In a recent opinion column in Fast Company, Jobs for the Future Board Member Lisette Nieves offered advice about how to assess the value of individual apprenticeships at a time of rapid proliferation of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. tech industry.

Noting that the U.S. apprenticeship system is “highly decentralized, unregulated, and fragmented,” she says it’s impossible to make sweeping statements about what the growth of apprenticeships means for the tech industry or the economy as a whole. Every apprenticeship has to be evaluated on its own.

She suggests four questions stakeholders should ask about individual apprenticeships, and writes, “Despite the temptation to reduce something complex into a simplified sound bite, the reality is that each apprenticeship program means something different depending on the answers to the aforementioned questions. And unless organizations are fine with arbitrary results, they will need to bring a high level of clarity and intentionality to their respective programs.”