"...the Greek word for 'carpenter' in the gospels actually stands for an underlying Aramaic term that is used metaphorically in the Talmud to denote a scholar." (Porter, 2004, p. 81)

"In the Gospels, Jesus is called a tekton, a Greek word that meant not merely a carpenter skilled in making cabinets or furniture but a designer, construction engineer, or architect. A tekton could build a house, construct a bridge, or design a temple." (Starbird, 2003, p. 53)

Nothing is known about Jesus’ middle years. A century after Jesus died, there were many tales about his infancy and childhood. A famous Greek martyr named Justin claimed that Jesus made ploughs and yokes in his father’s workshop,

Most people think that Jesus was a carpenter. The Gospel of Mark says: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…” (6:3), although Matthew has a slightly different wording: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary?” (13:55) [1]

It is highly unlikely that Jesus was a carpenter. If we examine the 48 parables that occur in the Gospels, not a single one draws upon the experiences of a carpenter. Three of them refer to buildings (e.g., house divided, foolish builder, unfinished tower), and these may offer support for the idea that Jesus’ father was a builder, not a carpenter. [2]

It's also possible that Jesus and his family belonged to a group known as The Sleb, a still existing band of Bedouins, found mostlyin Syria, whose ancestry and customs include not only the Essenes but claim to go all the way back to Cain. This would  explain the propensity to travel, which Robert Eisler (1931) has argued (in The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist), claiming that Jesus’ family plied their trade in the timeless manner of the Sleb. Interestingly, the Sleb were known to be accomplished in carpentry, masonry, building and a whole host of skills, and they fit well within the definitions of tekton, the name used to describe Joseph’s occupation. They were also known to be healers (Sinclair, 1952).