Life was tough during the middle ages, especially for those not born into the land-owning classes and destined to spend their lives in impoverished serfdom.
During these difficult times there were only a couple of ways for the ordinary person to make their way in the world. One option was to join the church and try work your way up the clerical ladder. The other way was to serve an apprenticeship and become a master craftsman.
Linchpins To Society
Highly-skilled craftsmen were some of the most important people in medieval society and without them, day-to-day life could not function. Without millers or bakers there would be no bread; without the blacksmiths there would be no horseshoes or tools and without the stonemasons and carpenters the cathedrals and churches that brought so much trade to the towns and villages would not have been built.
Because their skills were in such demand, medieval craftsmen could make a very good living and provide well for their families, but this was only after serving an apprenticeship lasting several years, with only their food and lodgings provided for.
Very few traditional crafts have survived into the modern age, but the key principle still remains true – equip yourself with a specialist skill or knowledge that is in high demand and people will pay a premium to access it.
Modern Craftsmanship
Doctors and surgeons are possibly one of the best paid equivalents of the medieval craftsmen. Their combination of skills and knowledge require several years of medical education and then some relatively low-paid on-the-job training before they are considered to be fully qualified; but once established they can enjoy a rewarding salary.
Other examples include business people, who invest considerable sums of money to study MBA post-graduate courses, which have traditionally helped them to further their careers and re-coup the investment or London black cab drivers, who spend years driving around the city on scooters to learn the ‘knowledge’.
In each case, the modern-day craftsperson has gone through a period of financial hardship and hard work to acquire their valuable skills and knowledge – just like their medieval forebears.
Continuous Improvement
With the modern world moving at a pace that would baffle even the most clever medieval intellectuals, it has never been so important, as it is now, to keep up with trends and continuously learn new skills and experience.
By spotting a particular social or business trend and becoming a recognised expert in that area, it is possible to find plenty of work opportunities.
I have seen for myself the growing number of user experience design and service design experts filling a gap in the IT industry over the last couple of years. However, these new areas of expertise will continue to develop with new methodologies and approaches, so it is important for the new user design experts to continue to develop their skill-sets so that they are always in demand.
How To Develop New Skills
The concept of a traditional apprenticeship is beginning to come back into fashion and should hopefully benefit many people, but there are many other ways for people to become modern-day master craftsmen and craftswomen, including:
- University and college courses
- Training courses
- Home study courses
- Working for free or next to nothing to gain valuable work experience and contacts
- On-the-job training
- Learning from books and the internet
Investing For A Higher Return
People have many different motivations for learning a skill and the potential financial return does not always top the list of priorities when they are deciding on their vocation, but it is important to take into the consideration the comparable return on time and investment that can be gained.
The questions to ask are:
- What skills are in demand today (where is the money being spent?) and what will be in demand in the future?
- How long is this demand likely to last for?
- What level of income can be earned?
There are also some personal questions to ask yourself about whether you have the ability to exceed in your chosen profession. For example, my two left-hands would limit my ability to become a carpenter of any decent quality!
So it is just as important to examine the skills, abilities and interests that you already have to determine what you can develop further and what you are likely to excel in learning new.
Building Recognition & Networks
In medieval times, master craftsmen would all be a member of the local guild, a kind of business organisation or club, which would ensure fair payment of wages and help to resolve issues amongst its members. These were the origins of the tight knit and secretive freemason lodges that developed over the centuries, to protect the business interests of their members.
Nowadays we would refer to these organisations as business networks and it is interesting to see that key marketing tool of the medieval world – word-of-mouth, is still the most powerful and difficult to control marketing tool of the modern-day.
Whether it is Linked In, a professional membership organisation or just a loosely-knit group of former work colleagues that you occasionally meet with for a drink; it is very important to build a strong reputation amongst people who are in position to recommend you for work.
The Master Lessons
So the key lessons from the master craftsmen are:
- Understand what skills and knowledge you will need to sell your time at a premium
- Put in the hours, days and even years to learn and perfect those skills
- Never stop learning and looking to enhance your skill-set
- Ensure you deliver excellent value and service to build your reputation
- Develop strong business networks to spread word-of-mouth and protect your interests
Some Useful Links:
- How To Use Your Online Profile To Be Headhunted
- How To Be A Good Manager – The Google Eight Point Rule
- How I Increased My Salary By 20 Percent
- How to Convince Your Boss that Giving You a Pay Rise is an Absolute No-Brainer!
Image courtesy of Ell Brown
