Trade skills are vanishing with retiring workers while younger generations struggle to find mentors. Marc Webb, growing up in an Australian coal mining town with limited career options, recognized this crisis after his journey from greenkeeper to youth justice worker to operations manager. His response? UTRADIE - a revolutionary digital passport system connecting trade knowledge across generations.
The platform solves multiple industry challenges: creating verifiable digital resumes for tradespeople, building mentorship pathways between experienced workers and apprentices, and providing a marketplace where trade knowledge can be monetized. This creates what Marc calls a "digital highway" for trades to document, share and evolve their skills throughout their careers.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is how it reveals the striking similarities between trade challenges in Australia and America. Both countries face aging workforces, training inconsistencies, and difficulties attracting new talent. Webb's platform offers a potential solution that transcends borders - using technology not to replace human connection but to enhance it.
Perhaps most compelling is Webb's vision for trades as careers with digital evolution paths. By allowing experienced workers to document and monetize their knowledge, the trades become not just a job but a pathway with long-term growth potential beyond physical labor. This reimagining of trade careers could be exactly what's needed to attract a generation looking for meaningful work with technological integration.
Explore the future of trades and discover how digital tools might save our most essential industries. Visit utradie.com to learn more about this innovative platform connecting trade knowledge across generations and borders.
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More About this Episode
Bridging the Gap in the Trades: How UTRADIE Is Reshaping the Future of Blue Collar Work
Marc Webb’s story begins in a small coal mining town in Central Queensland. Born into a blue collar family rooted in military service and hard work, Marc followed the only path he knew, one paved by diesel fitters, boiler makers, and electricians. Like many of us, he didn’t have a roadmap, only a dream of playing rugby and earning a living with his hands.
His early career took him from greenkeeping apprenticeships to working with disadvantaged youth and facilitating youth justice conferences. These roles, far from the typical trade path, shaped his ability to communicate, empathize, and lead. Marc wasn’t just learning trades; he was learning people. It was during these years that the idea for UTRADIE started to form. He saw firsthand the disconnection between experience and opportunity and he wanted to do something about it.
The Disconnect in the Industry
Marc experienced what many tradespeople feel but rarely say out loud. Despite being capable, dedicated, and hands-on, he found himself feeling unqualified the moment he had to explain why a job should be done a certain way. That moment of self-doubt, what we now call imposter syndrome, sparked a realization: we don’t lack the skills, we lack the structure to support and communicate them.
For both apprentices and seasoned tradesmen, there’s a gap between what they know and what they can prove. It’s not just a matter of training. It’s about tracking, validating, and growing that knowledge in a way that’s accessible and portable.
What Is UTRADIE?
UTRADIE is a digital platform designed to serve the skilled trades community. It’s a “digital passport” that enables tradespeople to store, update, and share their qualifications, skills, and experience.
With UTRADIE, users can:
- Track certifications, licenses, and job experience in one place
- Create a digital resume accessible via a shareable link
- Connect with mentors and industry peers
- Contribute to and access a library of short, trade-specific training modules
- Showcase growth and accomplishments over time
Built by someone who’s lived every rung of the trade ladder, UTRADIE isn’t an abstract tech product. It’s a solution grounded in real-world frustration and driven by a clear mission: to make the trades more connected, respected, and future-ready.
Solving a Global Workforce Crisis
The labor shortage in skilled trades is no longer just an American issue, it’s a global problem. Across Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, older workers are retiring and younger generations aren’t being trained fast enough to replace them.
One of the biggest barriers? Visibility. Tradespeople often have nowhere to display their growth or demonstrate their readiness for advancement. UTRADIE provides a solution to that by giving workers ownership of their skills profile and making it easy to share that with employers, trainers, or peers.
It also combats a harmful mindset: the belief that there are no good workers left. As Marc passionately argues, the responsibility to train and uplift belongs to all of us. The next generation isn’t lazy, they’re under-supported. With the right tools and mentorship, they can thrive.
Mentorship That Works
UTRADIE isn’t just a resume builder. It’s a mentorship platform.
Imagine being a small business owner, overwhelmed with onboarding or retaining employees. Now imagine logging into UTRADIE and finding experienced mentors, tradesmen who’ve been through it ready to help guide you through onboarding strategies, safety protocols, and skill development.
The mentorship function lets workers search by specialty, connect with trusted advisors, and even subscribe to ongoing coaching. This is where UTRADIE transcends documentation and becomes a true career development ecosystem.
Beyond the Toolbox: A Vision for Industry Collaboration
UTRADIE’s marketplace is a hub for trade-specific micro-content. Think short videos, three-minute onboarding guides, or process breakdowns. Businesses can buy and share this content internally or even contribute to the platform themselves.
Why recreate the wheel for every new hire when another company already has the perfect onboarding video? This creates passive income opportunities for content creators and reduces training overhead for growing companies.
It also invites collaboration with RTOs (Registered Training Organizations) and academies. Rather than competing with formal educators, UTRADIE seeks to partner with them, offering short, non-accredited content that bridges the gap between formal education and real-world skill application.
Making the Trades Global
Marc’s vision doesn’t stop with local networking. He sees UTRADIE as a digital highway for international opportunity. A world where tradespeople can search for jobs across borders, present a validated passport of skills, and start working without starting from scratch.
In a future where global mobility is increasingly important, UTRADIE could be the tool that enables electricians from Queensland to work in Canada, or diesel mechanics in Arkansas to find new roles in South America.
Why Now Is the Time
Technology is changing every aspect of our work, but so is our workforce. The younger generation expects transparency, portability, and digital integration in their careers. UTRADIE meets them where they are.
Meanwhile, AI is forcing white collar workers to reconsider their future, pushing more people toward the trades. But those people need structure, mentorship, and a place to showcase their growth. That’s what UTRADIE offers.
For older workers, it’s an opportunity to mentor and monetize decades of experience. For employers, it’s a smarter way to recruit, train, and retain talent. And for the industry as a whole, it’s a way to stay future-proof in a time of rapid change.
Perseverance and Purpose
At the end of our conversation, I asked Marc what he would say to that young apprentice ready to quit, or the 20-year tradesman who feels stuck. His answer was clear:
Perseverance.
He reminded us that the hard moments, the early mornings, the slow promotions, the struggles with paperwork or learning a new skill are all part of the journey. And if you keep pushing, something better is always on the other side.
He also urged everyone in the trades to speak up, to share knowledge, and to lift each other. Whether it’s through UTRADIE, a YouTube video, or a conversation over lunch, mentorship and connection are how we keep the trades alive and thriving.
UTRADIE isn’t just an app. It’s a movement, an answer to problems we’ve all experienced but never had the time or tools to solve. It’s about helping workers grow, giving employers tools to build great teams, and creating a system that values experience, not just credentials.
To learn more or start building your digital passport, visit utradie.com. Whether you’re an apprentice, a journeyman, a business owner, or a mentor, there’s a place for you on this platform.
The trades built the world. Now it’s time to build something better for the trades.
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