Meet Augustina, who is on her professional journey as an electrical apprentice via Eryk’s Apprenticeship Program initiative.
We delve deeper as she gives an insight on life as a young female electrician taking on international projects in a male dominated career. 😊
I was that kid who played around with damaged electrical parts when I was little. I loved playing around cables and making imaginary connections. At that time, I didn’t even know what being a technician/electrician was. If anyone asked me what I wanted to be, I’d gladly say that I wanted to be a doctor. And then much later after high school, I decided to venture into and explore electricity. 😊
Sometimes I feel like I need to prove myself, but I know I’m certainly good at what I do, so it isn’t much of an issue. I want to show that gender doesn’t decide if you’re good at a job or not. Even if I’m the only female electrician on site which is almost always the case, I just focus on working hard. Once you love what you do and have dedicated time to mastering the needed skills, then there is absolutely nothing that can hold you back from doing it effortlessly. I’ll use this opportunity to say that it is important that everyone at work treats each other nicely no matter if you’re a male or female. That way we can all do our jobs well.
It has been a delightful experience. Every part of this journey has been memorable. So far, I’ve been on some international projects and have gathered a lot of ideas and experience. Every new step, every knowledge I acquire, they all remind me that there was a time I knew less. Coming from Nigeria, it took a little bit of time to adjust to the standard of work here. But I’m glad at how far I’ve come.
I’ve learnt to read plans, I can run a full connection on a conveyor with the documentations/plans, construct cable trays and others.
Every single mentor or team leader I have worked with has shown strong support and eagerness to teach me new things and also correct my wrongs. They have been playing a major role in my learning process.
Life itself is a continuous learning process. I have gained more skills, thanks to Eryk. I also look forward to learning more and expanding these skills.
We don’t get to see many females in this field and it would be nice to see a change. I encourage more women to take the bold step to begin this journey. You can do this.
To young women everywhere, Augustina’s story is a testament that there is nothing too hard to accomplish and no industry too male-dominated to conquer. In the future we look forward to having many more female technicians and also apprentices as part of Eryk’s apprenticeship program designed to empower young talents from Africa.
It is important that regardless of gender, people learn to harness their potentials, light up their aspirations, and rewrite the norms that dare to hold them back. A reminder also that empowerment knows no boundaries – and like electricity, timeless currents that can electrify the world.
