By Alesha Capone
TEENAGER Ebony Cera has followed in her family tradition to become a tradie, although she is fairly unique as a female worker in a male-dominated field.
The 19-year-old Greenvale resident began her four-year electrical apprenticeship at the Toll in2store in Altona North this year, after the WPC Group told her about the opportunity.
She also spends every Monday at TAFE doing theory and practical classes while studying for a Certificate 3 in Electrotechnology.
Ms Cera’s father and brother are both mechanics, while her other brother is a plumber.
“I came from a family of tradesmen and my dad and two brothers helped influence me a bit, but I’ve always been interested in the electrical side of things,” she said.
While a student at Essendon’s Keilor College, Ms Cera decided she wanted to enter the industry but said she was “a bit hesitant” about the idea because she was a female, but she now loves her job.
“I think it was a bit of a shock for my family because I’m quite girly,” she said.
“I think I’m the only girl in my TAFE course, the classes are full of boys.”
When Ms Cera goes to work she wears a “typical tradie’s outfit” of a “fluoro orange top, trade pants and Blundstone boots”.
Her everyday tasks at Toll’s three factories include the maintenance of motors and conveyors and installing lights in the roof, for which she goes up in a scissor lift.
“I start work at 6am, I have to get up at five and it’s a bit hard sometimes,” Ms Cera said.
“But because I like coming to work and look forward to coming here, it’s a bit easier.
“I honestly have to say I love the idea of learning and working at the same time.”
Ms Cera said everyone at the Toll in2store has been very supportive of her career and she would like to become a maintenance manager one day.
One of Ms Cera’s bosses at Toll, Adrian Mercer, said the industry was full of variety.
“You can work anywhere and be an electrician. You can work in the Navy, construction sites, on powerlines or in a factory,” he said.
