From Studying Nursing to Electrical Apprentice: Sophie Magee on Apprenticeships & Renewable Energy

Sophie Magee shares her powerful career transition from studying nursing at university to becoming an electrical apprentice. Sophie opens up about why she left healthcare, what drew her to the trades, and her passion for renewable energy, including her long-term goal of working on wind turbines. 

This conversation dives into the realities of being a woman in the electrical trade, the importance of developing strong practical skills, and the challenges women in trades still face in male-crowded industries. Sophie discusses how mentorship, community support, and representation play a vital role in helping female tradies succeed and feel confident on site. 

Sophie also offers honest advice for aspiring female tradespeople, covering apprenticeships, career changes, and how building a social media presence can help women in construction connect, share experiences, and grow their careers.

This episode is ideal for women of all ages considering a trade career, electrical apprentices, career changers, and anyone interested in renewable energy, clean energy jobs, and women in the trades. 

Key Takeaways 

• Sophie transitioned from studying nursing to electrical apprenticeship. 
• She found her passion in practical, hands-on work. 
• Renewable energy systems are a focus in her current role. 
• Sophie aspires to work on wind turbines in the future. 
• She believes in the potential of an all-female trades team. 
• Women in trades face unique challenges but can succeed. 
• Mentorship and community support are crucial for growth. 
• Sophie encourages others to pursue their passions fearlessly. 
• Building a social media presence can enhance career opportunities. 
• Sophie enjoys the design aspect of electrical work. 

Follow me: 

Instagram: @lifeofafemaletradie_ 

Tiktok: @loaftpodcast 

Facebook: Life Of A Female Tradie 

Youtube: @lifeofafemaletradiepodcast 

Follow Guest: 

Instagram: magee_electrical

Chapters 

00:00 Sophie Magee: Background and Journey 

01:45 Discovering a Passion for Electrics 

02:36 Working in Renewables 

03:28 Future Goals and Aspirations 

05:11 Experiences as a Female Apprentice 

07:40 Challenges in the Trade 

09:21 Overcoming Adversity in the Workplace 

11:41 Finding a Supportive Work Environment 

11:55 Advice for Young Women in Trades 

13:07 The Role of Social Media in Building Community 

15:41 Future Aspirations and Challenges 

17:06 Quick-Fire Questions and Personal Insights 

24:00 Thank you's 

Transcript

Sophie Magee (00:10)

my name is Sophie McGee and I'm an electrical apprentice.

Laura (00:13)

Awesome. thank you and welcome to Life of a Female Tradie podcast. always like to start things off by learning a bit about you and your background leading up to current date. So what's your background, Sophie?

Sophie Magee (00:28)

I studied nursing for a while and then realised that that wasn't really for me. University wasn't for me. was, it's not, you know, the rewarding job that people tend to see anymore. It's just not like that. And then I thought I want to do a job that's still practical and with my hands and you're running around a bit. I couldn't do office work. So I thought I'd join a trade.

Laura (00:32)

Wow.

Sophie Magee (00:50)

which is never really an option that you're given as a girl in school and you just take this random challenge. So I started in a domestic and commercial business doing jobs like that and then a tiny bit of industrial and then I've now ended up in renewables. So doing like MVHRs and air source heat pumps and solar panels and that kind of stuff. But it's been a journey.

Laura (00:52)

Cool.

Cool, wow. Yeah, that sounds super interesting. And did you start in it as an apprentice then from the very beginning?

Sophie Magee (01:24)

Yes, yeah, so I started my level two at college, just learning the fundamental stuff and then did my level three, which I'm now at the end of now. So in June, July, that should be hopefully the end of it.

Laura (01:26)

Okay.

Wow. So this is the year then of completion.

Sophie Magee (01:40)

Yeah,

yeah I hope so, I really hope so.

Laura (01:45)

Exciting,

what was it about electrics drew you to it?

Sophie Magee (01:51)

Well, I had discussions with my brother who's a carpenter and he said, you know, he said, what about plumbing? And I know a couple of plumbers and I thought, just, I just don't want to get drenched all day. I just, I've just not built for that. I thought I still want to be able to solve problems in a really technical way. And I thought, well, surely electrics would be the ⁓ best way for that. Cause it is a lot of

Laura (02:03)

hehe

Sophie Magee (02:17)

you know, trying to figure things out and design stuff and put it all together and hope it works. So, yeah, I think electrics was the one that I really wanted to go into. So, yeah, that's why.

