Tyrell Brooks never considered a career in machining. Then, he learned about the machinist apprenticeship at Sumitomo Drive Technologies. He’d already been working at the company for a few years in the shipping department and wanted to move up in his career, remembering advice his dad gave him.
“My father always told me that I wanted to make sure I had a job, that no matter what, I would be secure within the field,” Brooks said.
Brooks said he’s always enjoyed building things. Seeing the end result of a project he started from scratch always gave him a sense of pride. So, after researching apprenticeships and what they could be, he decided to sign up.
“I just felt like it was a match made in heaven,” he said.
Now, he’s a machinist apprentice in his second year of the program. By the time he graduates later this year, he’ll have put in 4,000 hours of classroom and lab training — all while getting paid with yearly increases, bonuses and benefits.
“It's flattering knowing that you aren't making the company any money but they're still paying you to learn, so in the future you can make them money,” Brooks said.
Apprenticeships allow employees to learn a new career, or level-up in an existing career, without piling on student debt. They also provide a pipeline for many of the trades Hampton Roads has relied on for generations.
Maritime industries have long offered apprenticeships in the region. The apprentice school at Newport News Shipbuilding, founded in 1919, has become a model for apprenticeships around the country, said Andrew Nissman, communications director at the Hampton Roads Workforce Council.
Now, other industries, including healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity are offering apprenticeships, too.
“That's a good thing for the region, because these pathways are leading to high demand careers and fulfilling job opportunities,” Nissman said.
The proliferation of apprenticeships also benefits taxpayers and local economies, according to a 2025 report from Virginia Works, the agency that runs the state’s Registered Apprentice Program.
The report showed a $3 return for every $1 invested in the program.
“If you have the talent and the labor, you're going to attract new business, you're going to attract new economic development,” said Barabara Blake, who heads Old Dominion University’s internship and apprenticeship office.
The number of “earn and learn” programs in Virginia have increased in recent years, Blake said.
“We have the most that we've ever had in the history of the Commonwealth,” she said.
But she says there’s still work to be done to catch up to other areas.
States like California, Texas and Ohio have more robust apprentice programs than Virginia, and European apprentice systems vastly outcompete anything in the United States, according to ODU’s 2025 State of the Commonwealth Report.
Countries like Germany support apprentices in the millions and have complex funding mechanisms in place to support the necessary infrastructure, Blake said. That’s not the case in the United States, she added.
Another thing that makes the European apprentice system so successful is the cultural mindset towards apprenticeships, Blake said.
“They look at an apprenticeship pathway, just the same as any other type of pathway,” she said. “That is an issue that we have in the United States. It's an issue that we have in Virginia and in Hampton Roads.”
If people don’t see apprenticeship programs as pathways to success comparable to joining the military or going to a four-year college, then policymakers and employers may hesitate to invest in those programs, she said.
And the reverse is also true. If policymakers and employers don’t invest, people may hesitate to see apprenticeships as a strong option. This cycle can make it difficult to scale these types of opportunities, she said.
“Building an apprenticeship culture takes top-down investment,” Blake said. “And we also need bottom-up belief.”
Pre-apprenticeship opportunities can help by introducing students to apprenticeships early on, Nissman said.
Ian Kinsey said he learned about apprenticeships his senior year of high school. He was taking a dual enrollment machining course through Tidewater Community College when his professor brought in people to talk about apprenticeship opportunities in the region.
“I knew that's what I wanted to do,” Kinsey said.
He started a machining apprenticeship at Busch Vacuum Solutions in Virginia Beach shortly after he graduated from Oscar Smith High School last summer.
“It's nice pay for a person who's never had a job before and is right out of high school,” Kinsey said, adding it’s also a stepping stone for the rest of his career. Once he graduates from the program, he’ll stay at Busch for at least two years.
Top-down investment – largely meaning funding – is an ongoing challenge.
Apprenticeship programs can be costly to run and the administrative responsibilities, like coordinating with the Department of Labor, can get complicated, Nissman said.
“There tends to be a limited awareness of what it takes to launch an apprenticeship program or expand the registered apprenticeship program," he said, adding that registered apprenticeships are verified and are more likely to provide credentials that other companies will recognize.
Hampton Roads is making progress scaling apprenticeship programs and pre-apprenticeships for youth and young adults, but that progress is slow, Nissman said.
The workforce council got a $6 million federal grant in 2024 to help employers expand and launch apprenticeship programs registered with the Department of Labor. The funding led to the creation of the council’s Apprenticeship Hub, which works with local partners to usher in a “new generation” of apprenticeship in the region, Nissman said.
Tidewater Community College, for example, is now sponsoring apprenticeship programs, which will make it easier for companies with limited resources to start programs, said Caitlin Dawson, who runs the college’s apprenticeship program.
Grant funding will sunset in 2028, but the work of the hub will continue, Nissman said.
