Christie Hayward, an apprentice Boilermaker at WesTrac, who bravely moved from Sydney to the Hunter Valley to pursue her passion for metalwork. You’ll hear how her mechanical engineer parents fostered her love for hands-on learning, leading her to a career she truly loves. Christie pulls back the curtain on the daily life of a Boilermaker, from welding and fabricating to working on massive Caterpillar mining equipment. Highlighting WesTrac’s strong commitment to women in trades. This is a must-listen for anyone curious about a trade career or navigating a male-dominated field. Christie offers incredible insights into her positive experience as a female Boilermaker, stressing the importance of respect and being true to yourself. Plus, you won’t want to miss hearing about her unique hobby as an alpaca breeder and how she channels her trade skills into creative projects at home. Tune in to hear Christie’s empowering story of passion, perseverance, and why “having a go” can truly open up endless possibilities!
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Please note: this transcript has been auto-generated and may contain some errors.
It’s hard. You stick out, you stand out. And what I’ve always, and I went into the trade thinking like this, is that I am going to stick out, but I’m going to make a good impression when I do. You know, I’m not going to be trying one of the boys because I’m not. And there’s no point trying to hide that. If there’s any women out there listening, don’t be afraid about it being a male dominated industry. There’s a lot of people out there who want to see you succeed regardless of your gender. And I think if you have that approach about it, then, you know, you won’t ever be put down by it.
Welcome to the Engineering Success Podcast. My name is Mel Seatsma and I’m the Engineering Consultant here in the team at Nuytech People. Today I had the pleasure of being joined by Christy Hayward. Christy is an apprentice ball maker in the team at Westrac. Welcome Christy.
Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.
You’re welcome.
So I guess to get us started, I’d love to learn a little bit about your career to date, how you decided to become a baller maker and I guess how you ended up with Westerly.
So it all started with year nine and ten at school. I did metalwork as an elective and I fell in love with being able to create something and welding and fabricating there. So when it came down to work experience, I was sort of already thinking about electives for year 11 and 12 and finishing school and what to do after school. And I ended up doing a week work experience with a Boilermaker in Sydney and I absolutely loved it. It was, yeah, it was just amazing to be in that kind of field. And so it was my dad that actually suggested, well, why don’t you become a Boilermaker? And a bit like everyone, I was, I sort of thought, well, what is a Boilermaker? Like, what does that even mean? And yeah, when I sort of delve a little bit more into what it is and what you do and the way that that can be a career and earn really good money in the process, I sort of went, yeah, that’s, that’s good. That’s a good option. So I then then worked towards, I finished year 11 and 12 at school, and in definitely year 12, I then was looking into apprenticeships. Unfortunately, I graduated the year of 2020, so that was right at the heart of the first COVID. So I found a lot of trouble in apprenticeships availability. I ended up cold calling a lot of boilermakers around and sort of saying, hi, I’m interested in doing an apprenticeship. Got anything for me? And so, yeah, and then I came across West Track, obviously, among a lot of other companies, but I put my name forward for West Track and I was very successful, which was really great. Getting the West Track apprenticeship meant that I had to relocate from Sydney to the Hunter Valley. And I got put into the Mount Thoralie branch. And so that was a little bit scary as well, a little bit nerve-wracking being, you know, freshly finishing school and then moving away from home for the first time. But, I mean, it all worked out really great.
And everyone was so supportive the whole way through, which was really good. Yeah, it’s such a big tree change.
It’s not even just moving to Newcastle, it’s moving.
Up the valley.
Yeah, that’s it. So and but it was it was so much fun. It was so exciting and the possibilities of careers and endless opportunities and people that I would get to know and work with. It was it was exciting more than anything.
Yeah.
It was great.
Cool.
You mentioned a little bit about your dad. I understand your parents are both got like a engineering style background. What impact did that have?
Yeah.
So both my parents are mechanical engineers. So I’ve always sort of grown up in that engineering field and seeing what they do. It obviously, you know, I look up to them a lot. I really trust their opinions and they’ve really helped me out even still to this day. And so, yeah, it was sort of that support and the lifestyle that Boilermaking was able to give me. I’ve always loved regional areas and living rurally and being a bit more on the farming side. That’s always a bit of a passion of mine. So getting this job and the apprenticeship and moving north, it was able to collide all those things. into one, which was really great.
