Women in Welding
Swanton Welding is all about its people. At Swanton Welding, we know welders don’t need to fit the stereotype, and we are proud to show that in our team. Recently, Swanton Welding got on video with five female welders to discuss what led them to the trade, what their experience has been like at Swanton Welding, and what advice they have to other women considering a career in welding.
Meet Our Female Welders
Every team member at Swanton adds value to the shop. Our female welders have varied roles, but they all take pride in their work and love the hood-down focus.
- Becky – Welder/Fabricator
Becky has been on the team for six months and teaches at the community college.
- Tiffany – Welder/Fabricator
Tiffany has worked at Swanton in the heavy fabrication shop for over a year.
- Erin – Welder/Fabricator
Erin works with Tiffany in the fabrication shop and has been at Swanton for about a year.
- Skyler – Student Welder
Skyler works in building one and has been here for two months.
- Allison – Student Welder
Allison works in the shop in Pettyville and has been with Swanton for four months.
Why Did Our Student Welders Choose the Trade?
Allison’s first welding experience was with her dad. She visited him in the shop for lunch, and he offered to let her try her hand at welding. It wasn’t perfect, but she liked seeing the outcome of what she had created. After enjoying only a quarter of welding time during her sophomore year, she dove into it more thoroughly and did a full-year program during her junior year, which involved two full hours daily. When she had the chance to really “put her hood down,” she began to take pride in seeing her progress and accomplishments. Allison loves that “hood down” mentality, where you just disappear into the focus of the process, and all the chaos of the world disappears for a time – it’s just you and your work.
Skyler had a different path that led her to welding. Growing up with a difficult life, she thought she wanted to be a doctor, but her grandmother let her know that welders – in particular, underwater welders – made a good living and that she should investigate that career path. When grandma is persistent, it’s hard to let it go, so when she went to the co-op program her sophomore year, she gave welding a try. Skyler met Allison and found she had a talent for welding right away. Skyler is also in nursing school and can balance her work with welding with her school.
Making a Career of It
Erin had a non-traditional path to welding. She has a degree in environmental science with a minor in biology from a four-year university. Erin found the job market for her field tough to navigate after college. Rather than continue to work and struggle for non-profits, she called a community college with a strong welding program and ended up loving it. She loves the focus you need to have when your hood goes down. Any distractions can impact the quality of your weld, so focus is key, and you can continually improve as you’re going foot by foot. Erin started working at a powder coating shop just over five years ago, then moved to another company to take care of bigger and more impressive projects. But when the role changed, and she realized she wouldn’t be welding as much, she found this and got to do what she loves all day.
Tiffany started welding when she had a job that incorporated robotic welding. She was asked to be the weld tech and learn to handle jobs that required rewelding. She found she enjoyed it, so she asked her brother-in-law, who also works at Swanton Welding, to help her get a job she could want and succeed.
Becky loves the challenge of a career where you start from the bottom and work your way up. You must improve if you want to advance, and it’s satisfying not only to see your work improve over time but to know that your improvement will be rewarded with promotions and salary increases!
Are There Challenges?
All our women welders are competitive and have the drive to do better. As they’re in a very traditionally male-dominated career, the pressure to prove that they can keep up with the boys and even be better is a real motivating factor. These women know the value of their team and are quick to praise Swanton’s supportive environment, but they also understand that they need to demonstrate that they deserve to be there.
It can be challenging to be a minority in the field. Even five years ago, there were no female locker rooms. The women need to stick together and advocate for each other. However, more women are getting into male-dominated fields, and they know that the anticipation of whether you will fit in is often much worse than stepping in and doing it.
Advice for Women Who Want to Go Into Welding
The best advice our Swanton female welders can offer for women interested in welding is to try it. You have nothing to lose by giving welding a shot. If you don’t like it, you haven’t lost anything, but if you do, you have a great career at your fingertips. All the women said this was the one job where they didn’t mind getting up to work, even when the work was hard. They agree that there will be moments when you don’t know what you’re doing, but if you work hard, you’ll get there.
Looking to the Future
All the women at Swanton are looking to the future, whether taking on more significant projects, teaching welding to the next generation, pursuing underwater welding, or even using the skills they learned at Swanton as they move into different careers. The outlook they have from Swanton has shown them they can do anything.
Swanton is a great place to work whether you’re male, female, young, just starting, or advanced in your career. Swanton Welding is all about the people, and at Swanton, it’s the people who make the company great.