Laura (02:22)

Yeah.

Cool, and you mentioned you've kind of worked on or are working on renewables. Can you elaborate on that for us?

Sophie Magee (02:36)

Yeah, so it's mainly domestic at the moment, but some people will have solar panels just on their own and that, you you'll have your inverter and it'll go down to your batteries and you set it all up on the phone for them and there they are, they're happy. And then sometimes they'll have a car charger integrated with it or some sort of air source heat pump, which then will go to your immersion heater and stuff like that. So there's lots of different systems that I'm trying to get my head wrapped around.

Laura (03:00)

Mmm.

Sophie Magee (03:04)

Sometimes I have very bad days and I don't know what I'm doing, but the rest of the time I think I'm doing okay. ⁓

Laura (03:08)

Don't worry about

it. all have them it's just a learning curve, isn't it? Definitely. third year now of your apprenticeship, is that right? Third year. Okay. And what do you foresee or what is your goal? Have you got a goal at the end of it?

Sophie Magee (03:13)

Yeah, yeah. gotcha.

Yes.

I do. So get my ticket, get the qualification and the gold card, which hopefully is an easier process than my mind is making it out to be. And then I'd love, I have this insane idea that I'd love to work on wind turbines. And it's because I know insane! there's one girl on Instagram who I've kind of become friends with now called Jasmine. And she's all over and she's on the top of the wind turbines. She's just so cool.

Laura (03:43)

Whoa!

Yep.

Sophie Magee (03:55)

And that's what sparked my interest. was like, my God, no way, I've caught wind turbines. Why has that never been an idea in my head? So now I'm obsessed with that mission. Just to try it and have that so that can say I've done it and I can work on that sort of things. And then the long-term goal as a tradeswoman would hopefully be to go into property and do most of the work myself, but have, this is the fun part,

Laura (04:03)

Amazing.

Sophie Magee (04:20)

an all female trades force designing and putting these houses together for this big, you know, women property company. I think that would be a really, really good team. I've already got ideas of who I'd want on it and there's just so much potential in that idea. Whether it'll happen, can only hope.

Laura (04:23)

Yes.

I love that. Yeah, I love that.

Absolutely, well, both of those are insanely incredible goals. I mean, I've seen Jasmine, the windturbine Girl and yeah, epic, epic, epic. So love that. And yes, for the property goal, I mean, why not? Absolutely, why not?

Obviously coming across more and more of us in the trades as time goes on, Why not collaborate on stuff? And whereabouts in the country are you? Just out of curiosity.

Sophie Magee (05:06)

Exactly.

So I'm in Herefordshire, which is like Wales, England border. So, slap bang in the middle.

Laura (05:16)

Yes, okay.

Interesting. That's good to know. Central, easy to get to, know? Yeah.

Sophie Magee (05:21)

Yeah, yeah, a lot of the girls

that I've met online though, they're all London based, which is such pain, but hopefully I can get them to come up here.

Laura (05:32)

That's it, that's it, Okay, what aspects of electrics would you say that you enjoy the most?

Sophie Magee (05:42)

I would say when I think the design part of it at the start, which mainly I do at college, obviously at work, it's not really my job to design and install. But when you do the design trying to plan it and do all the calculations and trying to build something that you can then put your physical mind to and actually see if it will all integrate correctly and see if you're

really crap at design or not. That part is really fun to me. And then when you finish the install and you've commissioned it or whatever, and it works great. Fantastic. That the end result and knowing that, you know, you've actually designed something, built it, and it functions how it's meant to. I think that's probably the best part of it. It's when it gets to more intricate systems, like the high end stuff on heat pumps or, um,

Laura (06:18)

epic

Sophie Magee (06:36)

solar panel inverters and stuff like that. When you get the more complicated versions like the Teslas, you feel quite cool when you've done something like that. Not all on your own, it's not just me doing it, but you it's an achievement.

Laura (06:41)

Mm-hmm.

Definitely. I mean, I wouldn't even know where to start. with the car chargers, are there loads of different ones and do they all work slightly differently then?

