Finding the Right Fit Chapter 2

  My interest in the trades started when I was following my boyfriend at the time around while he did his on call refrigeration repair. He would let me help out by soldering plumbing pipes, wiring electrical and cutting sheet metal for HVAC (heating,ventilation and air conditioning) fittings.

I found the work fascinating, complicated and full of variety and all the tools were really cool!

I got the hang of some of the work and some of the work like the electrical just did not interest me at all.

Now Refrigeration is a crazy trade, and one of the highest paying. You earn those big bucks by doing almost every trade out there, all wrapped up into one, much like the Millwright trade.

So definitely a little bit more involved then I believed myself capable, so I started to look at each trade individually to see where I wanted to go.

I will have to say at this point that money was definitely a factor in me choosing the life of a tradeswoman.

I had started my career in Animal Medicine long before I decided on the trades. 

It's what pushed me into it, due to having such a horrible experience in that  environment. Having paid for the schooling and realizing then that the money was absolutely horrible with no set regulations. So many of the Veterinarian's only in it for the money and again no regulations to follow so a very scary and sad situation.

Please always choose an AAHA Accredited Hospital when you are choosing a Veterinarian for your babies so you know they are following proper guidelines and regulations.

I was having a very hard time only dealing with animals when they were sick, so I knew I had to move on.

Anyways I will leave that for another story for another blog if anyone shows any interest.

The money! I needed money and I was going nowhere but depression land.

So I started looking into the trades, where I knew the average pay was above the norm. The work was harder, but I didn't look at it like that at the time, I looked at it as an opportunity to see what I could do.

I have always been a "Tomboy" and the majority of my friends have always been male due to compatibility and interests.

There was something very alluring about working with my hands, smashing things, cranking on tools, burning and cutting shit up! and again so many cool tools and machines!

So the big question was, what kind of Tradeswoman do I want to be?

Carpentry didn't interest me, due to the tools, way too many saw blades! and the sawdust bothered me a lot. As well I have also witnessed a guy cut into his leg with a chainsaw, and a lot of scary accidents with nail guns. So I myself being very accident prone just said no.

Glazing was next in line due to my interest in making aquariums, but as I learned very quickly that 99% of the time you will find a job that involves being hundreds of feet up in the air, in an open hole, trying to fill it with something extremely heavy! so again no.

I considered being an Auto Mechanic due to my love of cars and motorcycles. The work hours seemed very long and the pay I considered low for all the hard work and time put in.The idea of being a Heavy Duty Mechanic was more interesting, getting to drive and play with all those crazy huge machines, I did then consider my size and thought better. I could of been wrong there though I think.

Welding has always been a huge interest and love of mine, and if I knew then what I know now, I probably would of chosen to go down this route, but at the time I didn't have all the info I needed, and thought this profession would be bad for my already poor health due to me being an asthmatic.I wasn't aware of all the protective equipment that is out there that would of solved that problem for me.

So I moved on from all of that and found Sheet Metal! Clean, complex, a little bit of welding! light weight for the most part, the machines were really cool, and again being an asthmatic it involved HVAC which I considered very important and could relate with it.

My whole life I have had a love of Metal in all forms, elements and music alike!

It all just looked really good.

I had no idea of the reality of all that was involved, but at the time it seemed right and it has done right by me for 12 years.

I finished my schooling in 2012 and obtained my Red Seal being the 3rd woman to get her Red Seal in Sheet Metal at that school ever!

So it hasn't been all that bad I can promise you, I can't stress enough...You gotta love what you do!