Alexis 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to the Smoko Podcast. My name is Alexis Armstrong, your host. Nice to meet you. The Smoko Podcast is a place to celebrate and highlight women, trans women, and non-binary folk working within stem and trade occupations. So please tune in, take a break, join us. We're on smoke o, and today we're extremely lucky to be joined by the lovely Steph Noon who's a bridge structural, ornamental, and reinforcing iron worker with the local 7 21. And she's gonna talk all things iron working her experience in the trade, what she does, her jobs, her projects. I can't wait to learn more because I've already told her I don't really know much about iron working. It's probably the trade I know the least amount. So I'm just really excited to meet an iron worker and to learn a little bit more. So Steph, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's so nice to see you and to meet you. No problem

Stephanie 0:48

at all. I am so extremely happy to be here. Believe

Alexis 0:51

me. It's absolute honor, and I'm so excited. And maybe that's where we start, is we just start about what the heck is iron working, because I don't know that much about it. And could you maybe describe how you describe discovered it and what was the path of you becoming an iron worker and working in this trade? How did that happen?

Stephanie 1:12

I first discovered the trade about 10 years ago when I met my partner. He was just an apprentice with the Iron Workers Union, and when he said he was an iron worker apprentice, I had no idea what he had talked about, like what that was. Even coming from a trades high school, I had no experience of what that was. So I met him and then over the years I was able to visit him on, a huge variety of job sites that he'd been on. And I always considered it, I've always had an interest in. Using tools and doing renovations on our house. And I thought, over times, honestly, seeing his paychecks. Yeah,

Alexis 1:55

that's true. Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah. And

Stephanie 2:00

hearing, just the excitement and his voice, the enthusiasm when he would be talking about new projects that he was on and the fact that he was part of such a larger build, I thought, how cool is that? You know what, I'm gonna meet you for lunch today. I'm gonna check out that condo that you're building, downtown Toronto, and let's see what you're doing there. And he would stand from the ground level and say, Hey, I'm actually up on the 80th story and we're now installing the windows up there or, and we're just below the machine room up there. And I'm out there. I have a harness on, but I'm right on the edge of the building. And so I just thought, how cool is that you now can stand at the ground level and see that this building that you're being a part of put up is now 80 stories in the air and there's already people living on the lower units. I thought that is super cool. That's really how I found out about it.

Alexis 2:58

I think all trades have that aspect of it, or like all science and trades of, you can see your work being created and you can see it and be like, yes, I had an impact in that and I created that. It's very empowering in that way, but I love that through him you discovered this kind of field of being like, okay, this is what an iron worker does and they get to be in a harness at 80 stories high. So crazy high and being able to put in and build. Build a structure that's really cool. And it's cool that you got to see how many different things an iron worker can do because my understanding of it is that you guys are almost involved in almost every single project that steel, is that correct?

Stephanie 3:38

Yeah, no, that's exactly it. Exactly. We are involved in the concrete forming of it as well cuz part of the Iron Workers Union, we have Rod Busters as well. So they're the ones that are putting the rods within the concrete structure as well, just like building the foundation for these buildings. And then the iron workers go in and they use steel to, reinforce the building and to build it up. And it's so cool to see that progress. Really? That's

Alexis 4:05

insane. Yeah. Like from actually from studs, like completely from the ground that building a huge, a hole in the

Stephanie 4:11

ground Exactly. To building a forum and a hole in the ground. To starting out with the parking lot and then building it up and as you're building it, sometimes when there's still construction going on in the building, there's people that are buying the units that are below that.

Alexis 4:28

That's weird to see of me like going to jobs and to be like, yeah, I'm still building the top of it. And have people already like living below. That's pretty unreal. Iron workers to you guys not only just do like construction, but you guys do kind of construction of all projects, right?

Stephanie 4:41

Yeah, that's exactly it. So not only residential, but I mean beyond residential, you're also part of like I said, the nuclear plants. Right now I'm at a cement plant. All sorts of places. You're

Alexis 4:55

everywhere. What drew you to this specialty

Stephanie 4:58

I think what drew me to that was just being a small piece of a larger project. I thought that is so cool. When you're walking around downtown or wherever and you see those little people up on the building and they're putting up these huge pieces of steel with cranes and everything and you're thinking people are doing this is so cool. Just to see the progress every day. You walk by a building and one day you might see they're just putting in the forming on the main level and then you're just seeing, every day you see it going up and up and up. And it's so incredible to think that people are like, they're using their strength in their hands to do this. People are controlling these huge machines to put these big pieces of steel in and even just riving the machines. That really drove me to wanna do it as well. I go, I wanna sit in there.