Sophie Magee (06:58)

There's a few brands out there. We mainly use Zappi because that's kind of the one that integrates and everyone sort of knows that one. But it's not really a difficult thing to integrate to the system at all. I think it's the app that confuses me to be honest. I'm trying to set that up. Yeah, yeah, that part's a headache.

Laura (07:07)

Okay.

The tech.

⁓ gosh. Yeah. I mean, there's so many aspects of our day-to-day living now that can be linked and integrated via a, an app or an electric source of some sort, like your lights, your smart bulbs and plugs and things. There's so much to wrap your head around. whilst doing your apprenticeship,

learning these more modern ways I say modern ways, yeah, it's modern tech, isn't it? As opposed to Your original standard electrics, what do you prefer? What do you find easier to wrap your head around?

Sophie Magee (07:46)

Yeah.

I would say I've not really had experience with smart homes. I've been to jobs where I'm doing a heat pump and there's electricians doing the smart home element of it. The amount of cables, some of these houses are like 10 or 15 bedrooms, they're ridiculous. But the cables, these multicolored cables everywhere and I'm looking at it going, how do you know what you, how do you actually know what you're doing? Because I would look at that and go, shit, like what do I do here?

Laura (08:05)

Gotcha.

Yeah!

Hahaha

Sophie Magee (08:23)

So I think, you know, when it goes down to the bog standard, you have 2.5 mil cables and you're lighting cables and stuff. It's, it's, you know, it's not too complicated and it's the nitty gritty of it. But this new stuff now is never, I've never worked on it and I don't really know if I'd want to. It looks very complex. But yeah, some people have everything set up to a hub now, which is just, yeah, it's intense. Yeah.

Laura (08:43)

Okay, wow.

Don't they? Yeah, absolutely everything. From underfloor

heating to all sorts, isn't it? Yeah. Madness. That is the world we are moving into. Awesome. So, how have you been treated along your journey so far? How do you feel women are seeing in the trades?

Sophie Magee (08:54)

Yeah, yeah,

Exactly, I've got to get my head around it somehow.

Laura (09:15)

Cause I take it you're still quite young in age wise and experience wise Am I right?

Sophie Magee (09:15)

Well...

Yeah, I'm 25 so I kind of count as like a mature student, let's say. Yeah, I like that word, it makes you feel young. So I think I've not, in the first year of my apprenticeship, was hell on earth. I got fired. Yeah, we've all had a layoff and my first one was absolutely iconic. I obviously can't go into too much detail,

Laura (09:26)

Student, yeah, okay.

Really? No!

Sophie Magee (09:47)

after a while I thought, I'm going to look for other jobs. Actually, I don't really want to stay here. And they found out I was doing that and they fired me and I was like, bang it.

Laura (09:54)

⁓ damn. Yeah. I mean,

gutted that they beat you to it, but yeah, at least you had an out then, didn't you? Blimey.

Sophie Magee (10:00)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

it was a weird old time, seeing where it's gone now, I'm quite happy I got out when I did, to be

Laura (10:11)

play for sticking at That could have put many a person off,

Sophie Magee (10:13)

⁓

Oh yeah, I did have my doubts and thought, I actually meant? And I still get that to this day, even as a third year, I still think, have I made a really bad choice that it's taken me three years to realise? If I have like a really bad day, you get a bit of self doubt. And then you just go, no, just have a day. actually where you're meant to be. Like you're not going to be as good as your mentors who have been doing it 16, 15, whatever years. You've just got to, you know, accept that you're still learning. You've still got mistakes to make.

Laura (10:28)

Yeah.

Sophie Magee (10:45)

and if anyone wants to bitch and grumble about it.

What more can you do? Yeah.

Laura (10:49)

Let them. Yeah, let them, you know, I'm still learning. Exactly.

And yet we all still have bad days and it is just a bad day. hopefully within yourself, you're able to recognize that and say, look, wipe the slate clean tomorrow, new day, know, fresh mindset and just keep moving forward because that's all you can do, isn't it? Keep moving forward. And if you're

committing three years of your life to learn something, then it's something that you wanna do, I think, in my opinion anyway. You don't normally commit three years of your life to something that's just on a whim. Maybe some people do, but you never know. yeah, fair play for sticking that bad situation out.

Sophie Magee (11:24)

yeah.

Yeah, you never know. Yeah.

