we still have these, and they are often short term. I think in the trades, 2 to 4 years is traditional; 'internships' which is what we call the same thing

we still have these, and they are often short term. I think in the trades, 2 to 4 years is traditional; 'internships' which is what we call the same thing in the tech industry, tend to be 3 months to a year. I have no college and did an ad-hoc internship doing office IT in high school; it provided an upwards path for me. There are also a lot of really low paid IT jobs that are not officially called internships but that fill that role and hire those people; Before I reached age of majority, I spent a lot of time doing IT work in the neighborhood of minimum wage.