How much training does a Ballroom Dancer have?
I asked ChatGPT to compare professions based on how much training time one puts in to each and this is what they came up with. That basically checks out with my own experience, although in my case I started much later that 10 years of age. Everyone is on some spectrum of that training matrix for each profession, but it does illustrate how the creative fields like dance and other physically involved jobs don’t really compensate well for the effort put in. It’s sometimes hard for me to justify to myself both why I do this and why I have a business in dance. It’s not that I think I’m doing something shady, but that it’s a thankless endeavor. You can never really compensate the teachers for their labors and the population writ large doesn’t value the expertise of Ballroom Dancers. Frankly, the time spent training for a thing and gaining experience has very little to do with the economic value our society gives to each type of work. Let me know what you think.
Total Training, Practice, and Work Hours by Age 30 for Various Professions
Below we estimate the cumulative hours of training/education, practice, and work experience accumulated up to age 30 for a ballroom dance professional and compare them to several other professions. We consider hours spent in formal training (schooling, certification programs, apprenticeships), ongoing practice or skill development, and actual work experience. The results are summarized in a comparative matrix, followed by a list of sources.
Ballroom Dance Professional (Age 10–30)
Training & Practice: A highly competitive ballroom dancer often starts young and trains intensively. From age 10 through 30, they may practice and take lessons about 15–20 hours per week. Over 20 years, this alone is roughly 15,000–20,000 hours of dance practice. Top competitors frequently log even more; for example, one champion noted spending 3–4 hours a day (≈20+ hours/week) on training. This figure doesn’t yet include time spent in dance competitions, which add significant experience hours (travel, rehearsals, and performances). If a dancer competes regularly (say, ~10 competitions per year, each involving prep and performance over 2-3 days), competition activities could add on the order of a couple hundred hours per year, or a few thousand hours over the teen and young adult years.
Teaching Work: Many professional ballroom dancers begin teaching in their mid-teens. From age 15–20, assume ~10 hours per week teaching beginner students, and from age 20–30 this often increases to 20–40 hours of teaching per week (averaging around 30) as they become full-time dance instructors. At the upper end, professionals juggling competition and studio jobs might teach full-time while still training; one pro recalls teaching 8 hours a day while still doing 4 hours of personal practice daily. Over 10–15 years, teaching contributes roughly 10,000–18,000 hours of work experience (e.g. ~2,600 hours during 15–20 and ~15,000 hours during 20–30 for an average schedule).
Cross-Training: In addition to dance-specific practice, ballroom pros often do supplemental training in Pilates, Gyrokinesis, general fitness, and even study nutrition to enhance their performance and prevent injury. This cross-training might be interspersed throughout the 20 years – for example, averaging perhaps 1–2 hours per week of activities like Pilates or conditioning. Over two decades that could amount to on the order of 1,000–2,000 hours of additional training. (One professional noted doing Pilates at home to maintain core strength when possible.)
Total by 30: Summing these components, a dedicated ballroom dancer by age 30 can accumulate on the order of 30,000–40,000 hours of combined training, practice, competition, and teaching experience. This far exceeds the classic “10,000-hour” expertise benchmark. Even a less extreme scenario (lower end of practice and teaching ranges) would be on the order of ~25,000+ hours. In short, by 30 a ballroom dance pro may have invested a volume of hours comparable to or greater than most other careers – reflecting many years of daily dedication from childhood onward.
Skill-Based Professions (Personal Fitness and Wellness Fields)
Personal Trainer: Many personal trainers begin their careers in their late teens or early 20s, often after obtaining a training certification. Certification courses themselves might involve a few hundred hours of study and practical instruction. The bulk of hours comes from working with clients. Personal trainers typically work 25–40 hours per week on average training clients (not counting their own workouts). Assuming a trainer starts around age 18–22, by age 30 they would have ~8–12 years of experience. At ~30 hours/week of client sessions, that is roughly 12,000–18,000 hours of training sessions delivered by age 30 (plus perhaps a few hundred hours of initial certification and continuing education). This is comparable to many other full-time professions. (Note that trainers also spend additional time on administration, marketing, and planning, but we focus on direct training time here.)