Laura (11:41)

And I take it you've therefore found a decent, company to be working with.

Sophie Magee (11:42)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, one

that does things properly and the process is properly. Yeah, that's all I really needed, you know.

Laura (11:52)

Amazing. Yeah.

That's it. So if there was a bit of advice that you could give to someone around your sort of age bracket maybe that's looking to pursue a new career in the trades, what do you think that might be?

Sophie Magee (12:10)

For someone my age, women in particular, I would say absolutely go balls to the wall and do it for yourself. Just throw yourself in it, listen to what you really want to do. It's going to be challenging. You're going to come home filthy and tired and exhausted, but just stick on with it. Because if you don't, you've now missed an opportunity that later on will take you a lot.

Laura (12:12)

Yeah. Yeah.

Sophie Magee (12:38)

another three years or so you might as well throw yourself in it and go yeah, I'm give it a try. Why not?

Laura (12:44)

Exactly, why not? Why not? What else am gonna do with myself, you know? Love it. Love that, brilliant. And obviously, we kind of communicated through social media initially leading up to this. Is that something you're looking to build on while still doing your apprenticeship or is it something you're gonna...

Sophie Magee (12:45)

Why not? Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Laura (13:07)

maybe focus a bit more on after you've qualified, do you think?

Sophie Magee (13:11)

I would say it's definitely a beneficial thing to maintain. And I think even though I'm just an apprentice, I can't post like I'm qualified. I can't do big installs on my own and provide loads of content. But the amount of people you meet through it and the advice you get from qualified, if there's a job that I don't know how to do, I'm texting some random person that will know what to do. And they go, yeah, Theo Webster is really good.

Laura (13:17)

Mm-hmm.

You

Sophie Magee (13:40)

don't know how to do something. You'll just voice that and go do this and this and this. Brilliant. So it's definitely something I'll try and keep going and growing as an apprentice and when I'm qualified. Yeah, I think it's just the new way of throwing yourself out there as a tradeswoman and eventually as a business. I think it's the best way to get reach from customers.

Laura (13:43)

you

Definitely, definitely. And especially with your goal of doing a full female renovation. I mean, that is the place to find your workers, isn't it? Yeah.

Sophie Magee (14:12)

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

It's got to be. Yeah, there's so many women that you would just want to handpick just on the intricacy and the and the like there is some absolutely amazing trades women out there and you see the work that they do. Sometimes you sit there and go like, couldn't do that. You just want to be like, you haven't got the patience for that. It's so it's it's mind blowing sometimes. And I think because you imagine if you had

Laura (14:34)

Hahaha

Sophie Magee (14:42)

like a select handful of these really committed designers or installers or whatever, you'd have these beautiful projects all over the world. Yeah, imagine the Christmas parties. How fun would that be? Yeah.

Laura (14:52)

it'd be stunning, wouldn't it? Yeah.

Absolutely.

even when you bring in like the craft side of trades, there's some exceptionally talented women out there. And yes, we have to acknowledge that there are some exceptionally talented men as well.

Sophie Magee (15:14)

Yeah.

Laura (15:15)

But

obviously we're here to talk about the women. So keeping it on term, know, to find anybody, definitely social media is the place to be now, isn't it? And the fact that you can film your intricate detail of your work and edit it and put it all out there. just, yeah, it blows my mind still. Yeah.

Sophie Magee (15:17)

Yeah.

Yeah, no,

I agree. I think it's come so far and it's so useful.

Laura (15:41)

Absolutely. what's next for Sophie on the big stage?

Sophie Magee (15:47)

I really don't know where this is taking me to be honest. have until June, July time when I'm meant to finish, I've got a big chunk, I've got to go for surgery, so I'm going to have a big chunk of nothing for like six or so weeks, which is really going to throw a spanner in the works. Like physically, I won't be able to do as much after that. But then I'm hoping I'll get back on track quickly.

Laura (16:01)

Huh?

Yeah.

Sophie Magee (16:13)

and keep doing the renewables until I get my ticket and if not, another job.

Laura (16:19)

I'm sure you will, I'm sure you will.

I think you're definitely gonna get your ticket. You're definitely gonna qualify. I mean, I've seen a little bits of your work that you've put on your social media and you're obviously passionate about the trade. yeah, just the way that you talk about.

the future and what could be possible from qualifying. I can definitely see you going far and maybe even balancing on top one of them wind turbines, who knows? That'd be epic, epic. Do it, ⁓ go on. I'll have you both on then, you can come back. Epic.

