Careers

Young Women in Trades

The Trades industry offers a wide variety of rewarding careers including building and construction, electrical engineering, plumbing, automotive and marine, aviation, robotics, mining, agriculture, and horticulture. Traditionally a male-dominated industry, the Department of Education hosted a Trades Tech - Young Women in Trades Expo to encourage female and non-binary students to explore their options.

On May 10th, seven DSC students attended the Expo, which was held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.  Students were able to enjoy interactive experiences, tech displays and panel discussions in a comfortable space. 

I enjoyed how I got the opportunity to learn about different career paths that I hadn’t considered as options before. It opened my eyes to how amazing the trade workspace can be. I loved how we had the ability to try new thing out like how to put together a plumbing system or have a look at the inside of a truck. The information I found helpful was the different people we could talk to about their profession and collect pamphlets of careers that really interested me. I think it has helped me open my options for career paths in the future.

- Aimee V., Year 9

I really enjoyed the entire expo but my favourite activities were painting lines like how they do them on the roads as well as watching people on a construction site through a virtual reality head set. The information I found the most useful was the pathways I could take to do certain jobs. It was great to hear exactly how I could get into certain fields if I wanted to. I think it helped me better understand what i would be getting into and definitely sparked interest in certain fields.

- Emily A., Year 9

I enjoyed the whole expo but really enjoyed the more practical aspects of it such as learning how gas pipes are connected and watching parts of the jobs happen in real life. I learnt a lot of new information about different jobs I hadn’t heard of before and jobs that often happen behind the scenes as well as the pathways to get into them. I’m sure this will help me in my decisions about possible areas of work in the future.

- Milly., Year 9

I enjoyed how I got the opportunity to learn about different career paths that I hadn’t considered as options before. It opened my eyes to how amazing the trade workspace can be. I loved how we had the ability to try new things out like how to put together a plumbing system or have a look at the inside of a truck. The information I found helpful was the different people we could talk to about their profession and collect pamphlets of careers that really interested me. I think it has helped me open my options for career paths in the future.

- Jordan S., Year 9

I was keen on looking into a few areas, however I was shocked by how many different jobs I got to explore and learn from. I mostly enjoyed getting to experience some aspects of these jobs through VR, as well as hearing stories told by amazing women working in trade. It helped me think about my future, even if I don’t end up working in trades I have learnt so much about having courage as a woman in the workplace.

- Maya, Year 9