Alexis 5:54

Yeah, I wanna be part of it.

Stephanie 5:56

Crane, I wanna operate that forklift. You know? And so that's really cool. You get to operate all of the machinery and stuff like that. Like over time, throughout your career, you have the opportunity of taking the training courses to operate all these things. I thought, not only am I going to be putting up the steel, but I'm gonna be learning how to fuse the steel together, how to move the steel with the machines. There's so many things that I'm gonna learn to do.

Alexis 6:24

I love the continual learning aspect of it. Cause I didn't know that you guys had the ability to become almost like machine operators. I didn't know that was part of the trade.

Stephanie 6:34

Yeah, no, absolutely. Depending on the environment that you're in, you are operating the cranes, you are operating the lifts that are gonna get you to the higher places and stuff. So you are like in the machine operating everything as well. So you're not only that little guy. That is just manually moving materials from A to B up and down the stairs. But you're also the person that's using a forklift and you're also the person that could be operating the crane. So you have that opportunity through your union hall to actually, be qualified to do these things and you can do it on all job sites.

Alexis 7:13

No wonder of course, you joined iron workers. If someone gave me like, the opportunity to be like, yeah, you get to drive the crane, I'd be like, yes, sign me up. All I wanna do is drive the crane. Oh exactly. I love how you were so nonchalant too. You'd be like, oh, sometimes you're, the guys like walking down the stairs with your raw material, but that's like hundreds of pounds of steel and that's a very like, Badass thing to do of like carrying steel rods on your back to go up and build. It's not a nonchalant thing at all. It just

Stephanie 7:41

becomes part of your day to day and it's so casual, so

Alexis 7:45

No, it's like casually hanging outside of a building, creating a structure at a, yeah, it, Ava comes like a little hat, guys

Stephanie 7:54

are lighting a smoke, whatever. You're going for your sandwich at lunch break and then you're,

Alexis 7:58

you know, you're going back on the job just

Stephanie 8:00

Up on the steel.

Alexis 8:02

Oh my God. Do you ever get scared of heights? Were you scared of heights or you ever scared of heights? Complete aside, but, oh,

Stephanie 8:09

completely. Completely. And I think that's really what, really held me back from joining in the first place. Cuz I thought no way could I go up there on the 80th floor and do something like that. But, As time goes on, I feel like when you're up at heights and you're up there for purpose, it really is a different feeling when you're going up there and you're actually connecting the steel and you're up there. Because of that, it's a different feeling. It's not the same as when you get to a height and you're looking o over the edge of, a balcony, or you're hiking and you're in the mountains or something like that, and you look off the cliff and you go, oh, that's scary. Yeah. But when you have your mind focused on a task, it's different. You're still nervous and it's still scary for sure, but it's a different vibe.

Alexis 9:01

I see the live changing a little bit too, because it's less impulse control or less be like, oh, I'm gonna jump off, or something's gonna happen. It's more, more thought out. But also too, like in testament to you probably now a difference is also training, right? Like you've also had years of experience that was 10 years ago when you first decided to come into iron working, right? So like you have years of training and apprenticeship and you're probably just more used to it to an extent, which probably does help as well.

Stephanie 9:30

I think over time you definitely get used to the idea of being up high for sure. And that helps. It's so scary for sure. It's scary. What's funny is that. I think wearing the harness and making sure that the harness is snug to your body, it gets you this sense of

Alexis 9:49

security, like a security blanket, like it holds you into the building.

Stephanie 9:55

Sometimes you're like yanking on your safety line to just tighten it up and feel a little bit better.

Alexis 10:01

I think I would have that like wrenched as much as possible.

Stephanie 10:05

That definitely helps, like yanking on it and feeling that pull bag. It definitely helps.

Alexis 10:11

For this next question, I don't know if it this exists in your life, is the next question is really what is a standard day to day? If you could walk through like your roles and responsibility of what does it mean when you're saying like, I'm connecting this deal. What does that actually look like?

Stephanie 10:25

Regardless of where you are and what environment you're working in, your day typically starts off with, you know, coffees, smoking. Yes.

Alexis 10:35

Smoke pro. Yeah.

