[On-screen text: Jessah, Plumbing apprentice]
Jessah: After having three kids, I wanted to have a bit more flexibility. Having an apprenticeship lets me achieve that. I get to be on the tools and live out that dream every single day.
I've always been hands on. I was always, you know, with my dad, following him around changing car tyres, building things, teaching me how to weld and things like that.
So I just started researching, you know, could women be in trades, because I wasn't sure. I signed up for a pre-apprenticeship to see if I was actually any good at it, if I'd enjoy it. And I loved it. You get to work with different people. You get to learn while you earn. Physically it keeps you fit, mentally it's great as well. Definitely rewarding. You can drive past the job and you're like, oh, hey, I put that building together. I made that water go or gas go from there to there.
Working out my work life balance, having three children can be tricky. My employers are very supportive because they've got kids themselves.
I'm really looking forward to looking back on the four years and being like, wow, all that hard work has really paid off. I'd love to do bigger builds like high rises and things like that. Do some big plumbing and keep going, keep learning.
[On-screen text: Learn and earn. vic.gov.au/learnandearn]
[End transcript]
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