You can make it! From University Dreams to Manufacturing Mastery
Aisha Smith
In a long shed filled with the hum of precision machinery, Aisha Smith moves confidently between lathes and milling machines, transforming metal into meticulously crafted components. As an apprentice fitter and turner, she represents a new generation of women choosing manufacturing trades over more traditional career paths.
“I’m working on lathes, I’m working on milling machines, CNC machines. And then after that, I’m sometimes putting those components together if they don’t require welding—small motors, small pumps,” Aisha explains. “My job isn’t exactly fabricating things. It’s more machining the fabricated parts down so that they’re within tolerance to the drawings or requirements.”
An Unexpected Career Path
Aisha’s journey to manufacturing came through an unexpected detour from her original academic aspirations, demonstrating how exposure to trades can open new horizons for students who might never have considered them.
“Growing up I was dead set on going to university. I was absolutely adamant that I was going to study criminology, psychology. Right before I started exploring manufacturing, I was pretty dead set on being a crime scene investigator,” she recalls. The COVID pandemic changed her trajectory when “we started to struggle focusing at school, going back to in-person learning compared to online learning.”
A school program provided the pivotal moment: “My school offered trade tasters so you could go experience different trades one day a week, and from there I decided I wanted to do diesel fitting.”
Finding Home in the Workshop
For Aisha, the mechanical environment resonated with childhood experiences, creating an immediate sense of belonging that academic paths had never provided.
“Diesel fitting, to me, just felt like home. I’m a rural girl. I spent a lot of my childhood out in Charters Towers, where my grandfather had a bunch of old rusty trucks and horses—it was a property. So diesel fitting just felt like home.”
Her mother encouraged her to combine her academic abilities with her newfound interest: “I was talking to my mum about it, and she said, ‘Well, you’ve got the brains, girl. Why don’t you try a bit of both? Try machining.’ But they had an option where you can do fitting work, and so that’s where I came to the conclusion—I’ll do fitting and machining.”
The Satisfaction of Creation
Now in her third year of a four-year apprenticeship, Aisha finds deep satisfaction in the tangible results of her work and the continuous variety of challenges.
“I love the fitting jobs the most. I love pulling things apart and putting them back together,” she says with enthusiasm. “Earlier this year we had an 80-tonne crate that we were working on—just doing maintenance and repairing little things for it so we could auction it off. That was really fun.”
The combination of familiarity and novelty keeps her engaged: “I very much enjoy the familiarity of it. All the smells and everything I’m working with reminds me so much of home that it actually keeps me motivated. At the same time, I love how there’s always a new experience, new jobs, new learning opportunities for me.”
Navigating Challenges as a Woman in Manufacturing
As a female tradesperson, Aisha faces the realities of working in an environment where women remain the exception rather than the norm. Her experiences reflect both the difficulties and unexpected benefits of this position.
“There are pros and cons to being a woman in manufacturing. One of the very obvious cons is you’re a minority in this field, so you’re working in a male-dominated field. You have to put on this tough persona, you have to work twice as hard just to get respect. You feel like you can’t really ask for a lot of help because you’re trying to prove them wrong—trying to prove that, just because I’m a woman, I can still do this.”
She’s encountered direct discrimination: “Unfortunately, it’s definitely a lot more common. There have been a few issues. You have individuals who think, ‘Oh, you’re just a little girl in a man’s world.’ And it’s just kind of like, I’m here trying to earn money, build a life for myself. Why are you making your personal opinions my problem?”
Yet she’s found unexpected recognition too: “One of the best parts about being a woman in manufacturing is the acknowledgement and recognition. When you’re in public and in work uniforms, automatically everyone around you just gives you the nod. They acknowledge that you’re doing a really hard career.”
Building Toward Engineering
While focused on completing her apprenticeship, Aisha has already set her sights on further education and career advancement, building on the practical foundation she’s establishing now.
“Once I’ve got my apprenticeship done and dusted, I’m hoping to actually go back to studying to be an engineer,” she explains. “It wasn’t my original plan. When I first went into the trade industry, my original plan was to get my trade done, go back out on a station, just doing diesel fitting or fitting work.”
An injury earlier in the year unexpectedly revealed new possibilities: “I was in the office for two or three months and the work I was doing was programming using apps like Fusion 360 to build components for jobs and then send it to the machine. That really got me interested in studying again.”
Advice for Young Women
Drawing from her experiences navigating educational choices and workplace challenges, Aisha offers forthright advice to young women considering manufacturing careers, while also advocating for educational systems that better support diverse career paths.
“Absolutely go for it. It is really rewarding and it’s something you will thank yourself for in your future,” she urges. “If this is a career that you can see yourself enjoying, go for it. If you enjoy welding, if you enjoy looking at wires and figuring out which ones go where—absolutely do it. If you like pulling things apart, go be a diesel fitter or a fitter and turner.”
She emphasises the importance of making decisions based on personal interest rather than outside opinions: “I think if other people influence that decision for you, you will not be happy in your career. Your career is yours—you’re the one working it. You need to make those decisions.”
Aisha also advocates for educational reform: “We need to stop pushing that agenda of expecting everyone to go to university. At school, I was a very switched-on kid, and I only had three teachers who actually supported my decision to go into a trade field. Every other teacher was like, ‘Oh, but you’re a really smart young girl. Why don’t you go to university?’”
She identifies broader societal expectations that limit girls’ exposure to trades: “A majority of the boys will do the trade fields. Almost all the girls will do university studies. It’s that social expectation of ‘if you’re a girl, go study; you’re a guy, go sweat outside.’”
For women already in manufacturing, her advice centres on authenticity: “Do not change yourself just because you’re in a male-dominated field. You don’t have to always put on this whole facade of being independent and strong and ‘I don’t need help.’ It is OK to ask for help. It is OK to be a woman in this field.”
Through her journey from academic aspirations to manufacturing expertise, Aisha exemplifies how young women can find fulfilling careers in trades—while charting their own paths toward continued growth and leadership in fields that have traditionally overlooked their potential.