On the trail of Josef : How the occupation of a carpenter converts

With the work, it was like with a woman: no-one changes constantly. You decide to stay. The man who still believes in this kind of Loyalty, is Gordon Nusko. For a quarter of a century, the 41-Year-old Zimmermann is, since last year, when a lot of Lechner roofing in Berlin. Not go, if it suits you? "There's something not right in one," says Nusko.

There are zero degrees on this December morning. A blue POM-POM hat made of wool protects his ears from the winter temperatures. Black pants, blue sweat sweatshirt, a scarf wrapped around the neck, so he is in the attic of a schöneberg old building. The Wind whistles through the wooden beams, four employees have called in sick today. About the cold, the lack of helper actions? Nah, Cant way. "Young people today are so soft," says Nusko. "I was not in the training Time, sick and all, what's a cold?"

It is not the Only thing that has changed around him, like Usual.

The Carpenter heard Metzen next to the stone and the forging of the oldest and most traditional Professions in the world. To the bronze age, it is dated back, as the first huts were built of boards. Also, in the Bible of the profession. In the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 13, Verse 55 is about Jesus written: "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Today Joseph of Nazareth is the patron Saint of the craft.

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In the course of time specialised craftsmen on certain techniques, so that the carpenter was an independent profession. A wedding in the industry, was built in the middle ages, with its large urban. Today, the carpenter is still one of the most common surnames in Germany. There are more than 50 000 are regular employees.

little journeymen go on tour

According to his teaching, Gordon Nusko is left with 19 on the move. Three years and a day, so it is prescribed. Nusko was in Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, alone, on foot, with no destination. "I have chosen the places from the gut, and a little because of the landscape," he says. "But for such a long trip, you have to be free."

Tim Wagenaar, standing next to him, is not the. Although he is only 22. The young man with the dark Beard is one of the eleven trainees in the company, but lives with his wife and child. Unthinkable to leave them behind. Quite early the Tradition that a journeyman had to move through the world before he settled down. From the late middle ages up to the middle of the 18th century. Century, the Walz was a prerequisite for the master's examination. The rules: The journeyman's certificate in the pocket, which is home to not more than 50 kilometres of approach, under the age of 30. A life without a wedding ring, debt, obligations. With time, the number of travelers, craftsmen, however, declined. Today, there are only a few Hundred in the year.

In the doctrine. Tim Wagenaar (l.) is in the third year of training. His master Gordon Nusko directs him to the site.Mike Wolff, Tsp

"think of the people, the craft was like in the 19th century. Century“, says Nusko. He spend 70 percent of his work in the office, and 30 percent on construction sites. The plans he draws not with the Hand but with a computer program. Machines cut the wood in General, and putting them together, not people. Cranes lift the beams high in the correct floor. Well, that Carpenters repair in the future with robots, a wooden staircase.

"In a hundred years we will laugh about how we work today," says Nusko. The master carpenter works not only with Hammer and chisels, but also with an iPad, expensive 3D capture devices, and drones to make aerial photographs. To the roof chair, which he visited this Morning, once again, he fiddled for a year, theoretically. In only one day, the Old one was removed and the New placed. So good, everything is prepared now. "Must always go fast and at the same time to the Millimeter," says Nusko. To the extent that it is: In the Wake of the digitization of the craftsman working with their hands.

A Problem of the young talent search of the Image

Although the technology makes the work faster, not afterwards come to the farms with the requests. Week long customers are waiting for an appointment, months for a new roof. As in other industries, order books are the carpenters. Companies are desperate for employees, and pay more because of it. The apprentices are one of those who deserve the best: In the third year of the apprenticeship, you earn a 1270 euros gross. And yet: Up to 250 000 a lack of experts of the Central Association of German crafts complained. Meanwhile, the construction of new and much-needed housing is in jeopardy.

A Problem of Young talent, the Image of the profession: early toil to get up, hard, little you earn. Parents want their children to bring it. That is to say: baccalaureate and study. Germany of the craft of offspring. That's why some politicians are promoting the appreciation of the dual training. Even Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier travelled with his wife this year, so for a week through Germany. The fathers of the celebrity pair were a carpenter. Steinmeier told, he could still remember too well the smell of glue, sawdust and freshly cut wood.

unlike the young people today, he had not made "at the time so many thoughts", says Nusko. "A friend of my mother had a Job. I've taken.“ There should be no banking apprenticeship. Even adults who make their Job a long time, are often so fickle. To earn "many people understand the work, money, career. For me, work is just work.“ In the case of Tim Wagenaar, it was the school different. He tried other ways. Its applications in the army failed, however, to his high blood pressure, which in the case of the police to his left eye. After half a year in the warehouse of Amazon, he decided to go for something Solid. "Would have been my parents and the other against a training, I would probably not be here." What the two say, however, that The company have failed a long time, good to train.

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your boss Kutzbach Let has shifted: The company has a Instagram Account, turns Videos, turns to the young people. Anyone who submits a suitable application, do not need to assert themselves in a long process, but in a playful way in an Apprentice Challenge. The 25 Applicants come in a day operating to Tempelhof and show to ten stations, whether they are sent. They beat angle and produce little wood work. What does a carpenter need? He should be physically fit and resilient, and expect to be able to draw. The Outdoor work needs to him, no matter what the weather is and heights are not allowed to frighten him. Who convinced, the training is still an internship. The boss: Who's coming to stay.