Ask HN: Tech Equivalent of a Trade Job?

I have a friend who is an electrician's apprentice, and I am so envious about how much he is learning and so quickly. He's truly learning by doing, and I haven't felt like that since I transitioned from self-teaching myself web development to attending college.

Is there any role in tech that is equivalent to working as an apprentice? Or is it going to simply be up to me to create that for myself, and perhaps start contributing to Open Source, or build a product (which seems to be a popular though on HN).