Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship with a length of 3 or 4 years are the most common ones. The certificate awarded after successfully completing a 3 or 4-year apprenticeship is called "Certificat Fédérale de Capacité" (), "Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis" (EFZ) or "Attestato federale di capacità" (AFC).
Journeyman years
In the Middle Ages, the number of years spent journeying differed by the craft. Only after half of the required journeyman years ("Wanderjahre") would the craftsman register with a guild for the right to be an apprentice master. After completing the journeyman years, he would settle in a workshop of the guild and after toughing it out for several more years ("Mutjahre"), he would be allowed to produce a "masterpiece" (German: "Meisterstück") and present it to the guild. With their consent he would be promoted to guild master and as such be allowed to open his own guild workshop in town.