Hey ladies and theydies,

I work water/wastewater treatment for a municipality. Super interested in wastewater and about halfway through an apprenticeship. My job requires certification in each.

I'm getting ready to test for class one wastewater in about two months. My supervisor is all like, since you'll be there why don't you take a class one water?

My question is: what areas should I focus on for the water certification? I know enough to run our plant, but not much else.

Thanks!

Hey all, I want to start electrical. I did the entrance exam for instrumentation, electrical is in the same class category so do I need to take that one specifically as well? Also how the heck do I get hired as an apprentice. I have no connections. I'm good at school so I was thinking of doing that first. Honestly just what the heck do I do, help haha.

I work in manufacturing, and am required to wear work-supplied FR/Arc Flash resistant clothing. The pants of our uniforms are at times extremely painful for me due to the short inseam and lack of fabric space in the back, not to mention being too big around my waist. I requested pants fit for women, but was told the only option is unisex.

I really like my job, and don't want to leave over something like this, but I care about my health more and suggestions like wearing pads constantly or wearing natural fiber pants underneath my work pants doesn't feel particularly helpful. I live in the US but am not a union member. Is there anything I can do, or is this an untold part of working in manufacturing? I feel like a nuisance or worse to HR.

I've posted 2 or 3 other times about that shitty coworker Zach and I ended up reporting him. Not the update I was hoping to give but I'm still satisfied with it. Basically the supervisor who was handling it is now in a different department so we have a new one. Nothing ever came of it, I don't know if Zach was ever talked to, HR never got ahold of me, but Zach did chill out for the most part. He's out on disability right now until at least February so I won't have to deal with him for a while and hopefully I'll be on another shift by then. Before he left for surgery, he stuck his nose in my relationship and basically told me that I'm being abused and I'm abusive, which neither are true. Everyone else on my shift is happy he's gone for now, as we're all sick of him. I'll try to find my previous posts and link them below. Hopefully I'll never have to update about Zach again!

Hey lovelies,

I am an arborist/forester and have only worn Salawas for years. They’re truly perfection and 100% worth the price. The boots I currently wear

 I recently started a new job requiring steel or composite toe boots that lace up. So here's my problem: nearly all the boots I've found are for construction/warehouse-style work vs. outdoor work. 

I walk or hike about 10 miles a day. I can't do this flat sole heavy boot BS.

It doesn't get very cold where I live, but in the summer, it's it maxes out at about 90+ degrees with high humidity for serval months. So, full leather, more traditional boots just don't work.

Waterproofing is a must.

Additionally, I've had problems in the past with the brand's ability to withstand 50 miles a week. (Hiking and climbing is much harder on shoes vs flat concrete or dirt ). Redwing is trash, La Sportiva is trash, and Carolina’s are trash. All these brands fell apart, hurt, or couldn't be hiked in comfortably. 

I looked into keens, but I read they have wide tow boxes, and I have very narrow feet. Which also makes buying men's shoes difficult.

Any advice or feedback would be helpful.

Yours truly,

- Salawa slut. 

So I've had a headache for 9 days straight and I went to a walkin clinic over the holidays to get some blood work done.
They call me today and tell me I'm vitamin D deficiency. Like literally how? I spend 10 hours a day outside. Plus I'm red headed and fair skinned and if I'm not mistaken we produce more vitamin D quicker. (My mom's a nurse practitioner)
Anybody else deal with something like this? Seems like no matter what I do I can't get 100% healthy lol
Surprisingly not anemic for once in my life tho.

I'm running a night to promote women in trades. I have a few projects to give the ladies some hands on experience. I have a popsicle flashlight making station, a hydraulic scissor lift run by syringes and an air logic board. I'm looking for more ideas.

Criteria - 10-15min to complete. Initial costs must be low. Engaging enough to learn the skill. We are hosting it in a banquet hall so easy to clean up and not loud.

