“It’s not as scary as it seems; just be yourself and after a while you become just another one of the guys, then you all become a team.”
By Linda Schmid
Childhood experiences can leave a strong impression on us, though we may not know it at the time. That was true for Sarah Jones. She grew up peeking out her bedroom window at the bright lights emanating from the shop where she knew her dad was creating something with his welder, but she had no idea it would influence her career.
It didn’t seem to anyone that her dad’s occupation would impact her life. She had no interest in the trades or in school either. In fact, she says her choices weren’t great in her younger years; she dropped out of school at 15, got her GED and became a mom at 17. She managed to make her way as a waitress for 10 years, but it was never really a choice so much as a pathway taken of necessity.
Jones never looked back until one day in 2017 when she was in a body shop and she repaired her own bumper, welding one little piece in place. Somebody said, “Hey, good job!,” and that was it; she knew what she wanted to do.
Starting Down the Path
She signed up to earn an associate degree at Linn-Benton Community College. While Jones felt that she wasn’t expected to succeed based on her past, she did well in her classes from the start; she has a knack for welding.
One of her instructors mentioned the mikeroweWORKS Foundation Work Ethic Scholarship and Jones applied for it. The application process was fun, she said. Her sister helped her put together a video in which she talked about her life and her lack of motivation as a young person and explained her new-found commitment to a strong work ethic. Every scholarship applicant is required to sign the S.W.E.A.T. pledge (Skill and Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo) and to live out the values encapsulated in that pledge. Jones’ 10-year occupation as a waitress showed that she had grit, and her new determination to make it as a welder and become a role model for her son made her a great applicant for the scholarship. She won and used the money to pay student loans.
Halfway through her degree program, Jones was hired on at Knife River. She had to do the full application process, pass their weld test and an agility test and get her CDL. The hard part for her was realizing she was that there were forty guys, and she was the only female in the room.
Women are conditioned to think this kind of work is not for them, that they don’t belong in the shop, plus, as an introvert, it was quite a challenge for her.
“What I had going for me was that the guys didn’t know how intimidated I was; I just held my head high and carried on,” Jones said. She completed her degree while working full time.
Working in the Field
Jones graduated with an associate degree in the top 5 percent of her class, and the college encouraged her to sign on as an instructor. Jones, however, wasn’t ready; she felt she needed more real-world experience first.
While maintaining her confidence working in a male-dominated field was the hardest part of the job for Jones at first, she concedes that welding can be extremely challenging work. She recalls a job in an asphalt silo, climbing angle iron platforms, installing the next one while standing on the last one to get up so she could weld her anchor point and start the real work, fixing cracks while hanging upside down. It can be hot in places like that, too. The interior of a hopper can get up to 200 degrees on a 100-degree summer day.
Despite all of that, Jones enjoyed the work; she said it was an adventure.
“Women are stronger than they think they are,” Jones said.
Achieving the Goal
One example of a woman’s strength: this shy, introverted welder went on to become an instructor at the technical college. Currently, she is part time, but she hopes to become a full-time instructor.
Jones believes that her work at the college will make it easier for other women to make the choice to take advantage of the great opportunities usually taken up only by men. In fact, a college recruiter told her to imagine what it would have been like walking into class on her first day and finding a woman instructor at the front of the room; how much more comfortable she would have felt. She agreed, and now she offers students the benefit of her experience.
“I tell my female students that they may have to toughen up a little; they will hear coarse language and jokes. But they do not have to put up with it if it is aimed at them personally,” Jones said. “Men may say that their female co-workers are equals,” she continued, “but they would not make remarks about ‘Scotty’s butt’ or tell him that he should hand the tool to a man because he can do it better. Whatever behavior is allowed early on will continue, so in those cases, I tell students they should talk to their boss. They will not be treated as whistleblowers; they are protected. Everyone should treat every worker with respect.”
Most of the time, though, Jones has found that if you pull your weight, guys will eventually accept you. You become one of them.
For Jones, her voyage to find this career feels circular. The little girl enchanted by the lights and creations coming from her dad’s shop has grown up and created a satisfying career, sparked by those memories. RB