Yeah, that’s really cool. Awesome. And I guess it’s uncommon for, you know, a female to become a baller maker, let alone relocate from Sydney to Newcastle.
Yeah. Yeah.
How did your friends react when you told them that’s what you’re doing?
I think they were a little bit surprised, but also not that surprised because I was talking about it a lot and they were so excited for me even now. And they love what I do. My friends, we all do very different things, so I think yeah, it’s, it’s so much fun when I can talk about what I do for work and, and they love hearing about it and seeing what I do, some of the home jobs that I’ve done and fabricated and, you know, some of them have given them gifts of things that I’ve made. And, yeah, it’s been really great. So it’s really great that I have a support everywhere.
And I think something I learned from your journey when we chatted a few weeks ago was sometimes people that fall into a trade and no disrespect to any of those people, academics isn’t always their thing. But I think you’re a little bit different in that respect as well, where you still were quite an academic person. at school?
Yeah, definitely. I still tried my very best at school. I got a really great ATAR and I just knew that going to uni wasn’t necessarily for me. I knew that I was more of a hands-on learner and I knew that doing a trade where I could get paid while doing it would probably suit me better. And that’s not to say that I could never go to uni. You know, you can go to uni at any age. You know, uni’s always there. And so it’s really great. sort of different path that I chose. And I love to learn. Even now, I’ve just finished another sort of tafe course.
Yeah, cool.
And in CAD, like technical drawing, so more engineering drawings. So, and that’s, I just did that at home online, and that was more benefit the skills that I’ve already learned in my trade. But, yeah, I love to learn, and I think there’s so much to learn and, you know, in different avenues as well as the trade itself.
Yeah, awesome. for those, I guess, of our listeners who aren’t so familiar, could you, I guess, give us a bit of a rundown of what you do in your role and what an average day might look like?
Yeah.
So the day normally starts early. We’re always up before the sun rises, but we sort of start with a toolbox talk. So we call it a PSI, so pre-start and it’s where our team, so our fabrication team, all boilermakers, we all get together and we go through safety interactions for the day before or what to look for, make sure that we’re all making sure that the risks are minimized during the day. And then we go through what jobs are what that we’re all doing, at least for the first part of the day until you finish that job. And we also go through any other business updates and our supervisor. Yeah, it comes down. We’ll talk about that. And then before we all start on the day and then the rest of the day, it sort of changes, really. It depends on what jobs we have in the shop. It depends on, you know, what the urgent jobs are, depends on what I do. Sometimes I do two or three jobs in a day, and sometimes I do just one and stick to that one job. So. But yeah, and then the day can be anything from welding all day to fabrication. So fabrication, more measuring and cutting and fabricating something, or it can be repairs. So we do quite a range of jobs in our shop. We do, yeah, anything from repairs to fabricating different jobs to handrails and the.
Equipment you’re working on is a really large mining equipment.
Yeah, it definitely ranges. So we work on caterpillar gear as a West track is the OEM for caterpillar. And so, yeah, we work on huge dump trucks or dozers or. And as being Boilermakers, we work on anything from the bare chassis. So that’s a full strip rebuild back to crack repairs on that or repairs. And then we do handrails and the platforms. So we do quite a range. So it’s really interesting always. what we’re getting into the shop. It’s really great to see when we finish something and it all gets put back together and we see this basically brand new looking truck and you think, yeah, you know, I was part of that. I helped that. So that’s what I really find really great.
And you touched a little bit on before that you’ve been doing the kind of CAD design drafting course. Are there any other recent achievements that you’re proud of?
That one has taken me the last 12 months. It was a 12 month course and I did that of a nighttime after work. I really enjoyed that, to be honest. the CAD and we work off engineering drawings at work. So to then learn how to draw those and the 3D modeling and stuff like that, it’s, yeah, it really interested me and it was really great to learn those skills and continue to learn those skills. And so I think that’s sort of the, the most recent one, definitely.
And what year of your apprenticeship are you in so far?