Pilates Instructor: To become a fully certified Pilates instructor, one typically completes a comprehensive training program of around 450 hours covering mat work and apparatus work. This often takes a year or more. Many Pilates instructors have backgrounds in dance or fitness and may start teaching in their early 20s. Teaching Pilates is physically demanding, so instructors often limit their hours to avoid burnout. A full-time Pilates instructor might teach on the order of 20–30 hours of classes or private sessions per week, though some report schedules of up to 30–50 hours weekly in peak times. Assuming an average of ~25 hours/week teaching from, say, age 22 to 30 (8 years), that yields about 10,000 hours of teaching experience, in addition to the ~450 training hours and ongoing personal practice. By age 30, a dedicated Pilates teacher could have on the order of 10,000–12,000 hours total in training and teaching.
Yoga Teacher: Yoga instructors are typically required to complete a 200-hour teacher training (RYT-200) as a foundation, and many pursue an advanced 300-hour course for a total of 500 hours. Many yoga teachers begin teaching in their twenties. Teaching yoga classes, like Pilates, is often a part-time endeavor unless one works at multiple studios. A committed yoga teacher might teach ~5 to 15 classes per week (each class ~1 hour). If someone teaches 10 classes/week on average from age 22 to 30, that’s roughly 4,000 hours of teaching. Adding the training hours (200–500) and time spent on personal practice and workshop trainings, a yoga teacher by age 30 might accumulate on the order of 5,000 or more hours related to their profession. (This number will be higher for those who teach full-time or started earlier, and lower for those teaching as a side job.)
Massage Therapist: Massage therapy requires formal training and licensure in most places. Training programs typically involve 500–1,000 hours of schooling at an approved massage therapy school. Most individuals complete this in about 6 months to 2 years. After licensing (often around age 20–22), a massage therapist’s work hours are limited by the physical toll of the job. Full-time massage therapists generally see fewer clients per week than a standard 40-hour job – commonly about 15–25 massage sessions weekly is considered full-time. In fact, polls show most massage therapists consider 15–20 massages per week to be full-time, with very few doing 30 or more sessions in a week. Assuming an average of ~20 one-hour massages per week, a therapist working from age 22 to 30 would accrue about 8,000 hours of hands-on massage. Including the 500–1000 hours of initial training and some continuing education, a massage therapist by 30 might total roughly 9,000–10,000 hours in training and work. (If they started working around 20 and maintained a higher schedule of ~25 sessions/week, the total could be a few thousand hours higher. Still, physical constraints mean their actual massage hours will typically stay well under 40 hours/week.)
White-Collar Professions (Professional/Office Careers)
Stock Trader (Finance): A stock trader (or similarly, a financial analyst or broker) usually has a bachelor’s degree (4 years of college). A 4-year college education itself involves roughly 1,800 hours of class time (120 credits * ~15 hours each) plus study time. In finance, additional licensing exams may require a few hundred hours of study (e.g. FINRA Series 7, etc.). The work life of a young trader is demanding in terms of hours. While market hours are fixed, traders often work long days around market open/close and research. It’s not uncommon for traders to work 55–65 hours per week in their early careers, especially if they are in investment banking or high-pressure trading roles. For example, a rates or credit trader might be at work from ~6:30am to 5:30pm most days. If a trader begins working at 22 and works to age 30, that’s ~8 years. At ~60 hours/week for ~50 weeks a year, that comes to about 24,000 hours of work experience by age 30. Including the undergraduate education hours (~1,800) and any specialized training, the total experience would be on the order of 25,000+ hours. (Those in less intense roles or who started later will have fewer, whereas Wall Street “workaholic” schedules could push the number higher into the upper 20-thousands by 30.)
Accountant: An accountant typically completes a 4-year bachelor’s degree in accounting (~1,800 class hours), and many also complete a fifth year or master’s to meet the 150-credit requirement for CPA licensure. Studying for the CPA exam itself might add a few hundred hours. Once working (often starting by age 22–23), accountants in many sectors have moderate hours for much of the year with spikes during busy season. On average, accountants in the US work ~40–45 hours per week under normal conditions. Over 8 years (22–30) at ~42 hrs/week, that’s roughly 17,000–18,000 hours of work. However, in public accounting (audit/tax firms), busy season can involve 60–80 hour weeks, which significantly boosts the total hours. Many accountants easily put in an extra few hundred hours each year during peak times. So a public accountant by 30 might have closer to 20,000+ hours of work experience. Adding in the education hours (~2,000) yields roughly 20,000–22,000 hours in total. Those in corporate accounting or less overtime-heavy roles would be toward the lower end of this range, while a Big-4 CPA could be at the higher end due to long hours in their 20s.
