Every year, more students graduate from high school and get ready to continue their studies at college. Others decide to forgo college, and enter the workforce by learning a trade.

While learning a trade as a career path doesn’t receive the same level of encouragement that going to college does, it does show that not everyone needs a college degree to find a good job.

When the Manager of Operations for Zimmerman Marine at Cardinal in Mathews, Max Parker, graduated from Eastern Carolina University, he found a job that fit his Communications degree. Like many college graduates, the first job Parker had wasn’t one he loved.

When he and his wife moved to the area, he answered an ad from a boatyard. Painting the bottoms of boats wasn’t part of his field of study, but he loved the chance to work with his hands. He found success and achievement when he found himself working in a trade.

Parker soon went to work at Zimmerman Marine, where he’s been for over a decade. He said that h...