I'm hoping some of you have excellent physics experiments you loved that even vaguely can be tied back to any trades. Tia

hey ladies! apprenticeship applications are around the corner (not exactly but you know) and i was wondering what i should do, ie go to school or not. i was trying to be a welder (i still want to learn how to do that) but i am now leaning into being an electrician?

is going to a trade school worth it? tuition would be a couple grand (like 6-7ish) and take 2 terms as a full time student and i live alone and independently so do i just study my behind off for the IBEW aptitude test? how would i get experience? is it even required? TIA ladies!

Hello! I'm no longer in the field however my hubs is and now that it's a brisk 32 degrees during the day, I'd love to get him a microwave lunchbox for Christmas since he doesn't have a microwave at his jobsite. Any recommendations?

Linewomen, lineworker, whatever you like to call yourself! I have a new job as a groundman and am struggling with confidence and also how to show that I have initiative. I found out last week that the guys think I can't do anything alone because I usually wait for the apprentices to join them in the getting ready for the day routine in the morning and help them load material. Part of my struggle is that there is a lack of structure, which is really hard for how my brain works, but I do want to be able to adapt. There is no set time to check in with the foreman about the day's job, we just have to get vehicles ready in the morning and then figure it out. Once we are told the job, we have to gather material and load the trucks. I am still learning what all material we need for each job. There are specs but I dont have time to research the job specs for each individual job in the morning and I have only been there 4 or 5 weeks so I haven't memorized a ton of specs. I am expected to show more initiative but I struggle with this as I am not sure what to do with my down time on slow days besides stock trucks. I need more ideas of what to do, and what to say so that I can show that I am eager without looking like (more of) a total idiot. I hope this makes sense. I am really afraid that I will get canned before I even have a chance at the apprenticeship test in June, and I know that these guys will talk smack about me to the guys at the other yards and my reputation will be ahead of me when it comes time to rotate. (There are 4 groundmen, one at each yard, and they plan to rotate us every 7 to 8 weeks.) I enjoy the work but I do struggle with the dynamics of men who don't communicate much and expect me to just know what to do. I don't ever complain about the work but when I am not sure of the next step, I can tell it's not a good thing. Any advice is appreciated. I wonder everyday if this is the career for me as I feel like I am struggling more and more rather than less and less. =/ Can anyone relate, even in another field? How did you show confidence even if you weren't sure what exactly to do? What are things I can do during downtime to impress the crews and truly be productive?

I like working with my hands, but I am small and there is realistically a lot I can't do. I also don't want to deal with the harassment. I regularly get told I can't do things that I'm perfectly capable of doing at a normal job, and I really do not want to work in a boys club with tasks that I actually cannot do. I went to an electricians training course, for instance, and the director told me that they struggle to keep female students because of harassment.

That being said, I have NO interest in medical fields and I am not a good driver, so CDL is out of the question. I feel like this leaves me with no alternatives.

Hi all,

I'm struggling to find a good solid project management solution for projects, as clients keep messaging me on informal channels. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for managing projects/tasks?

Last week I received a promotion to group leader at my company. There's a lot to unpack there but my big concern right now is what should I get for the team as Christmas gifts? I have a team of 19. Mostly males of course but I'd like to keep it unisex so hopefully I can just buy in bulk. I'm not trying to be a cheapskate but this position does not come with bonuses and due to our raise structure most of the team makes about the same or more than I will be. I want to show my appreciation for them and hopefully build some team bonding with this gesture. The last group lead was a "good ol boy" and it's created an odd dynamic within the team. I can spend about $10 per person. I could absolutely to gift cards to dunkin' but that feels like a cop out. Any ideas?

I've been working in hospitality and retail for most my life. I have an associates degree in ecology that isn't worth a hill of beans, and I can't say I'm interested in going into debt to finish a BS with such little earning potential.