Engineer: An engineer’s path often involves a 4-year engineering degree (~1,800 classroom hours; more if labs/projects are counted) and sometimes a master’s degree (optional, ~1–2 more years). Work hours for engineers tend to be closer to a standard schedule, except during project crunch times. On average, engineers work about a 40-hour work week. Many do put in occasional overtime to meet deadlines, but a full-time engineering role typically means ~40–45 hours/week. If an engineer starts working at 22 and works to age 30, that’s 8 years * ~40 hrs/week ≈ 16,000 hours of work experience. With a master’s degree, the individual might have a bit less work experience by 30 (say 6 years work ~12,000 hours, plus ~500 hours of grad coursework). In total, an engineer by age 30 will have roughly 16,000–18,000 hours between formal education and work. (This could be slightly higher if they worked overtime regularly or started work earlier; or slightly lower if they took a longer educational route. But generally, engineers will accumulate a comparable number of hours to other professionals, albeit spread between education and practice.)
Blue-Collar Professions (Skilled Trades and Transport)
Long-Haul Truck Driver: To become a commercial truck driver, one must obtain a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), which usually involves a short training program (often a few weeks, ~160 hours or more of instruction). After that, most hours come from driving on the job. Truck drivers are subject to strict Hours-of-Service rules. Legally, a long-haul driver may drive up to 11 hours in a day after sufficient off-duty time, and at most 60 hours in 7 days (or 70 hours in 8 days) before a mandated rest reset. In practice, many long-haul drivers drive around 2,000–3,000 miles per week, which equates to roughly 50–60 hours of driving and on-duty time per week. If a driver starts around age 21 (minimum age for interstate trucking) and drives full-time to age 30, that’s ~9 years of work. At an average ~60 on-duty hours/week, they could accumulate on the order of 28,000 hours on duty. Focusing just on driving time (since not all on-duty time is driving), if they drive ~2,000 hours per year, that’s about 18,000 hours of actual driving by age 30. In total, including training and all work duties, a long-haul trucker by 30 could have roughly 18,000–28,000 hours in their profession. (The lower end reflects counting only driving; the upper end counts all working hours including waiting, loading, etc.)
Welder: A professional welder often enters the field through trade school or an apprenticeship. A typical welding apprenticeship lasts about 3–4 years and requires roughly 2,000 hours of hands-on training per year (on-the-job) plus ~144 hours of classroom instruction annually. This comes out to ~6,000–8,000 hours of training/work over ~4 years to become a journeyman welder. If someone starts at 18, they might be a fully qualified welder by 22. From the early 20s to age 30, they have perhaps 8 more years of full-time work. At ~40 hours/week, that’s ~16,000 hours. Therefore, by age 30 a welder could have on the order of 22,000–25,000 hours of combined training and work experience (e.g. ~8k during apprenticeship + ~16k subsequent work). This number can vary: some welders work substantial overtime (in construction or industrial jobs) which could increase the total, while others may not always have steady full-time work. But it’s safe to say a career welder by 30 has tens of thousands of hours of experience in their craft.
Plumber: Plumbers also train through multi-year apprenticeships. Typically it takes 4–5 years and about 8,000 hours of on-the-job training to become a licensed journeyman plumber, along with classroom coursework (often ~150 hours per year in related theory). An individual might start an apprenticeship at 18 and finish by 22–23. By age 30, they would then have an additional ~7–8 years of work as a journeyman. At ~2,000 hours/year, that’s ~14,000–16,000 hours on top of the ~8,000 from training. So a plumber by age 30 could accumulate roughly 22,000–24,000 hours total in training and work. (Much like welding, this can vary with workload and overtime. Union plumbers often have pretty standard hours once journeymen, but may still clock some overtime especially on big projects or emergency calls.)