Stephanie 10:36

People are meeting up in the trailer. So the beginning of your day generally starts with a toolbox talk. So the toolbox talk is talking about environmental hazards and things like that. So talking about heat, stress, working out in the cold and things like that. And we're also talking about tasks, specific hazards, right? So if you're working at heights, they're talking about inspecting your harness. They're talking about, different hazards. Like I said, if you're we're doing rigging and things like that, not to walk under the load. So little more reminders and stuff like that. Then we chat about, like I said, the task that. We're gonna be doing that day. And then from then you generally break off into your individual groups and you talk about what rigging you're gonna need for that day. Who's gonna be working together to do what. That's really how we start off. And then, you often break off, like I said, into your own groups and you do your thing.

Alexis 11:36

I love that the safety culture is there. That's something that people don't really realize is how safe trades are and that the trades have passed when you think of it don't really exist anymore. Like toolbox talks happen all the time. So safety focused. When you're talking about like your standard data tape task, what does that look like? Is that welding, is that caring? What does that actually look like?

Stephanie 11:58

I would say that it's pretty common with all the places that you work, that you're always gonna be doing heavy lifting for sure. So even if you're welding and stuff, you generally even have to carry the material from A to B, to welding. Your welding equipment can be quite heavy because when you're moving around the welder that's heavy, you might have to be using a forklift to move the welder from A to B. But you're doing such a variety of tasks. Most common wine heavy lifting for sure. You're going to be walking long distances for sure. You're gonna be doing a lot of stairs, for sure, lots of stairs, lots of walking, lots of heavy lifting no matter what task you're doing. The work itself is based on like where you're working. So sometimes you may just be connecting steel, so you may have to do, oh God, hundreds of stairs just to get up to where you are. Because sometimes, the lift, sometimes the lift freezes when you're working. So instead of using the lift to get up to, the 70th story or wherever you are, you may have taken the stairs up there.

Alexis 13:11

A lot of the day is a lot of walking, a lot of moving heavy things, and just getting to your first setup, that could be like a large chunk of your day is getting to where you need to go. And then once you're there, then you're doing the work of, it sounds like a lot of like framing connection of steel. Yeah. Construction. And then some of that's welding, some of that is probably just putting things in place. Is that correct?

Stephanie 13:36

Yeah. No, exactly. And then also some of it is really using the torch as well. And the torch is used for cutting material. So the first time that I was up on a lift with someone, when he was introducing me to welding, he said to me basically, I'm just letting you know you're gonna get burnt and it's gonna suck. Put your shield down. Yeah. And that's, that was his instruction.

Alexis 14:01

Y'all have probably the best work ethic of any group because I don't love anything well enough to care about, to be like, I have to keep going while I am on fire or else it's gonna look like shit. Like you guys are just wired differently to be like, has to be perfect. Yeah.

Stephanie 14:18

Why do you feel like your gloves are like, melting to your fingernails? I'm telling you the amount of times I was using a torch and I was thinking, I'm pretty sure that the acrylic on my nails are now one with me. Yeah.

Alexis 14:33

Your fingers are getting

Stephanie 14:34

burnt and you're thinking, I'm pretty sure that, and then also the fingertips of gloves get crunchy and they get suction to your fingers and you're so thinking, have I now melted the glove to my hands? I'm, I'm not sure we're gonna find

Alexis 14:51

out, we're gonna, are these bad boys attached to me forever for the enzati? It's the same sometimes as like acetone and when I'd be using some chemicals and they would be like on my gloves and on my, nail polish and fake nails when I was wearing them. R i p, my nail beds. I would feel the same way of being like, oh goodness, is this. Is this now part of me has this now melted into like my Bean. I think it's just so real cuz it is part of your guys' industry and you guys are just next level. Do you love using the torch? Like you must feel super powerful using it and like super fulfilled by using it and being able to customize this deal and make it work perfectly. Yeah, absolutely.

Stephanie 15:33

It's really satisfying to be able to make a nice cut. It really is. And just even as you're heating up the steel before you start cutting it, it's really cool to just watch it get hotter and hotter and eventually you just see the steel sort of bubbling underneath the fire and then pulling the trigger and being, being able to cut through it is, it's neat.

Alexis 16:00

Steph kinda of all of these skills of learning how to be a badass with your torch and to do all of these things, how did that happen? Could you walk through apprenticeship and training with the local 7 21 and then what are the steps of apprenticeship and then, in Ontario, I'm guessing you guys become a journeyman.