I don't have a dream job. I don't have any passions that someone could get paid for. I've looked into SO many programs and have come up with dead ends more than I could begin to tell you. Whatever Reddit says is a good idea, is shown to be under paid/over saturated with little exception. I also do not want to work in any medical fields, I just don't have the aptitude for it.

I'm also 31 so, not particularly young. I just need SOMETHING.

I've always wanted to try welding, but the wages in my area have prevented me from bothering. There is a good welding program at the community college near me, but local wages at $18hr have been less than temping (for context, I live in California so that's basically minimum wage).

However, again, no career field looks particularly promising. So I'm about ready to say fuck it and try it in case maybe something comes out of it. Any thoughts?

I’m going to be going to trade school soon and I’m torn between the two. The first job I considered was mechanic since I think cars are pretty interesting and it seems more accessible to practice. I’ve recently just considered being an electrician however. It’s pretty difficult to decide since I really have no experience for either and am not 100 percent sure I’ll even enjoy doing either of them. What do yall recommend?

I’ve worked in oil & gas for quite some time now and would like to transition to possibly ArcGIS

Hi everyone I’m currently an electrical helper and for the past six months my daily’s have been a pair of high top chelsea blundstone boots. They are SUPER comfortable and light and i have never come home with sore feet. The problem is that i didn’t waterproof them so they’re slowing falling apart and I don’t believe they’re EH resistant. it also took me awhile to break them in before I even took this job.

I’ve been looking at red back boots because they are a similar style, look light, and are EH resistant. Or I could try out Blundstones work series to stick with the same brand. But i guess i’m worried about spending $200+ on boots that I might hate. Are there other brands that make a chelsea style boot that fit these requirements?? Are red backs the way to go??

Hey everyone I work for a city utility and sometimes need to do wiring for water meter radios outside. Any suggestions on gloves to keep my fingers from freezing in MN winter, but thin enough to still do wiring? My regular winter gloves are too thick to handle itty bitty wires.

Looking for gift ideas for my GF who works outdoors.

My girlfriend has complained to me about how lots of blue-collar oriented items are geared towards men and how when there's something designed for women out in the field, it's generally more expensive. She doesn't get paid a whole lot and is super resilient, so I feel like she puts up with more than she should because she doesn't want to spend the money on some not-so-cheap items. With the holidays coming up, I'm looking to splurge a bit on her.

Some additional context:

• she is works on a conservation crew doing habitat restoration which involves lots of staking, watering, digging, and more
• we live in the PNW so it's quite rainy, dark, and cold for a large chunk of the year
• she's a leftie, so on top of using things designed for men, she also ends up using a lot of tools designed for righties

Clothing brands I was thinking of (but looking for more ideas):

• Smartwool
• Duluth Trading
• Patagonia
• Carhartt
• Kuhl
• Dovetail Workwear
• Red Wing Shoes

Also looking for non-clothing ideas, but for that I'm even more lost on what's good to get.

I'm in need of some advice. I work on a small crew, on which there are three men, myself and another woman, who started roughly around the same time as me. I've always thought of myself as a supportive woman in the trades. In my mind, the more of us there are, the less we'll all have to deal with people who aren't used to working with women. In other words, I believe we should keep making space for ourselves in these non-traditional fields. Unfortunately, a few months after we started working together, I started to notice that the other woman I work with is toxic. She's highly competitive, incredibly negative and before I stopped engaging, was dumping all of her emotional baggage on me. After a while, I just started keeping to myself and focusing on my work, so she wouldn't come to me to complain. Only that didn't work either. She started complaining about me behind my back to my bosses and actually went as far as filing a bullying complaint against me for some very innocuous interactions. The results of an investigation into her complaint came back with no evidence of bullying on mg part. But now, working with her is the absolute worst. She acts like she's above any labor intensive work and always asks for help when myself and our male coworkers are able to do the same tasks independently. She is getting increasingly paranoid and thinks people are following her, causing our company to make big changes to appease her. I'm at a loss of what to do. Although I love my job and my work, the workplace feels so toxic, I don't know how much longer I can stand it. It feels especially bad because I want to support other women and encourage them in the trades, but I feel this particular one is making us all look bad. Have any of you had to deal with such a person? How did you cope?

