This is why it is good that nowadays you can quit your job and start elsewhere instead of waiting for promotion.
“Apprentices, of course, were proper blacksmiths in training and might one day look to be as well respected as the master from whom they learned their trade. But for the up-and-coming apprentice, the blacksmith’s guild was an obstacle, not a helper; it was in the interest of the guild members to restrict new entry as much as possible in order to avoid competing down their prices, which may have left those who finished their apprenticeships (‘journeymen’ in the parlance), stuck in subordinate positions until age and death opened up space in the local guild for a new master.”
https://acoup.blog/2020/10/02/collections-iron-how-did-they-make-it-part-iii-hammer-time/