Stephanie 16:17

The way that you start out is that when you call. The union hall, like mine, specifically local seven twenty one, when you call them, they'll be able to set you up with, the timing to do an aptitude test. And the aptitude test in order to get into the union just comprises, basic math, basically grade 10 level math, and some common sense questions really. So nothing too complicated. And once you pass the test and you're accepted into the hall, dispatch will find you a job. So you have some union dues that you pay, which is like next to nothing. Super affordable. So you pay some union dues when you're beginning. And then dispatch will find you a job. So you, yourself can, take it upon yourself to find yourself a job somewhere, somebody that will, allow you to start an apprenticeship there, but you don't have to. And that's what's nice. So when you join the hall, dispatch will find you somewhere, because employers actually go to them and they look for different levels of people. So they'll say that we're looking for, three apprentices and one journey person. So they will hire you based on you being an apprentice. And when you, so basically you start off working before you even go to school.

Alexis 17:41

On the job training, especially with this type of job that's all about technical skill. That's amazing.

Stephanie 17:47

Exactly, and you're getting paid a wage. That is a very livable wage too. You're gonna start off and you generally work 2000 hours before you even go to school and you're learning on the job. So as an apprentice, they generally pair you up with a journey person on the job. And so you're never working alone. And that's the great thing because you're always gonna be working in a team with other people. And when you're working with other apprentices, you're learning together and that's really

Alexis 18:15

fun. That's the best type of learning that I think like now so many people are trying to turn to is that type of group on the job learning group learning together as apprentices, but also one-on-one mentorship. And that's really cool that you get that from the very beginning and you get all this technical experience and on the ground experience, like you must come out of it after you've done your apprenticeship or even before you go to school. You're already basically ready to go. You understand the industry a little bit more. You have your hours.

Stephanie 18:45

And that's exactly it. And you build your confidence as you go along as well. Because if you were to go to school first and you're thinking, I don't have any on the job experience, a lot of times, you go to school before you actually start working in the field. And those are such different people. You meet people on the job who worked in that field for so many years and they didn't go to school for it, and then you're working alongside them and all you did was go to school. So you know, more of the ideal circumstances, the book aspect of it. Whereas that's the huge benefit to this is that you learn on the job and you learn by doing. You're learning by seeing and actually being involved in all the action and

Alexis 19:29

It's honestly a win-win. It's good because there is always gonna be that disconnect between. Theoretical knowledge versus on the ground kind of training and what's actually being used in culture and what's being used specifically for that site. Because sometimes you can't do a perfect theoretical by the book. Like it just doesn't work in that environment. So it's really nice that you get that kind of practical side of it. My question is, I would assume that there's specialties in iron working. Is that kind of a thing that you have different skill sets that you learn or different specialties?

Stephanie 19:59

Yeah, for sure. I think that welding is definitely one of those, because sometimes people become a journeyman and they don't have their welding tickets or they don't like to weld. I think that you find your thing within the trade and you stick to that. Okay. Like I, I said there's people that are iron workers, but they're known as welders.

Alexis 20:21

They're like welder, specialty of iron workers or Yeah. Crane specialists. Like someone who's done all their tickets and loved the machinery, they become that specialist.

Stephanie 20:31

When it comes to, our trade, there's so many opportunities for you to get tickets to operate certain machinery and to get your welding tickets, but not our, all iron workers have all of those

Alexis 20:46

things. Yeah. It's a choose your own adventure, right?

Stephanie 20:49

Definitely. Like you can totally choose your own fate if you wanna be a welder, you can definitely be a welder. If you wanna be that person that has that, specific crane ticket, because there's different.

Alexis 21:02

Do you have a ticket that's like on your ticket list of being like, yep, that's the type of crane I want. The biggest one. Do you have a dream list of tickets that you're chasing right now?

Stephanie 21:10

I would definitely say that. I want them

Alexis 21:12

all on

Stephanie 21:14

all of them. I want as many as I can get and as many are offered to me. It's just right now in my training, sometimes when you're like, starting out, they don't allow you to do certain things, but

Alexis 21:27

I'm pushing for it. I love it. I love that you wanna catch 'em all like Pokemon I did see that you got your forklift, which is super cool.

