The average Romans started their careers as apprentices. Back then there were no vocational schools to learn how to be a blacksmith or a baker or an engineer, so teens would learn a trade (a job) from an experienced blacksmith or baker or engineer. They began their apprenticeship around twelve years of age after their regular schooling was done. Can you imagine having to know what you wanted to be as an adult, right now, this year?
There were many trades and crafts in Rome. The making of tiles and bricks required a crew of people. Tiles or bricks were made in the spring or autumn so they could dry. Lots of workers and apprentices were needed to make and prepare the clay, dig the tiles, mix glazes, build and fire the kilns, store and transport the finished products. A shoemaker, on the other hand, might work on his own, or with one apprentice. Blacksmithing was done just as it is today, with the blacksmith heating up his iron ore and hammering out the shape of his object on an anvil.
