From Healthcare to Welding: One Woman’s Path Into the Trades, Ep #65

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This week I sat down with Nico McTague, a soon-to-be welder up in Toronto who’s about to finish an eight-month intensive program and walk straight into her first welding job. What makes her story worth your time isn’t just where she’s headed, it’s where she came from.

Nico spent years in healthcare caring for people with special needs, a career she loved until burnout, and the addiction that came with trying to cope with it, forced a hard reset. A family friend offered to get her into a steel mill. She walked in expecting to hate it. Instead she fell in love with the noise, the heat, the cranes, and watching molten metal turn into beams and rebar. That was the spark. A few weeks later she took the leap into welding school and never looked back.

We get into what it actually takes to break into the trades. Treating school like a job. Starting your job search before you graduate. Keeping your certifications current. And the one habit Nico credits for finishing all her certs while the rest of her cohort was still catching up: she isn’t afraid to ask questions. If you’ve ever been the only person in the room who looks like you, or you’ve ever managed someone who was, this conversation will land.

We also dig into something I care a lot about, which is how we grow this industry. Nico wants to mentor women into welding and make the trades a place people can actually see themselves in. We talk about representation, the missing off ramp from school into skilled work, and why getting kids tinkering at nine or ten matters more than we admit. The demand is staggering and the tent needs to get bigger.

Whether you run a shop that’s hiring, you’re thinking about a career change of your own, or you just want a reminder that people-first beats spec-sheet talk, this one’s for you.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (0:00) Making the trades a place women can see themselves in
• (1:00) I welcome Nico McTague, a soon-to-be welder in Toronto
• (2:42) Healthcare, a hard reset, and her experience in a steel mill
• (6:36) Three weeks to decide: taking the leap into welding school
• (8:00) Take your shop high-end with DN Solutions
• (9:14) A five-person winter cohort and using a small class to her advantage
• (11:48) What she wants in a first role: room to grow and a place that welcomes women
• (14:00) Dial in your workholding with SMW Autoblok
• (14:42) Treating trade school like a job, including the call when you can’t show
• (16:44) Getting certified and starting the job hunt early
• (18:05) Why detail-oriented women are a manufacturer’s secret weapon
• (19:26) The habit that changed everything: not being afraid to ask questions
• (21:11) A shout-out to Gabby, the instructor who meets everyone where they are
• (22:26) Get real answers on your website with Navu
• (23:39) Nico’s mission: mentoring more women into the trades
• (25:15) The representation gap, the demand crunch, and getting kids into trades early
• (29:01) Why Nico is incredibly grateful for the lessons life has dealt her

Resources Mentioned

• DN Solutions
• SMW Autoblok
• Navu
• Manufacturing Pathways Consortium
• Shonali Ditz on MakingSparks

Connect with Nico McTague

• Connect with Nico on LinkedIn