Stephanie 21:35

I got that when I first started too, because I knew that's like a very basic thing like. When you first start out, you get your, elevated work platform ticket. So that allows you to operate, a lift where, you know, when you're in a basket and it's a boom, right? So there's that. Then there's also the scissor lift, and yeah, so you're able to operate those things and then you're, you have to do your working at heights. You have to do your confined spaces training and the forklift ticket. That is by far my most favorite

Alexis 22:08

one. I don't know when I would use a forklift ticket, but I saw that you had it and I was like, I would like a forklift ticket. That would be sick to learn how to use it. Oh, for sure.

Stephanie 22:17

Those different sizes of forklifts, right? There's on slab forklifts, which are typically used in a warehouse and things like that on just flat ground. But then there's also like off-roading, forklift, and now those are fun.

Alexis 22:31

Basically you get to operate a Tonka truck all day and sit around. ONe project you're working on right now, and we talked a little bit is like nuclear power, which I think is so freaking cool that you get to work on a nuclear power plant. Can you kinda describe what that project, how that project works, what goes into it, and then what's the role of an iron worker in a nuclear power plant?

Stephanie 22:51

That one was the one that I was working at a little while ago. And what we were doing was we were building a work platform so that we could put, the reactor. So basically the tubes that we were putting in are what fuel the reactor. So we were putting in the platform that would allow the workers to be up to the level to put the new tubes in and. You're installing all of these parts of the machine. You're putting it together. It's like a real life Lego set,

Alexis 23:24

real life Lego set that has like big consequence. That's a huge impact to be like, yep, I helped create that nuclear reactor and I helped re tube it. Was it a little bit of a different situation that it was like cleaner that you had to be like in clean lab? Or was it true construction that it was still messy and similar to your other projects?

Stephanie 23:43

So working in a nuclear power plant is truly unique. It's much different than being on your typical filthy job site. When you're going close to the reactor, you have to be wearing an extreme level of personal protective equipment because there is a lot of radiation in that environment. And you're within concrete walls that are, four feet wide, right? Like thick. So when you go in there, you're not even on, you're not even on the air supply that is with that environment. But instead you use an air hose that is bringing in air from outside. So you are actually in a suit. You look like Homer Simpson, and you're working in these suits that are extremely hot, mind you. And it takes a while to get it all on because you're wearing so many layers. You're wearing at least three layers of gloves, and you are wearing a suit that is completely sealed as well. So you've got an air hose that is attached to your side. So once you go in, you actually have to hook yourself up to an air hose. When you're in there, you also have a lot of, there's a lot of blind spots within the suit, so you're tripping over air hoses. You're super hot. Sometimes when you're walking from one place to another. The air hose won't extend. That distance. So you have to unhook yourself and when you unhook yourself, your screen on your suit is fogging up, you can't see very well. So it's not, it's not ideal working

Alexis 25:23

conditions. I'll say that. I'm picturing like you guys in this suit of arrivals, I could see it being very surreal and very different, especially when you're doing messy work like welding and using your torch and creating these structures. It's probably a weird disconnect of being so clean and in a clean setting, but also actively doing a messier trade.

Stephanie 25:46

Absolutely. And it's very hard to even move material when you're wearing four pairs of gloves sometimes. Plus your suit also has a rubber pair of gloves that are attached to the suit. When you're picking things up and you're having to deal with different hardware, it's

Alexis 26:04

really challenging. It's

Stephanie 26:05

challenging, like it just takes away all that manual dexterity in your fingers,

Alexis 26:10

I couldn't imagine that. What's a favorite project you've worked on

Stephanie 26:13

I know for sure that the one that I was just doing is probably my most favorite, because I was able to see the organizing of the beginning of the project and then able to carry on throughout the whole time. Seeing the progress and then being able to actually see, seeing what we did in the end. So what I was recently involved in was us, demoing the cooler building at a cement plant. And so the cooler building basically cools down all of the rock that is coming off of the kiln. And when you look into the cooler building at the end of it, and you look into the kiln and you see the flowing molten rock that is going along. The aisle there is the coolest and most satisfying thing ever. I think being a part of that project allowed me to do so many different things, after we were able to be part of the maintenance team. So anything that, any issues that we're having, if there are any areas where, air was coming out, where it was not supposed to be coming out, any holes and things like that, that I was able to be a part of. So I think the scope of that was super cool. At the cement plant that I've been working at, It's ah, that's theirs. Whatever. They can deal with it, move it from A to B, get the job done,

Alexis 27:34

let's do this. Yes. It's more like hands on What's about

Stephanie 27:37

action? We're all about doing. Let's have some fun, let's joke around. I could just go ahead and do that and find out what happens.