I finished my apprenticeship today, and my coworker decided to go on a sexist rant. On today of all days. He held his tongue this whole time, but today he decided to impart his "wisdom" on me.

On top of that, I am worried that now that I'm no longer a student, I'll be held to the standard of perfection. That everyone will turn on me.

I'm also exhausted from just being in survival mode for this apprenticeship. I have so many doubts and worries going through my mind. Any calming words to share, anyone?

Hello, are there any female sprinkler fitters in here? I’m F23 living in Toronto, Canada. - and ready to change career.

I would love to hear about your experience and how your day usually goes in site. Would you recommend this field ? What’s the scariest part about this job? Heaviest pipe you carried? Is there a lot of Math involved? and what kind ? (cuz thats prolly my weakest ability and yes i am overthinking so much 😭) What are your work hours?

Something about this field interests me but I don’t want to regret changing careers and Ill end up not enjoying it. I am currently in Customer Service Field and I am just DONE dealing with people that I am so ready to leave ($28/hr no room for growth - and i just really want to be in a career where theres less talking and dealing with ppl. I want to be left alone while I work basically lol)

Please please let me know! Even if you know someone whos in this field, do you think they would recommend this to a woman?.

Thank you so much im advance. I am so eager to start a new chapter in this life.

I'm ~10 credits or so away from graduating with an associates in general engineering, and then my plan is to transfer to a four year university and... i'm struggling with second year courses which sucks.

Hi, was going for a bachelors but i'm currently stuck in community college kinda feeling like a failure due to failing a bunch of classes. Assuming I could complete my associates, (I have 1-2 semesters left), could I just try to get into trades with that? Trying to figure out what i'd need to know as well and if i can just get a good chance at finding a job once i complete my associates.

At this point, i'm not sure if i'm even cut out for a four year degree. Saw some people suggest getting some higher ed to help in the field, and i already have some, so thats good but no actual degree. (I realize this post sounds alot like i'm looking down on trades and I didn't mean it that way, I had an interest in research and honestly that idea wasnt finalized at all).

Possibly apply for engineering technician jobs? Its hands on too which sounds good? Honestly went into engineering partially at first cause i thought it was alot more hands on.

Is it possible to become HVAC help/labourer without having a gas technician 3 or 2 license? I am seeing a lot people looking for a helpers but I dont have any experience in that field. I’m honestly trying to get into welding but that’s looking too good for me right now. I could use the experience and money from being their labourer but would they hire me ?Finding a trade job in general is so tough these days, it’s crazy. Is there any medium to high paying trades out there would hire someone with no experience anymore?

Im currently on night shift in northern Alberta, I packed for the weather (wool socks, thermal underwear and such) but didnt take in count night shift/wind lol. Is there any good heated jacket or sweater that holds charge for near 12 hours or has cheap battery packs I could buy. I really dont want to go on my next job (prob in January) without something to warm up. Other tips to keep warm would be appreciated as well. Thanks you for any input.

Finally finished my certification and I’m on my way to work at a refinery as a helper but I keep overthinking if I’ll even be able to make it as a female welder it’s just crazy and kinda scary to think about. Any advice or stories from any fellow blue collars ?

Idek what to say. I'm openly a butch lesbian, I'm also closeted nonbinary but I've had top surgery and it's probably clear if you know what you're looking at. Knew he was a Trumper but he's been completely normal when I've mentioned my girl in the past. Happy Thanksgiving I guess!

I am currently a 45 year old mom, making a major career shift into the wastewater/water industry. I have been nervous and uncertain at times in the last few months but every time I read y’all’s posts and conversations, I know I’ll be alright. Thank you for being here and sharing. I promise to give back to the women that come in after me too.