Amber Leyshan in full PPE at work

Amber Leyshan quit her full-time retail job and deferred a university course to take up a boiler making apprenticeship. So, how’s that working out for the 20-year-old?

“I am so glad that I decided to take the leap and apply,” Amber said.

“Every day I find myself learning something new, and not just skills related to this specific trade, but also skills that I can continue to use in everyday situations.”

There was no ground-breaking epiphany or lifelong yearning to take up the tools that led to Amber trading in her teaching career for an apprenticeship with AGL Loy Yang. Just a simple desire to challenge herself and gain a new, practical skill set.

And she’s getting everything she bargained for!

“Attending TAFE at first was very nerve-racking as I didn’t know my peers and had the idea that they would be more experienced than me,” Amber said.

“I quickly found that this was not necessarily the case; many of the students were in the same position as myself and the more advanced students (second and third years) would always offer to help if you needed it.

“So far, I’ve completed several practical projects, some of which that have used skills I’ve learnt from the workplace and others I have not. Though some projects seem simple, they have been quite challenging as it is not work that I’ve undertaken before.”

The second-year apprentice attends TAFE Gippsland’s Port of Sale campus once a week for her Certificate III in Engineering-Fabrication class. Having started the apprenticeship with little knowledge or experience in the field, Amber learned quickly to ask for help when she needed it, and that perfection first time round is not the desired result.

“The first year of the course involves smaller fabricating projects and when I first saw the drawings, I would panic as they were not something I would see every day at work,” Amber explained.

“After discussing them with my teachers and tradies, I would soon become more confident to read and understand them. The obstacle of not being able to get something perfect was very challenging to overcome. I had to realise that my work didn’t need to be perfect, but I just needed to try my best and with practice, the quality of my work would improve.”

Amber Leyshan on the tools at work

For Amber, embarking on a new career trajectory, particularly one so completely outside her comfort zone, was not just about learning a new trade. While there are multiple career outcomes to explore and so many skillsets to acquire along the way, Amber’s study journey has proven to be somewhat of an innate experience.

“Since beginning my training, my confidence has grown tremendously in regard to my personal mindset, meeting and working alongside a variety of different tradesmen and starting new projects at TAFE,” Amber said.

“Having this confidence has helped outside of work as I feel more confident in myself to try new things and meet and network with new people.

“I’d love to see more women in non-traditional roles – trying to challenge themselves and put themselves out there into more career pathways that maybe they haven’t considered before or maybe that they’ve been scared to try before.”

Find out more about what Amber has to say about women in trades in our 2023 International Women’s Day video below.