
• Add a Farm manager - initially signs up for construction apprenticeship, unless has business experience. Cross subsidized - one week on farm, one week in construction until farm revenue is self-sustaining. Goal is to feed everyone on site (30 people). Farm manager learns to run an enterprise according to the Factor e Farm Agriculture Management Plan
• Machine Builder - this is a separate track. Student track, under a Fabrication Manager. Needs to pass the skill set of a Heavy Machine Designer Curriculum. Can use MCC credit for this. Shifts days from MCC to construction as needed.

Schedule

The power of this is that there is no hazing, you can, and there is no glass ceiling. You decide who you want to end up, how much responsibility, therefore power, you gain.

M-F

• Weeks alternate from on-site to Builds in the Field.

On site:

• Builder Class, M-F, hands-on, works in the workshop from 8-9:50 AM under the guidance of the Workshop Instructor and Design Instructor.
• Design and Collaboration - M, W, F - 10 AM to 10:50 AM. Collaborative design techniques, design knowledge, problemsolving. Goal is to teach how to solve problems, which can be applied to any area of endeavor.

Field Days:

• 5 day week, 8-10 hours per day (up to 1 hour travel time each way)

Saturday

• Design Training for those in the Design Tracks - machines, agriculture, architecure.

Links

• OSE Apprenticeship