What you’re looking for is an apprenticeship
Shadowing is very important for jobs where the outcome of failure is potentially harmful or costly. Biological research is done almost exclusively through an apprenticeship-like training system, and part of that system is that you shadow a mentor when you start. (You’ll also continue to work closely with your mentor so that they can continue to supervise you personally for a long while before you’re allowed to work on your own)
My understanding is that hospital or medical work is pretty similar in that regard
I can’t speak for all jobs, but shadowing is an effective tool and I’d be shocked if it isn’t pretty commonly applied. Not always in an apprenticeship sort of way to learn from scratch, but certainly to better understand the nuances of a role.
Every job I’ve ever had did some sort of shadowing period. From retail, to call center work, to on premise IT.
Guess I misspoke. I meant if I wanted to be a welder or computer person. Could I contact the company and ask to shadow a person so I can learn the trade before I see what I am getting myself into?
Ask to be an intern.
I’m a maintenance engineer, and when we hire new techs they shadow an experienced tech and/or engineer for 30 days before they touch a machine. We assume about 2 years of hands-on experience to be a fully competent tech. Of course there are exceptions based upon previous work experience, but generally we mandate a month of shadowing.
We use internships to work on designing small tools and jigs used around our product. That way they get hands on experience while developing something useful but staying out of the way of production.
