yo is this for real

are there still people out there aspiring to be cobblers

Sort of. From my one anecdotal experience in Anacapri: 

My wife and I went to this legendary guy Antonio Viva who made us both great sandals. His son was there wearing Adidas shoes and I asked him if he was learning the ways of his family business. 

He gave me a hard no. Meanwhile, Antonio's apprentice is a very nice kid from Bangladesh who speaks very poor Italian and zero English. 

Lost arts of craft like masonry and cobblers which have relied on apprenticeships have started disappearing. Particularly from one generation to the next. 

Which is a sad reality of the post industrial world we are living in.