Aimee Stanton is an advocate for women in the trades and worked as a plumber for a number of years before starting a tiny home business. (Source: Aimee Stanton)
A female tradie who was rejected from 120 plumbing jobs has revealed the common challenge facing many workers in the industry. Aimee Stanton has experienced imposter syndrome throughout her career and has felt like she had to work harder to prove herself.
Stanton still remembers the exact moment she decided to give plumbing a crack. The now 32-year-old, who goes by The Lady Tradie online, told Yahoo Finance she’d gone to the servo with her dad, a builder, to get an ice-cream.
“I reached for the Magnum, as you do, the most expensive, and dad looked me in the eyes and said, that’s a plumber’s ice-cream, only plumbers can afford Magnums,” she recalled.
RELATED
It was that simple comment that sparked Stanton’s initial interest in the high-paying job. Keen to do something with her hands, Stanton ended up applying for a pre-apprenticeship at TAFE in plumbing.
“I always said I’m going to get an apprenticeship under my belt and go out and chase my dreams,” she said.
“After about 120 rejections for plumbing jobs, I heard back from one and I got the job. That was the start of it and I suppose that was the start of the imposter syndrome as well.”
Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com
It was a baptism of fire for Stanton when she started in the trade.
“My first week in the trade was hell. I mucked up so many times. I crashed my car into the job site fence, I fell through a roof, I got a piece of metal stuck in my butt. It was the worst week ever,” she said.
While it’s common for apprentices to make mistakes while they are learning, Stanton felt like the stakes were higher for her as the only woman on site and she’d be hard on herself if she wasn’t as fast as someone else, even if they were qualified.
Like many female tradies, Stanton said she felt like she had to work harder to try and impress her employer and prove herself.
Stanton says she experienced imposter syndrome when working as a plumber and later as a business owner. (Source: Aimee Stanton)
“Before going into work each day, I would run through my head a million times, okay, what do I need to do today? How am I going to make it the best possible? And I would try not to make any mistakes. That was my mentality, I can’t make a mistake,” she said.
Stanton admitted it was “quite confronting”, rocking up to sites where she was the only female amongst a group of 100 or 200 blokes who often assumed she was “just the office chick” or a lift operator.
Story continues
“I used to go home and cry at night because I just thought, why am I doing this? I shouldn’t be here. I’m passionate about it, but it’s not the right place because that’s what the environment was telling me,” she said.
Stanton persevered and completed her plumbing apprenticeship. She went from making about $300 a week as a first-year plumbing apprentice to about $120,000 a year through a union plumbing job as a qualified plumber.
But after years working as a plumber, she realised something was missing.
“When I became qualified, it looked like I had it all. I had a really good plumbing union job, I had a new house, I had a car, I had all that, but I just wasn’t happy and [had] that urge for more,” she said.
“Then I realised, okay, I’m gonna stop living for the materialistic things, and start living for the adventures and the fun and the learning. Then that’s when I sold everything [and] I quit my job as a plumber.”
Stanton spent a few years travelling and even had a stint on reality TV show Survivor.
In 2017, Stanton started her own tiny house building and accommodation business, Tiny Stays, with her brother. In 2023, she launched women’s workwear brand Zadie Workwear.
Even when she became a business owner, Stanton admitted she experienced imposter syndrome and felt like she had to “put on this front” that she knew what she was doing.
Stanton has encouraged other female tradies to keep persevering and chase their dreams. (Source: Aimee Stanton)
She’s not the only one, either. New research commissioned by Solo by MYOB found that 32 per cent of sole operators felt like they were “making it up as they go”, 45 per cent were worried they weren’t doing enough or didn’t know enough, and 11 per cent regularly questioned their capability.
Additional research amongst employees revealed more than a quarter (26 per cent) had experienced imposter syndrome at work.
Stanton is now a passionate advocate for women in trades. While imposter syndrome is a common experience amongst female tradies, she urged them to keep going.
“Female tradies feel like they have to prove themselves a lot more. The weirdest thing is, most of the time, they’re there because they’re passionate about the trade,” she said.
“They want to kick goals and they want to make it.”
She urged other young female tradies to “give it a crack” and be themselves, and not be afraid to chase their dreams.
“It’s not always going to work out the way you want to, but if you keep rocking up every day with a smile on your face to learn, that is all you need,” she said.
“You just need the strength to be a learner and keep on going when times get tough. In any industry, it gets tough, and you’re gonna muck up.
“But if you just keep on going, then the world’s your oyster.”
Get the latest Yahoo Finance news – follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.