The top 7 careers in brewing

With over 2,500 breweries nationwide, craft brewing has become a booming, multi-billion dollar industry. But you don’t have to know how to brew beer to fit in. The key to a career in this thriving business is to match your existing skill set with the various positions necessary to make a brewery successful.

7) Sales and Marketing:  Just like any other industry, sales and marketing professionals are a necessity in the brewing business, and they are expected to be able to develop effective marketing programs based on research and audience measurement.

6) Management and Finance: No business can function without skilled money men (and women), and brewing is no exception.  Managers and finance experts are expected to effectively research the industry, build accurate financial projections, and develop and follow a full-fledged business plan for potential investors that are specific to the brewing industry.

5) Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Craft brewing requires a unique and vast array of ingredients including hops, barley, wheat, malt, yeast, and, of course, water. Those who are familiar with the intricacies of managing supplies and determining how those requirements are fulfilled are the unsung heroes of the brewing industry.

4) Information Technology: As microbreweries refine their methods and utilize more up-to-the-minute equipment and process management tools, the importance of having IT professionals close at hand grows. As with every successful business today, when the computers go down, so does the business.

3) Engineering and Maintenance: One of the keys to producing quality craft beer is keeping the specialized equipment clean and running smoothly. There's no beer without the people who keep the kettles boiling or maintain a spotlessly clean and sanitized workplace.

2) Brewing and Packaging: With the growth of the craft brewing market has come the need for highly skilled, experienced professionals who can manage millions of gallons of product a year while optimizing management resources such as production control, skilled trade supervision, strategic manufacturing policy, systems analysis, productivity analysis and cost control, and materials planning.

1) Craft Brewer: One of the fastest growing and most sought after positions in the brewing industry, being Brewmaster and spending the day making high quality beer at a small craft brewery is the dream of many an aspiring home brewer. Yet, with only a few programs around the country to provide the training, it’s a growing industry with too few experts in the field.

Want to learn more about how to become a brewing professional? Join us for one of our regularly scheduled information sessions where you may have the chance to meet local brewing experts such as Ballast Point Co-founder, Yuseff Cherney or White Labs President (and UC San Diego alumnus), Chris White, while you learn about the Professional Certificate in Brewing at UC San Diego Extension. Seats are limited for each information session, so register right away to secure your spot.