“. . . Joe . . . had told me that when I was ‘prentice to him . . .” (17-18)

Pip is to become an apprentice blacksmith to Joe when he comes of age – a common experience for young men in Dickens’s time. Even though he is an orphan, Joe is giving Pip a chance to better his situation by teaching him a trade to pursue. This is a unique opportunity for an orphan to have, because frequently a family had to pay for the son to be an apprentice which obviously an orphan likely could not afford. Even though Pip is an orphan, he obviously is in a better situation than most and is going to get the chance to improve his standing through mastering a trade.

EDIT: Even though this is in fact an improvement in social class for Pip - orphans were considered to be the lowest of the low in Victorian society - becoming an apprentice and learning a trade is not enough for a boy who strives to be a "gentleman." This proves that Pip is really the embodiment of most of what the Victorian artists objected to: the society of excess. Pip will not be happy until he feels as though he is the top of the social ladder, no matter what other opportunities he is given. Because of the Victorian's penchant for excess, it is likely that his thirst for his own version of success will remain unsatisfied - someone will always have more.