The hierarchy among mech designers looked like a very fat and short pyramid. Novices were as abundant as red dwarfs in the galaxy.
Only a fraction of them reached the Apprentice-level, but anyone could advance to this stage as long as they studied hard and received some opportunities.
Reaching Journeyman Mech Designer was a watershed. Many tried but failed to reach this rank despite all the effort they put in their development.
Ves did not have a good clue what it took to reach Senior and Master-level, but it must have been accompanied by extremely stringent demands, because less than one per mille of mech designers in the preceding ranks managed to break through.
As for reaching the rank that went beyond Master, most people didn't dare to dream about it. Even though enough Masters existed in the galaxy to fill up an entire planet, only the MTA only recognized a hundred-or-so Star Designers.