I’ve actually just finished, so I’m freshly new tradie. And so, yeah, at the end of last year, I finish my apprenticeship. So, yeah, it’s, it’s definitely a big learning curve. You know, people talk about finishing your apprenticeship and suddenly you’re a trades person and good to go. But I think there’s still so much to learn, you know, the definitely being a trades person, I have a new sort of found pressures on myself that I think I put on and, you know, expectations that I think everyone is after. But, you know, at the same time, I’m still learning, you know, and there’s people spend the whole career still learning, and definitely after four years, you’re still learning even that. So, yeah.
So as far as I guess working for Westpac, what would you consider being the perks of doing your trade with them and I guess doing that particularly in the Hunter Valley?
So Westpac is obviously a very well-known company and there’s a lot of things that they do really well. You know, they have a really big involvement in especially women in trades and their promotion of that. And I’ve helped a little bit of that during the last few years of definitely just talking about my experience in the hopes that more people can can be a part of it and that it’s not so scary. But there’s, you know, the range of equipment that you’re working on and the different trades people that you’re working with, you know, there’s so much experience and people have spent, you know, 30 years learning and working with caterpillar equipment. So it’s amazing to be in and amongst those people and learning from them. And then the different locations. So Westrac offers you know, you can move branches if you want. They have that availability that if there’s spots there, you could potentially move to a different location. And during your apprenticeship, depending on what trade you’re in, if you’re, say, a plant mechanic, they actually move you around to different sites to give you that experience. And I think that’s a really unique opportunity that a lot of other companies wouldn’t provide that Westrac does really well.
Yeah.
Awesome. We also, I guess, often hear a lot about inclusion and diversity in workplaces. As you touched on before, it’s really unique being a female Boilermaker in the industry. What’s been your experience around inclusion and diversity?
Yeah, so I did a statistics on this a few years ago, and I think women in boilermaking make up like less than 1%. We are such a minority, it’s not even funny. But at the same time, you know, it’s pretty amazing that there is even one percent there and that we are, we are there. And I think diversity in any trade is, it’s hard, you know, being, you stick out, you stand out. And what I’ve always, and I went into the trade thinking like this, is that I am going to stick out, but I’m going to make a good impression when I do. You know, I, I’m not going to be trying one of the boys because I’m not. and there’s no point trying to hide that. So I think as long as you have the respect and that you respect other people and that people respect you, I think it goes a long way. And I think being kind and true to yourself goes a long way as well. But I truly have had a great experience. Everyone that I work with is very respectful of me and I’m respectful of them. And I’ve had a really great working experience, my whole apprenticeship, and even now, so it’s. It’s great.
Yeah.
That’S good because, yeah, sometimes you hear.
The opposite, the horror stories, I know. And, you know, my heart goes out to those people. They do, you know, no one wants to feel like that. But, yeah, I can honestly hand on my heart, say that that hasn’t been.
My experience, and I hope that continues. Yeah. Awesome. Cool. So, yeah, last year you were awarded the Apprentice of the Year by the Hunter Manufacturing Awards, which is awesome. So congratulations.
Thank you.
What is that award done for you as far as, you know, that recognition from HMA?
That award was such an amazing experience, you know, and I, I was actually speechless when they, it was a surprise on the gala night, and I was actually speechless when they awarded to me. I just couldn’t believe it, you know? And I think, you know, personally, it gives me a lot of satisfaction that what I’ve been doing the last four years has been great and that, you know, I’ve learned a lot and grown a lot within a person and an apprentice, but also to provide an opportunity for myself in my career. You know, the opportunities like this one that have come from that award, you know, is really great, and they continue to do so. I did a few leadership conferences within West Track at the end of last year, and I got to speak about my experience, and I was on a panel with a bunch of other ladies, and so different things like that, you know, they, it’s, it’s all putting me out there and. you know, I love talking about this stuff and I love talking about my apprenticeship and my experience and yeah, it’s really great and I cannot wait to see what future careers and where my career goes after this and that award, yeah, it really was the beginning of it.
Yeah.
Where do you think the career might be heading in the next two to three years? Then that kind of shorter term.
