10/05/2026
Somewhere along the way, we decided 12-year-olds should start worrying about college admissions before they've ever held a level.
Home Depot is trying to change that. Its new Path to Pro Skills Explorers curriculum is free, hands-on, and built for kids 11 to 17, with short videos and activities that walk them through the basics of the trades.
It's part of a bigger goal to give 15 million people an introduction to the skilled trades by 2032.
Adults can get in on it too. The Path to Pro Skills Program is free online training in electrical, plumbing, HVAC, construction, and jobsite safety, and you don't have to work at Home Depot to sign up.
Once you finish, you can join a free job network where contractors look for workers, and roughly 165,000 people are already in it.
The timing isn't an accident. Construction needs about 349,000 new workers this year and around 456,000 next year, mostly because the people doing this work now are retiring.
I'll give Home Depot credit here, but this isn't pure charity. Every kid who becomes an electrician is a future Pro customer buying wire by the spool, and I'm completely fine with that deal.
The trades also aren't an automatic wealth button. An online course gets you in the door, but the real money comes after an apprenticeship and years of showing up early and doing the work.
Still, I like the idea of a 13-year-old finding out they love building things BEFORE anyone talks them into a pile of student debt for a degree they're not even sure they want.
