Profile: Hailey Dicker, boilermaker apprentice
On International Woman’s Day 8 March 2023, we invite you to meet Hailey Dicker, who lives in Brisbane. Hailey decided to do a trade because she loves working with her hands, creating things with tools and learning how things work. She was the TAFE Queensland Skills Tech school-based Apprentice of the Year 2022. tafeqld.edu.au Hailey is employed at Barcat Fabrication. “I found that I had no interest to go to university and I couldn’t study for long periods of time. I did work at home with tools, building things, and maintenance, and it has now become my passion to be a boilermaker. “A major challenge I have overcome since the beginning of my apprenticeship last year is self-confidence. I didn’t have much confidence being in a male dominated career but as soon as I began, I gradually gained my confidence and created a new perspective. “Whether it came to “not being strong enough” or “Only males can do that”, I proved myself wrong and now can do almost anything a male can do in the workplace and I give everything a crack to the best of my ability. ‘In five years, I see myself working in the mines saving money and gaining a lot of experience to benefit me in creating my own welding and fabrication business in the future. I see myself saving a deposit for a house and setting myself plenty of short term and long term goals for my ongoing career. “My greatest achievement so far is beginning my career as a Boilermaker apprentice. It has been so inspirational and opened up many opportunities for my future. If it wasn’t for support from my family and friends, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now. “My experience training with TAFE Queensland has been absolutely fantastic. On […]