Women in HVACR
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STUDENT : NOXOLO DUBE Dube was born and raised in the dusty streets of Vosloorus , east of Johannesburg . Initially her first choice of study was radiation therapy , however due to unforeseen circumstances and limited funds , she enrolled for N courses in electrical engineering in a TVET College in Cape Town where she grew her love of engineering . Since then , she has never looked back .
She was offered a learnership in refrigeration and airconditioning with a private company , Compact Cool , and is currently enrolled at ACRA where she is busy tackling her studies in refrigeration .
One of the enjoyable tasks for her at work is to braze . She worked as a brazer for a year , dealing with copper pipes . Because of her courage and dedication at work , she
was entrusted with more tasks and given the opportunity to learn panel wiring , installation and assembly . She notes she was clueless at the beginning but her skills and understanding got better with time because she got the support she needed from the training instructors at ACRA and her workplace .
Her journey as a student in the industry has been challenging yet fruitful . She has learned a lot , especially in electrical , and she has learned discipline and persistence while continuing to look forward to broaden her knowledge .
Her short term goal is to continue to learn as much as she can , and she is dedicated to making a success of her career and build a name for herself in the industry . She would love to change the mentality around the stereotype men have of women and their abilities .
Noxolo ’ s question to the mentor is : Job marketing is the hardest . How does one go about preparing and proving that you are worthy , or the best candidate for that position you are after , especially knowing that I will be competing amongst many men for the same opportunity ?
STUDENT : SHELA MASHIANGAKO Mashiangako is a student in her late twenties and a very aspiring individual . Originally from Mokopane , Limpopo , she holds a qualification in electrical engineering and is currently an apprentice with GEA Africa – one of the largest supplies of process technology for the food industry – refrigeration being the one of them .
She started her apprenticeship programme in 2018 , but this was consequently only kickstarted in 2020 . She is currently based in the industrial refrigeration department . Her responsibilities that she enjoys are building , installing , maintaining and servicing all systems on site .
She is busy tackling her studies and training at ACRA too . She has studied electrical engineering and getting an opportunity in refrigeration was not one of her particular goals and was definitely not easy in the beginning because the entire refrigeration process was foreign to her and she didn ’ t have a clue what was expected of her . Now she has fallen in love with the sector by getting exposure to it and going on frequent site visits made her realise how broad the industry is .
She has noted from her personal experiences that there are comparatively very few women in the industry , and that men are also still not used to having women working alongside them . Her encouragement to those young women who want to embark on a career in refrigeration is to do it now while technicians and specialists in the sector are in high demand .
Shela ’ s question to the mentor is : This is really an industry career worth pursuing . What advice do you have as to how to escalate a career going forward , so I can reach a level of being a great service engineer ?
Note : Mentor Ester Gladys Gwemba will respond to these questions in next month ’ s article . RACA
www . hvacronline . co . za RACA Journal I June 2021 53