Yeah, it’s one of those things, isn’t it, where you have to start making some big decisions potentially. I found that Finishing high school was a bit like that too, where you make a decision about what you’re going to do afterwards. And I found finishing my apprenticeship is a bit like that as well. You know, it’s a bit like I was finishing high school all over again. Everyone’s saying, what are you going to do now? And I have done a lot of thinking about it. And I think for now, I want to continue the job that I doing am doing now and train so hard and still learning towards and trying to really get my skills, you know, better consistently and but also look towards the future. And I think for me, I love being a leader and I love leading and teaching people. And so I think personally, I think project management or some kind of supervisor would be is where I see myself heading. And so now I’ve just got to start taking those steps in that direction.
Definitely. Sounds like you’re already on your way, though.
Yeah, hopefully.
So we just, I guess, spoke a little bit about your kind of future, but is there anything in that kind of what’s in the future for West Track that really excites about what’s coming up ahead?
Like careers and the industry, it’s always changing. And I think definitely being in the mining sector, it’s always changing even there. And so it’ll be interesting to see what happens, you know, as more power stations say shut down like Liddell and how that impacts at all. And but I think Westrac has such a diversity in what they do. You know, we don’t just do mining gear, we do construction gear, we do caterpillar equipment is everywhere. So I think it just might change a little bit. So originally we were in the underground sector. Caterpillar had an underground and Mount Thawley was where the underground came and we rebuilt them and repaired them over the last about two years. Caterpillar sold underground. And so it’s then changed to now an open cut rebuild center and breakdown center. And so even that change within my apprenticeship, I’ve changed completely what I was working on. I was working on long walls and those repairs now, but now I’m working on open cut trucks and dozers and platforms and handrails. So I think there’s definitely huge changes and, you know, but those have been always a learning experience and I have really gained a lot and it’s only advancing my skills, which is yeah, I.
Think it’s good to have the diversity of both sides of mining, the underground.
And the open cut. Definitely, definitely. And I think too, for boiler making, boiler making as a trade and as a whole is so diverse, you know, there’s structural, there’s mining, there’s pressure welding, there’s all the different kinds. And I’m only in one little section of it, you know, there’s so, they’re so diverse and there’s really a lot of ways you can go, which is great.
Cool.
I know you’re still, I guess, in the early part of your career, but has there been like one piece of advice that you received so far that’s really stuck with you?
I think the piece of advice that I heard when I first started and what I keep telling myself is to have a go. You know, you don’t get anywhere by sitting back and not having a go. And I know that sounds cliche and I think a lot of people say it, but it truly is true. you know, if you don’t have a go, then the opportunities don’t arise and you don’t learn from it. You know, I took a lot of pride and I still take a lot of pride in asking for questions and getting trade people to help me if I need help. And I think I try and instill that on the apprentices underneath me is that, you know, have a go. The worst you can in our industry, at least, you know, you can’t really fail. You can only get better. And like a lot of people, you learn from your mistakes. So you take that as a learning opportunity and you move on. And so I think that’s definitely a big piece of advice that really everyone can use.
Yeah. And what about to any, maybe female or even anyone looking to, I guess, take on a Boomer maker trade?
I think Boilermaking is such a great trade. It truly is. You know, it’s definitely not a cold trade. In fact, you’re quite sweating a lot of the time, especially in summer, but it’s, it really is a great trade, and I think for females. If, if there’s any women out there listening, you know, don’t be afraid about it being a male dominated industry. There’s a lot of people out there who want to see you succeed regardless of your gender. And I think if you have that approach about it, then, you know, you won’t ever be put down by it. Yes, you will stand out. Yes, people will say probably hi a little bit more often, but that’s not a bad thing also, you know, and people are also there. and they’ll support you in all your endeavors. And that’s really great.
Yeah.
So I guess earlier on we spoke about obviously your parents having a big impact on your career so far. Have there been any other key mentors along the way?