Alexis 27:48

It's more kinda like reactive and more like you choose what you're doing at the same time. Something that you've mentioned a couple times already in this interview, and I feel like this is probably something that drives you, is like seeing progress, right? Like the cement plant is so cool to see from very beginning to where it's gonna end up and being able to see that change and impact.

Stephanie 28:10

Sometimes it's nice to have that immediate, that immediate change and to see it right away.

Alexis 28:16

It's like a

Stephanie 28:17

get it done and have fun with it type of person. Then you know, there's an environment for you and it's probably not at a nuclear

Alexis 28:26

plant.

Stephanie 28:27

It's cool. It's hell for sure, because they teach you about so much. There's a lot of planning that goes in with it. It's definitely a very safe environment. But, if you're in it for the thrill,

Alexis 28:39

then yeah, then it's not maybe for you and maybe that's it. What's your favorite part of your job? And maybe it's that, maybe it's the thrill and it's it's always new. There's always something to do. And then on the flip side of that, what's maybe something that's challenging about your job that maybe you don't like as much?

Stephanie 28:56

I would say that my favorite part of the job, Is, working in a team with the other traits. And I find that when you're out in the field, you get to do that a lot. And that's really cool. Cause there could be, iron workers are working very close with millwrights because they could be installing and putting together the machines that you're creating the structure for. And that's pretty neat. So when I first started, I was working at a sorting facility for mail with Canada Post. And so we were building up the steel frame and then the conveyor belts were actually being put together by rights. And at the cement plant that I've been working at, I work alongside Mill Rights all the time, so sometimes there's one-on-one. There's me as the iron worker. And that was the millwright. But we're doing the same job and I really enjoy that. And we're working together because we both have different skills that we bring to the table. And so that's probably one of my most favorite things in this field, is working so closely with other trades and learning from them. Because if they're not around, you're learning these, all of these transferrable skills, you're learning from other trades all the time. And they're useful even in your own personal life.

Alexis 30:10

Totally. Like they're like a well of knowledge, especially a millwright. That's awesome that you get to work hand in hand and work on a job together and get to learn from them. And. Have that collaboration. I think that's really beautiful.

Stephanie 30:23

That's exactly it. And on the flip side, it's extremely hard on your body. If the heavy lifting, because Sure. As much as you wanna use the equipment to move material, sometimes it's just not realistic. It's not realistic to move material. Say if you're going upstairs and you're having to move steel plates, just the other day I was having to put, a 70 pound steel bucket that's used for the cement. It's just one bucket that is on a really large chain that picks up all of the rocks that are following to the hole. They're dropping them on a conveyor belt. So these buckets had to be moved from, the ground level. Two levels down and you're going downstairs, you're not using any type of elevator or anything, so you're putting it on your shoulder. And Yeah, it's extremely hard on your body for sure. Just because sometimes using other equipment, it's not realistic. Not

Alexis 31:25

realistic or not with the environment, not where you guys are at. With construction.

Stephanie 31:29

It's hard on your body. There's a lot of danger involved as well, because sometimes when you're doing demo work, the building that you're in, the integrity of the building has been compromised. Oh, wow. And they're taking out structural pieces of the building to rebuild it,

Alexis 31:48

so. Oh my goodness. Yeah. In your mind, you're

Stephanie 31:51

thinking. Is this okay?

Alexis 31:55

Yeah, of course. Of course. That's there, right? That's like a Tetris block. Yeah.

Stephanie 32:00

Yeah. You're working alongside other people that go, yeah, it's fine. And it makes you feel better, funny enough. You're thinking, I feel like if I met you personally out in the world, I wouldn't take your word for it, but because we're both working together, and I just wanna get the job done, it's reassuring to have you tell me that, even though in the back of my mind you're thinking,

Alexis 32:21

yeah, moving on. It always is though, and it also is just like years of experience of having someone to be like, yes, I know it's really scary, don't worry. It's part of demo work, but it's definitely a scary thing and I could see it being really hard on your body. Is there like a time limit do you find on this trade? Or is there like a progression that you become a foreman at a certain time or you move more into like admin and logistics? Is that kind of the life cycle of an iron worker just because it's so hard on a body?

