Carolina
DIY
Ok so this would be my Day 2 thread. It's still Tuesday where I am so I hope that counts.
When I joined this I was in trade school, I chose the DIY role because it was what fit at that point, but it's been a while since I finished all my courses and graduated with decent grades even.
I didn't go to college due to how they handled all the COVID thing back in the day, I was supposed to go to college in 2020 but one thing lead to another and I dropped out, well, not like I joined in the first place, I simply didn't attend.
Got a job when restrictions were lifted but still wanted to you know do something, so I signed up for sparky training, I already had some background so it wasn't as hard for me as it was for others in my same class, I knew the basics how to replace a socket or install a light, mainly to avoid having to pay someone else to do it, as we couldn't afford to fix anything for years, our place had terrible wiring, ancient and with lots of awful botch jobs and temporary patches that ended up being permanent, etc. And being a big house the maintenance gets crazy expensive.
We were 2 lasses in the course but the other one ended up dropping out after like the first year when we got to service drops and outdoors work in general, you know trenches, poles, outdoors/road lighting, overhead lines for barns, sheds, etc. this was one of my favourite parts tbh and super useful, fun but heavy work. I ended up using this knowledge to bring power to our little barn a year later. The other girl was a little overweight, not obese or health condition fat tho, majority of women my age (early 20s) have a few extra kilos on them unless they're gym nuts or weird tomboys like me, anyway thing is she couldn't climb the pole even with the steps, or trench with the shovel (it's all done by hand here, no fancy machinery available) and dropped out. For comparison there was a fat guy and he climbed a pole like he was a cat, less than 30 secs and he was at the top lol.
Thing is, women sparkies aren't really "a thing" in my country, society isn't still as developed as in other parts of the world so nobody takes one seriously, I wouldn't land any jobs if I wanted to make a living out of electrical work, that's why I work a "normal" office job and only do some work on weekends because one of my cousins is a contractor and sometimes needs someone to help him on site and calls me, the pay is regular but I only do those jobs because of my cousin. Perhaps I could make use of my abilities somewhere else, but it's not like I can "escape" my country, right now things are going bad economy/social wise and my family isn't particularly rich either, tho I'm not at the stage I'd consider joining a migration group heading to the USA border. The office job pay is lame as I'm only a junior but it's something and it allows me to help my parents + maybe getting some tools or lighting equipment I like.
In retrospective I feel like I went to school to get my qualis in order to prove a point, that I could do it, and actually finish all the courses, get the knowledge, read the books, strip the wires, even if it meant a dead end in terms of "having a job", trades are interesting and I respect them all, yes, plumbers included
, most tradesmen live day to day, there are no important companies hiring and offering stable jobs, it's getting up and hoping someone needs some work done.
What I don't respect are terrible jobs like the ones done in our house for the last... 120 years, yeah, it was a collection of violations and insanities.
What I also do on the side is appliance and electronics repair, not plenty of work there but I do get some calls, offering a discount for seniors was a good idea, minus 10% if you're over 60. Selling handcraft floor and desk lamps is also a thing I do, it's a shame I have to include terrible quality LED bulbs with every one of them because there are no alternatives anymore, not even good LEDs like the COB filament ones.
So... that'd be part of my story. I felt it was off-topic so here it is. Does anyone else feel the same way or is electrical work in Europe/the US or wherever you live something that's "just a job", a means to earn money?
When I joined this I was in trade school, I chose the DIY role because it was what fit at that point, but it's been a while since I finished all my courses and graduated with decent grades even.
I didn't go to college due to how they handled all the COVID thing back in the day, I was supposed to go to college in 2020 but one thing lead to another and I dropped out, well, not like I joined in the first place, I simply didn't attend.
Got a job when restrictions were lifted but still wanted to you know do something, so I signed up for sparky training, I already had some background so it wasn't as hard for me as it was for others in my same class, I knew the basics how to replace a socket or install a light, mainly to avoid having to pay someone else to do it, as we couldn't afford to fix anything for years, our place had terrible wiring, ancient and with lots of awful botch jobs and temporary patches that ended up being permanent, etc. And being a big house the maintenance gets crazy expensive.
We were 2 lasses in the course but the other one ended up dropping out after like the first year when we got to service drops and outdoors work in general, you know trenches, poles, outdoors/road lighting, overhead lines for barns, sheds, etc. this was one of my favourite parts tbh and super useful, fun but heavy work. I ended up using this knowledge to bring power to our little barn a year later. The other girl was a little overweight, not obese or health condition fat tho, majority of women my age (early 20s) have a few extra kilos on them unless they're gym nuts or weird tomboys like me, anyway thing is she couldn't climb the pole even with the steps, or trench with the shovel (it's all done by hand here, no fancy machinery available) and dropped out. For comparison there was a fat guy and he climbed a pole like he was a cat, less than 30 secs and he was at the top lol.
Thing is, women sparkies aren't really "a thing" in my country, society isn't still as developed as in other parts of the world so nobody takes one seriously, I wouldn't land any jobs if I wanted to make a living out of electrical work, that's why I work a "normal" office job and only do some work on weekends because one of my cousins is a contractor and sometimes needs someone to help him on site and calls me, the pay is regular but I only do those jobs because of my cousin. Perhaps I could make use of my abilities somewhere else, but it's not like I can "escape" my country, right now things are going bad economy/social wise and my family isn't particularly rich either, tho I'm not at the stage I'd consider joining a migration group heading to the USA border. The office job pay is lame as I'm only a junior but it's something and it allows me to help my parents + maybe getting some tools or lighting equipment I like.
In retrospective I feel like I went to school to get my qualis in order to prove a point, that I could do it, and actually finish all the courses, get the knowledge, read the books, strip the wires, even if it meant a dead end in terms of "having a job", trades are interesting and I respect them all, yes, plumbers included
, most tradesmen live day to day, there are no important companies hiring and offering stable jobs, it's getting up and hoping someone needs some work done.What I don't respect are terrible jobs like the ones done in our house for the last... 120 years, yeah, it was a collection of violations and insanities.
What I also do on the side is appliance and electronics repair, not plenty of work there but I do get some calls, offering a discount for seniors was a good idea, minus 10% if you're over 60. Selling handcraft floor and desk lamps is also a thing I do, it's a shame I have to include terrible quality LED bulbs with every one of them because there are no alternatives anymore, not even good LEDs like the COB filament ones.
So... that'd be part of my story. I felt it was off-topic so here it is. Does anyone else feel the same way or is electrical work in Europe/the US or wherever you live something that's "just a job", a means to earn money?