Yeah, definitely the people that I work with, you know, Beau and the team, you know, they have been with me every step of the way, especially as a freshly 18 year old just moved up away from family. You know, they were nothing but supportive and it really has gone a long way. And I think the respect there is, is great even now. and so that’s really made a difference in the experience being positive. And then outside of work, my partner Jake, you know, he’s there with me every step of the way, also a boilermaker. So there’s a lot of common ground there that, you know, we can talk about work and the different things that we work on. It’s really great to have that person there that truly understands what I’m doing and that we understand each other, what each other are doing. It can be different, but it can be also similar. So that’s really great. But yeah, definitely my family and my friends, you know, there’s a lot of people having a network around you is important and having people support what you do is really important as well. And so I think that’s, yeah, there’s.
A lot of people. That’s great. Yeah, it’s nice to hear the supportive people, even though they’re not in the same location as well.
Yeah, definitely. You know, I’m always on the phone to people talking about what I’m doing. Oh, that’s great.
And I guess outside of work, you know, you’ve got some pretty cool hobbies. could you share some of those with us?
Yeah, I, I guess the main thing is that I’m an alpaca breeder, so I breed alpacas and show alpacas all year round. And so people take a step back when they see that and they go, what are you, what are you talking about? Aren’t they just cute, fluffy things? And I say, yeah, they are. But, yeah, it’s, it’s a love that I started in high school. At the start of high school, I went to an agricultural high school in Sydney, so we were introduced to livestock and alpacas were one of them. Since then, I became really great friends with people in the industry and some of my best friends. And, yeah, I’ve just continued to do that outside of work. Basically, I have my own alpacas and I breed them, so I get baby alpacas mostly every year. And it’s. It’s a really great hobby to have because it’s something completely different. at the same time, everyone loves that I’m a Boilermaker. Everyone in the industry loves that I’m a Boilermaker, and then everyone at work loves that I do alpacas. So it’s, it really goes hand in hand. And, yeah, it’s, it’s really great. And they are some of the cutest animals around. They’re cute when they’re little, and then they’re cute when they’re big.
And have you done some travels with the alpacas?
Yeah, I’ve been really all around the country. I competed in the ASA young judges competition, which is an alpaca. judging competition that I was doing. And, yeah, I was a national finalist and Reserve champion there. So that came from years and years of just doing the competitions around all over different states. So in a couple weeks time, I’m going to Bendigo for alpaca Nationals and I’m showing some alpacas down there. And I compete every year at Sydney Royal and help organize there. I’m, I do a lot of the organizing of the youth events. at the moment. So I’m on the New South Wales alpaca youth committee and I was a past president. Now I sit on the committee and I, that is a way to mentor and help younger kids through the industry. So we do competitions and really it’s about just the kids having a great time with alpacas, you know, and seeing how versatile these alpacas are, you know, we can walk them around on halters and everyone just has a really great day and It’s so great to see people learning, but in a fun way. And I think that’s the way it should be, especially when kids are involved. Absolutely. Is that if they’re not leaving with a smile on their face, then we’re doing something wrong. But most of the time, if not every time, they love the day. And it’s really great. So, yeah, I get a lot of satisfaction out of that as well, which is great.
I think when we caught up previously, you also mentioned that you and your partner Jake also like to, I guess, do some creative baller making in your spare time as well.
That’s it.
Like a lot of tradies, we have a big shed in the backyard full of lots of toys. And yeah, we just love tinker with things. You know, we’ve made some really cool or modified things in the past. We rebuilt a box, a 20 year old box trailer that was all rusty. We got it back to Chazzies and replaced beams and put new floors in and it’s those kind of jobs that we can do together and it’s, we get something out of it, you know, now we have a really great box trailer that we use all the time. We built a fire pit for my parents one year. We made it a horseshoe fire pit. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the dome shaped ones, but, yeah, that was really great. And, man, I wish I made one for myself because I’ll have to make another one. That’s it. And so, yeah, there’s a lot of great things that we can make and with our backgrounds as, as trades and, and I guess our willingness to learn, you know, there’s nothing you can’t do. You can always learn something new. So that’s been really great.
Yeah.
We’re going to put it to use at home.
Yeah.
All those, isn’t it with the trade?
It is. It is.
And it’s definitely. exciting when you see something finished, you know, once you’ve been working on it. So that’s really great.
Yeah.
Thanks so much for joining me.
Yeah.
I really love your story and your passion for it all. It’s so cool.
Thanks.
Cheers.
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