Stephanie 32:51

It's funny you say that because I think that with being an iron worker, I guess there's a stereotype about our attitudes and honestly, as hard as it is on people's bodies, you don't often talk to guys that say, Yeah, you know what? It is hard on my body. I'm starting to get back aches and stuff. And you hear any chance of them stopping? I think so much passion within the trade and so much love for the trade that we're all pretty much willing to just break our bodies down until we're done.

Alexis 33:27

Oh my goodness. I mean, I don't love that. I don't love that's the culture, but yeah,

Stephanie 33:32

I would say that, you know, I can't lie, I haven't really spoken to any young people that say, yeah, I really wanna do less work. Like I really wanna progress and I wanna eventually just be sitting on my bike telling other people what to do. And you don't often find that. I think it's more common to find people that aren't breaking their bodies down. And it's me going, Hey man. Why don't you just

Alexis 33:59

chill out? Yeah, just take a break please. How can you take a break?

Stephanie 34:03

Yeah. Hey, why don't you chill out, have some water. Okay. A chocolate bar and a monster at 8:00 AM is probably not a good start to your day. Yeah. Just chill. If anything. Especially working in the environment that I had been working in the cement plant, it's more go harder. Go faster.

Alexis 34:23

That kinda mentality and I could see it having that culture. Yeah. And like just again, like y'all are like, I could see y'all being like stubborn people or labeled with the stubbornness of being like, no man, I'm just gonna keep going. Very hardworking, very driven.

Stephanie 34:39

Yeah. Exactly. Very, very driven. And I think for me, I always wanted to progress in the field and I don't wanna break my body down. No, no. But at the same time, when you're working and you're working alongside people that are go, go, go. You also, it rubs off on you. You develop that mentality as well. And you look at the foreman as, oh, you're not working. What are

Alexis 35:06

you doing? Totally. Even though they, that they are working, you know? What do you

Stephanie 35:10

mean you're walking around? What do you mean just go

Alexis 35:13

back to your trailer? Yeah. It's a funny culture shift cuz it does happen. Like it's, I had that like when I was, a field geologist versus like more in the labs. When I started transitioning to working in labs and working on like systems, I thought I wasn't being a geologist anymore because I didn't have that, like hands on grind of being like, no, geology means I'm actively. Moving all of this material and I'm breaking my body to do so. And it was really associated to that. I get it. I understand it. I could see how that culture permeates. I hope it changes a little bit and breaks become more, more normalized or, maybe technology changes that it'll, allows you to break your body less, right? That you can use more technology on a smaller environment. Maybe that's gonna be the answer for the next one, is like, the future of this industry. Where do you see iron working going and what's something new that is exciting you? Maybe this is technology or culture change. What do you think the future of ironworker is gonna look like?

Stephanie 36:13

Well, hopefully it looks more female for sure. That, I love that. That would be really great. Because right now there's over 95% are men. I would just love to see, a bigger variety of people working in this industry because it's most commonly men, right? It's most commonly just, yeah, all men. I'd like to see more women in this industry. In terms of technology. I'm not really sure how that would work with the iron working, just because our job does involve so much material handling and moving. I feel like we're doing as much as we can to avoid manually moving these things. It's so hard to say because when it comes with a big ego, and it comes to mostly men, They're, they wanna move equipment and they wanna move materials fast. And so if you set up a crane and you go that route, I feel like if you were that person to suggest those things, you're not gonna be employed

Alexis 37:15

for very long. No, thank you. That's a good answer. I think from an outsider, you'd be like, oh, technology is always like the solution to it. But you're like, no, this is not the industry is really a lot of manual moving and it sounds like, yeah, one thing for culture, for women. Maybe what do you think is like a misconception about being an iron worker? Or what do you think is like a limited, a barrier to entry for women within this field? Do you think one exists or do you think maybe that they just don't know that iron working exists? Why do you think that is, that there's not many women in it?

