When I was just 14 years old, like so many young people of my generation, I began working as an apprentice in the energy and fluid installation sector in Badalona. There, without even knowing it, I met people like José ElÃas, with whom we shared similar origins: a culture of hard work, learning from the ground up, and the desire to build something valuable, starting from a trade.
Today, decades later, José ElÃas is a business leader with more than 180 companies under his leadership. And in my case, I have had the privilege of evolving from an installer to an entrepreneur, later as Secretary General of an association of companies in the sector, director of a continuing education academy for workers, and currently, a consultant and promoter of the value of vocational training and trades in our country.
Trades are not the past: they are the present… and the future.
We are experiencing a silent but profound transformation. While some continue to seek certainty in university degrees that are out of step with market reality, Europe and Spain face a significant shortage of qualified professionals in key trades: carpenters, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, die-makers, farmers… All of them are at the heart of our cities, industries, and homes.
These are not minor professions. On the contrary: these occupations are destined to become premium jobs, increasingly sought-after, essential, and highly promising professions.
The Compass: Vocation, Specialization, and Values
My professional career has always been guided by three pillars: perseverance, generosity, and teamwork. I have been fortunate to surround myself with people and organizations that share this same approach. I have also learned to distance myself from anything that is not aligned with my understanding of life and work.
This journey has been based on a solid foundation: vocational training, complemented by higher education, always with a practical perspective, connected to the market and the social needs of each moment.
From Solid to Liquid: The New Era of Professionals
I was recently listening to a podcast with Miquel Roca Junyent, lawyer, politician, and one of the founders of the 1978 Constitution. Roca explained how, in his time, the value of a lawyer lay in memorizing what Article 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stated. Today, the important thing is not so much memorizing, but knowing how to apply knowledge, knowing how to search for it, and contextualize it.
We live in a liquid society, as Bauman would say, in which knowledge is available 24/7 and where the true professional differential lies not only in what you know, but in what you know how to do and how you do it.
Let’s dignify technical professions
It’s time to honor, value, and dignify the professions. Not as a plan B, but as a plan A for thousands of young people seeking a full, sustainable, and purposeful professional life.
There is no better foundation for building the future than that made with hands, knowledge, dedication, and the will to be useful to society.