Electrician: Electricians follow a very similar model to plumbers. A common requirement is about 8,000 hours (4 years) of apprenticeship to become a licensed electrician, plus several hundred hours of classroom instruction on electrical theory, codes, safety, etc. For instance, many states or unions require ~2,000 hours per year of OJT for 4 years. If someone starts at 18, they might be licensed by 22. Then working full-time to age 30 adds ~8 years * ~2,000 hrs = ~16,000 hours. All told, an electrician by 30 would likewise be in the range of 24,000 hours of total experience (roughly 8k training + 16k work). This could be a bit higher if they did a lot of overtime on construction projects, or slightly lower if work was not continuous, but generally it’s on par with the other skilled trades in the low-to-mid twenty-thousands of hours.
Crane Operator: Operating engineers (which include crane operators and heavy equipment operators) typically also train via apprenticeship. A crane operator apprenticeship might last around 3–4 years. For example, one program requires 6,000 hours of on-the-job training (about 3 years full-time) and additional classroom instruction (e.g. ~240 hours/year). Some regions or specific crane specializations might require up to 8,000 hours if including multiple types of equipment. If an individual starts at ~18–20, they could be a journeyman crane operator by early 20s, then work through age 30. With, say, ~7–10 years of work at ~2,000 hours/year, that’s ~14,000–20,000 hours post-training. Including the ~6,000 training hours, by age 30 a crane operator might have roughly 20,000–26,000 hours of experience. (Crane operation can also involve periods of lower activity due to the cyclical nature of construction, but many operators stay employed on various projects and accumulate considerable hours by their late 20s.)
Pilots (Commercial Airline vs. Military-Trained)
Commercial Pilot (Civilian path): Becoming a commercial airline pilot requires intensive training and flight experience. A person who goes through civilian training (e.g. flight school or an aviation university program) will typically earn their private pilot license, instrument rating, and commercial pilot license, then build flight hours to meet the hiring requirements of airlines. In the U.S., airline pilots must log at least 1,500 flight hours before they can be hired by a commercial airline as a First Officer (there are lower thresholds for some exceptions, but 1,500 is the standard). Those 1,500 hours are usually accumulated by one’s early 20s through flight instructing or other small aviation jobs. Flight training itself involves ground school courses and simulator time as well – perhaps several hundred hours of ground instruction in total – but the primary metric is flight hours.
After reaching 1,500 hours and getting an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, a pilot might get hired around age 23–25. From that point to age 30, they will accrue additional flight hours through their job. An airline or commercial pilot’s flight hours per year can vary, but FAA regulations cap flying at 1,000 hours per year for airline pilots. Many pilots fly on the order of 700–900 hours per year in their early careers. So if a pilot starts their airline career at 23 with ~1,500 hours, by age 30 (7 years later) they might have added ~5,000–6,000 more flight hours, for a total of around 6,500–7,500 hours of flight time. If someone started flying younger (say 18) and hit 1,500 hours by 21, their total by 30 could be higher, perhaps in the 8,000+ hour range. In addition, consider formal education: many airline pilots also have a bachelor’s degree (some in aviation, some in other fields), which is ~1,800 hours of class, though not all pilots go to college. Including all facets (college, flight training, and flying the line), a commercial pilot by age 30 likely amasses around 7,000–8,000 total hours of training and work, the majority of which are actual flight hours. This is less than some other professions in absolute hours, but keep in mind each hour of flight is highly concentrated, technical experience (and does not count the time spent on pre-flight planning, simulators, etc., which also add to their expertise).
Military-Trained Pilot: Military pilots typically follow a different trajectory. Many military aviators earn a college degree (academy or ROTC or other) – so ~1,800 hours of college like other professions – then go through rigorous military flight training. Undergraduate pilot training in the Air Force or Navy is an intensive year-to-two-year program that includes classroom, simulator, and flight time. By the time a military pilot earns their wings, they might have on the order of 200–300 flight hours from training (for example, a pilot might get ~100+ hours in a primary trainer and another 100+ in advanced training). From that point, they operate in active service. Military pilots generally accumulate fewer flight hours per year than commercial pilots, due to the nature of their missions and maintenance/training cycles. For instance, an Air Force fighter pilot might average only 15–20 flight hours per month when not deployed – roughly 200–240 hours per year in a typical year. Some periods see more (e.g. during deployments or exercises, they might log heavier hours) and some periods (desk assignments or maintenance downtime) far less. Data suggests that in recent years, USAF pilots across all airframes averaged about 10 hours per month in the air, though fighter pilots in some cases were under 7 hours a month in certain years.