Stephanie 37:50

I really think that this trade in general has not talked about enough. Think that's why there's not more women in it. I think it's labeled as, a strong man's profession, but, I'd love for women to just find their strength and know that they are physically strong. And it's funny because there are so many guys that I work alongside, I'm stronger than that. And I think that, the more that we stick together and the more that we lift each other up and explain to each other how physically strong we are and how we could be such a huge asset to this field. Cuz let me tell you, all these sites being run by other people, they can become so disorganized. And I just feel like we're so much better at those small details. I would love to see that. So yeah, I think that the more that we stick together and we raise each other up, the more that we're gonna get into these industries that are labeled as a strong man's thing. And when it comes to heights, I think there's a huge misconception about iron working that. If you are an on worker, you're guaranteed gonna be working at heights all of the time, which is not necessarily the case. And even when you are working at heights, you're not always necessarily at the edge of the building. Yeah. Because you are part of, say, you're part of the people putting up windows. Once the window's up, there's the barrier. You're inside. And when you're in the lift doing a job, you're gonna go up there, you're gonna do the job, you're gonna go back down to ground level. You're not necessarily spending the whole day at heights. And even me, just like I said, working at the cement plant, I'm on the ground, 90% of the time anyways. So I think it's important for people to just see that there's so many different things you can do within this trade.

Alexis 39:43

Thank you for that answer. I could see that being a first misconception of heights and I love the idea of yes, it is part of our industry. It is part of iron working, but it's not the entire time. No, exactly. Most of the time you spend it on the ground and you have, it's also project specific and task

Stephanie 40:01

specific planning, what you're doing on the ground. And then you're going up there and doing it with, you're up there for a purpose, like I had said before.

Alexis 40:07

It changes that aspect of it. And I also like the answer too of, reframing for women that they're already strong enough and they're already capable enough. I know sometimes when we think about lifting heavy things with women, we think that. Strength looks one certain way. And sometimes too, it's also just technique. Like I always thought that I wasn't strong enough to carry a core box and I had one guy tell me to be like, of course you can't carry a core box how you're carrying it, you're not strong enough to do it the way that you're doing it. As soon as you change your technique and you put it up on your hip, you're fine. You're gonna be exactly like any other guy. Yeah. Just carrying it maybe a little bit different. So sometimes I think it's just a change of process other than this idea that we have to be stronger. It's just a change of how do we actually hold that or how do we do that task? It's just past specific like process stuff. And maybe with that is if you could give young women who are just starting or maybe even just considering iron worker working, what would be your advice to them? What would you say to them if they're considering going into this trade?

Stephanie 41:11

I would say, Do it. I didn't see if you like it, honestly. I think that a lot of people are so nervous to start because I think, am I gonna like it? Am I not gonna like it? But because of the big variety of things that you can do, I would say just go for it. Go for it. And if people say, ah, you couldn't do that, you're scared of heights, you're not strong enough. When you're going into it, you may not be as physically strong as you'd like to be, but every single day that you do new tasks, you're building up those, you know all of those muscles. You're building up that strength and you'll get there. And you're probably way stronger than you think you are.

Alexis 41:55

And like it also sounds too, from you describing. The different aspects of like specialties that you can do different tech training and tickets that you can get. Even if you go down this path of iron working and you decide that you don't like it, yeah. It gives you such a broad base of knowledge of other trades too, that you can kind of branch from that. You can become a machine operator, you can become a welder. You can do so many different parts of it. Then it sounds like you're not stuck If you do get to a point that you're like me, hey, maybe I actually don't like heights. Maybe this isn't for me. It doesn't sound like it's a be all, end all decision

Stephanie 42:29

that you've made. Yeah, no, that's exactly it. Within iron working, you develop so many transferrable skills that even if you don't follow through with this trade specifically, You've developed all of those skills that have just opened your doors to all sorts of other things, and you can dive deeper into things. Sometimes people become only crane operators, or they only wanna be a welder, or they're only known to be really good on the torch. So there's things that you can get really good at and do that alone. So that's also an option. You're gonna learn something. And if you learn that you hate doing all of those things and there you go, you don't have to do it again. Yeah,

Alexis 43:13

exactly. Now you know that might not be for you, but just try it and see.

Stephanie 43:17

Try it. Go for it.

Alexis 43:18

It's fun. I love it. I absolutely love that. Steph, thank you so much for chatting and explaining a little bit more about Iron working. I just think it's, Such a badass profession. Thank you for talking through it and talking about the culture and your different projects. I learned a lot. I hope other people did as well. So thank you for coming onto the show.

Stephanie 43:38

No problem at all. I really appreciate you having me.

Alexis 43:41

It's been so fun. Oh my goodness. It was so fun and so cool to, to learn more about it. Thank you guys for listening. This has been me and Steph talking about iron working and we will see you next week.