A small round up of what everything has been like for the last few weeks and my thoughts about actually going ahead and choosing a trade. I’ve come to terms with the face there in no way to get rid of those sock tan lines half way up my legs, and in my case around my wrists as I prefer to wear gloves. I’ve realised my body is going to hate me most days as I come home battered, bruised, cut up and sore from actually doing a physical job and not sitting at a screen 6 hours a day. But one thing I thought I’d never comes to terms with was using a porta loo on each site, but surprisingly they are cleaned often and are full of super nice smelling things which makes them smell like bubble gum! Hahaha I now don’t have an issue with them!
My backs possibly taken the biggest toll this week gone as we have been cleaning out more trenches for the site located on the steepest hill ever. It’s been a week of trying to remember “use your legs chelsea, not your back!” But as simple as it sounds, it becomes the last thing you remember to do and it’s not till the evening you realise you slacked off and resulted in using your back not legs and now have a sore back for the rest of the night. This is one thing I need to make sure I keep on top of now, or a few years down the track I will be hating myself to being a sloppy lifter all those years ago.
Another change for me coming from an office job is changing back from a salary pay check to wages, the last time I was on wages I was working two jobs while also still going to uni when studying Graphic Design (I can’t complain, that extra money was so good at 17). I think salary just gives you a little piece of mind knowing you get paid the same amount every week, and not worrying you haven’t worked enough hours to be able to pay your bills for the week. But not the end of the world, it’s just another challenge to work through as I figure out if making the switch to become a builder was a good idea, but after my first pay check this week, it’s already got me smiling moon beams.
I don’t want to say as a Designer you get paid like crap, but if I’m comparing the two, I was a qualified graphic designer with two diplomas and 5 years industry experience and in my first week as a labourer in the building industry, including one rain day, my weekly pay is more than what I received as a designer in any of those 5 years.For so many years I was like a lot of people in New Zealand. I WANTED to be a builder so bad, but as a female, it’s just not what we do right? We go to uni, get a diploma or a degree and sit at a desk all day while the guys do a trade and make the bucks for the family. It wasn’t right. We have just as much skill and muscle as the guys do and I wasn’t just going to sit back and let them have all the fun. I may not be strong right now and have no clue what I’m doing half the time, but with a great mentor to help explain the job and help push my body’s physical ability to the limits, I can see myself being just as much of a asset as the “new guy” on the site. I’m just annoyed that it’s not something that was pushed more when I was at high school, if I had the courage to push through that “it’s a mans job” stigma when I was 16, who knows where I would have been right now!
If you are a teacher, parent, mentor, social worker or careers advisor and you know a girl who is lost in their career path, I can 100% recommend a trade, I have only been in this journey 3 weeks, but I can already say I have so many more dreams and aspirations for life than I ever did before choosing to take up a trade. Along with the need for more builders in New Zealand and the great starting wage, it’s one job you will never get bored. I hope that over time, this blog can grow and help others to see just what it’s like to be a female in the building industry, because when I was in the apprehensive stage of making the change, it was one thing I wish I had to read, someone else’s real life experiences.