So, by age 30, a military pilot who began flying at around 23 (post-college) might have on the order of 1,000–1,500 flight hours if in a fighter or attack aircraft, or potentially a bit more (perhaps 2,000+ hours) if flying transports or other high-utilization aircraft. For example, one F-16 pilot accumulated just over 2,000 hours in 10 years of service. Another pilot mentioned 150–200 hours being a good year for Army helicopter pilots, with up to 300+ in a very busy year. Thus, by age 30, a range of roughly 1,000–2,000 hours of flight time is common for many military pilots. In addition, they have thousands of hours of related training: military aviation includes countless hours of simulator training, ground training, mission planning, and other military duties (leadership, etc.) that aren’t captured in flight hour logs. If those were quantifiable, the total “work hours” a military pilot invests by 30 would be much higher – likely comparable to other full-time professions (i.e. on the order of 15,000–20,000 hours of active duty service time, of which a smaller portion is actual flying). Military pilots may have lower flight hour totals by 30 than their civilian counterparts, but they have a breadth of training experiences and responsibilities in those hours.
Comparative Matrix of Total Estimated Hours (Up to Age 30)
The table above summarizes the approximate total hours of training, practice, and work experience accumulated by age 30 for each profession, based on the estimates above. These figures are rough ranges or averages for a typical individual in each field.
(Hours are rounded estimates. “Training” includes formal education and certification programs; “practice” includes practicing the craft or skill outside of paid work; “work” includes hours spent performing the job or teaching others. Ranges reflect different levels of intensity or experience within the profession by age 30.)
Sources
Dance Teacher Magazine – Haley Hilton interview with Cheyenne Murillo on time commitment for competitive ballroom dancers.
Reddit – firsthand account from professional ballroom dancer describing 24 hrs/week training + 40 hrs/week teaching at career peak.
Zippia Career Guides – average work hours for personal trainers (25–40 hours/week).
Equinox Pilates Teacher Training Curriculum – comprehensive Pilates certification is ~450 hours.
ProfitablePilates.com – survey indicating many Pilates instructors teach ~30–50 hours per week.
MiraCosta College – Yoga Instructor certificate program overview (200-hour Yoga Alliance requirement).
Healthcare Career College – overview of massage therapy school length (500–1000 hours typical training).
FindTouch Massage Blog – Sue Peterson, LMT, on full-time massage therapy workload (15–20 massages/week; few do 25–30).
Sales & Trading Prep (salesandtrading.org) – typical work hours for traders by desk (≈55–65 hours/week).
Memtime.com – analysis of accountant work hours (40–45/week on average; up to 60–80 in busy season).
Zippia Career Answers – typical work hours for engineers (~40 hours/week, with some overtime for deadlines).
U.S. FMCSA Regulations – Hours-of-Service limits for truck drivers (11-hour driving limit per day; 60/70-hour limit per 7/8 days).
WeldingCareerNow.com – info on welding apprenticeships (3–4 years, ~2,000 hours/year OJT + 144 hours classroom).
FieldEdge.com – typical plumber apprenticeship length (4–5 years, ~2,000 hours/year OJT + classes).
Indeed.com (via Zippia) – note on electrician requirements (about 8,000 hours of experience, ~4 years, for general electrician license).
IUOE Local 150 Apprenticeship – crane operator training requires ~6,000 hours OJT (≈3 years) + related classroom hours.
LeopardAviation.com – explanation of FAA “1500-hour rule” for airline pilots (must have 1,500 flight hours for commercial airlines).
Service Academy Forums – discussion citing a USAF F-16 pilot with ~2000 hours in 10 years (illustrating military pilot flight hours).
Air & Space Forces Magazine – data on declining average flight hours for USAF pilots (~10 hours/month in 2021 across all aircraft).