From Directionless to Electrician: Zoë Jardine Found Her Place in the Trades

At 22 years old, Zoë Jardine had dropped out of university, was working as a server, and wasn't entirely sure what came next. She didn't come from a family of tradespeople, she didn't grow up knowing how electricity worked, and becoming an electrician wasn't something she had ever pictured for herself.

"I felt directionless in life," she says.

Then she signed up for a two-week trade sampler at her local college. The program gave students a chance to spend a day experiencing each of the trades the school offered. When electrical day came around, Zoë wired a plug, a light switch, and a light. It was a simple project, but something about it clicked.

"It was so satisfying watching the light turn on," she remembers. "I fell in love with electrical and immediately signed up for the next entry of the pre-apprenticeship course."

Three years later, Zoë is working her way through her electrical apprenticeship on Vancouver Island, Canada, while sharing an honest look at the experience with thousands of people online. Her content covers everything from running wire and learning new skills to jobsite humor, mistakes, and what it's really like to be a woman finding her way in a male-dominated industry.

Before there was an audience watching her learn the trade, though, Zoë had to learn just how much she didn't know. She went through school before entering the workforce, and because she had no family background in the trades, nearly everything was unfamiliar.

"I was surprised by literally everything," she says. "I had no family at all in the trades and no clue how electricity worked."

What surprised her even more was how naturally some of it came to her. She discovered she enjoyed using tools and working with her hands, something she says she never would have even considered just a couple of years earlier. Once she started working, she noticed something else: the days moved fast.

"It surprised me how fast the days would fly by. Three years in and the days are still flying by! Most of the time," she jokes. There were also some less profound discoveries along the way. "It also surprised me how much we use saws."

It's the kind of detail you probably don't learn from reading a career brochure, and it's part of why Zoë has chosen to share so much of her apprenticeship online. Scroll through her content and you won't find an attempt to make the trades look perfect. You'll see the good days and the frustrating ones, things she's proud of and things she's still learning.

"I don't want anyone to join the trades without a full understanding of the good and bad things in the trades," she explains. "Apprenticeship can be hard, and without a plan in place for when slow season hits or a layoff happens, you might find yourself in an uncomfortable position that may force you to leave the trades."

At a time when the industry is working hard to attract the next generation, that honesty matters. Encouraging someone to consider a trade doesn't mean pretending every company, jobsite, or experience is going to be a good one. Zoë would rather people understand that going in and know that one bad experience doesn't necessarily mean they chose the wrong career.

"I also want to encourage people not to give up because of one bad experience, and instead keep trying, and maybe switch companies or specialties to truly find something that makes YOU happy."

Her experience as a woman in the electrical trade is naturally part of the story, but it hasn't necessarily matched every stereotype about entering a male-dominated industry. "I've had a great experience," she says. "Luckily all the men I work with respect me."

That doesn't mean assumptions have disappeared entirely. One in particular still comes up: strength.

"Although the average man may be stronger than the average woman, women choosing to join the trades tend to be stronger than average, and there's no need to assume we're all weak," she says, adding that the men she works with "do underestimate my strength a lot."

It's a small example of a much larger shift happening throughout the skilled trades. More women are entering careers they may not have seriously considered a generation ago, and with that comes the opportunity to change some long-held perceptions about who belongs on a jobsite and what they're capable of doing.

Zoë is still early in her career, and she isn't pretending to have everything figured out. That's part of what makes her perspective interesting. She's learning the trade in real time, and one of the biggest lessons she's taken from her apprenticeship so far is also one of the simplest.

"It's better to take a little more time to get something right the first time than have to go back and fix it later because you were rushing."

Her own path into electrical work reflects some of that same willingness to slow down, try something new, and figure things out as she goes. She didn't need to know at 18 that she wanted to become an electrician. She didn't need a family connection to construction or years of experience using tools. She simply needed an opportunity to discover something she hadn't considered before.

That's why her advice to someone curious about the trades is practical: get a real look at the work before deciding whether it's for you.

"I personally think that anyone who is capable of manual labor and has an interest in this trade can belong," she says. "Watch some videos of what day to day on the job actually looks like and see if it's something that still interests you. Check if there's any trade samplers in your area, or if any companies would take you on for a week to see if you like it."

After all, that's essentially what happened to her. One day of electrical work during a two-week sampler was enough to point her toward an entirely different career.

As Zoë looks ahead, the impact she hopes to make goes beyond becoming an electrician. She wants to see the industry continue changing. Not only in the way it views women, but in the way tradespeople view one another.

"My hope is that trades workers, especially women, become more respected," she says. "I would love to see a day when no woman gets comments telling her to 'get back in the kitchen' and instead are seen as equals."

She adds, "I also look forward to a day when all the trades can be respectful of each other and see that every trade works hard in their own right."

Zoë's story is a reminder that the next generation of skilled tradespeople won't all arrive through the same door. Some will grow up in construction families and know exactly what they want to do. Others will take a much less direct route.

Zoë didn't grow up dreaming about becoming an electrician. She didn't even know how much she'd enjoy working with her hands until she was given the opportunity to try.

For Zoë, that chance started with a plug, a switch, and a light.

Then she turned it on.