Sophie Magee (16:48)

I really hope so, thank you. I would love that. I might even join Jasmine, just go over there. That would be brilliant. Yeah, I think

there's a lot of potential in the future, hope so.

Laura (17:06)

Definitely, positive thinking, that's the way forward. All the way. Right, let's do the quick fire question round for a bit of a laugh, see what we can learn about Sophie. So, first one, tea or coffee?

Sophie Magee (17:07)

Exactly, exactly

I'm ready.

Coffee, iced. ⁓ I don't like hot drinks. It has to be iced. It's really snobby, I know.

Laura (17:25)

⁓ even in the winter.

Okay, fair play. No, not at all. I'm partial

to an ice latte, I have to say, but yeah, fair play. Fitting sockets or fitting lights?

Sophie Magee (17:37)

Much coming.

Lights. can do ⁓ sockets are just one thing, lights you can have chandeliers.

Laura (17:44)

Okay.

That is true, that is true. Dogs or cats?

Sophie Magee (17:52)

Dogs. Don't want to upset cat people, but...

Laura (17:55)

Good choice. It's fine, most people do.

Kayaking or tennis?

Sophie Magee (18:04)

that's two of my favourite hobbies. ⁓ no. I love being on a river, kayaking.

Laura (18:06)

thoughts.

Fair play. Indoor or outdoor electrics?

Sophie Magee (18:13)

I'm going to say indoor because I don't like rain.

Laura (18:17)

Yeah. It really does, doesn't it? I mean, today has been Driver or passenger?

Sophie Magee (18:16)

Yeah, it rains a lot here.

I'm really bad at driving the company vans. I don't think they let me anymore.

Laura (18:26)

⁓

no, you haven't dinged one have you?

Sophie Magee (18:30)

I know.

No, I just could, I could, they're really old and I couldn't get it into, I was just, I really didn't do good for women that day, I promise.

Laura (18:40)

Brilliant.

Final two, Japan or the USA?

Sophie Magee (18:47)

The USA, because there's so many, like Japan you've got the countryside of the city, both are beautiful, but America, it's literally different worlds in every state, it's insane. I love it.

Laura (18:58)

Where

exactly did you go last year?

Sophie Magee (19:02)

So I went to, I started in Colorado and South Dakota, Wyoming.

Utah, Idaho. Yeah, that was it. I five states in two weeks. And I really wanted to do that. In particular, I wanted to do horse riding through the Grand Tetons. And I was like, I've got to go Western. Like, I'm going to do the whole cowboy, you know, holiday, you know, do it. So I booked an RV with my friend and went away for two weeks and had the absolute time of my life. Yeah.

Laura (19:13)

Wow, what made you choose those?

wow.

Yes!

It looked it, yeah,

fair play, that's awesome. Cool. And how did you find Japan? Because obviously I picked those two because I know you've been there. So.

Sophie Magee (19:38)

It was amazing. Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, Japan

was lovely because my boyfriend was deployed at the time so he flew me out because he was gone for eight months so he flew me out halfway through. Yeah, it long time. But we tried to fit everything in in one week that you would probably do in a few weeks in Japan so we were tired, very tired. But it was hot, it like 35 degrees.

Laura (19:53)

Okay.

Yeah.

I'll bless you.

Was

it?

Sophie Magee (20:13)

Obviously I'm ginger, I can't survive in that. It was beautiful, the countryside is just amazing there, by Mount Fuji and all of that is just lovely. Would recommend.

Laura (20:26)

Definitely. It's definitely on my list for sure.

Sophie Magee (20:28)

Yeah,

yeah, you've to do it. The cars as well. It's done. Yeah, the cars are fucking amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura (20:32)

Yeah?

Nice. Awesome.

And last one. And I think this is going to be hard for you. Singing or dancing?

Sophie Magee (20:46)

I do love a boogie.

I've got to say dancing. I can dance to Dolly Parton better than I can sing it. yeah, that's definitely me. Yeah.

Laura (20:52)

Yeah.

Awesome.

Okay. So, right, final three questions that I ask everybody that comes on the show. If you could be another trade, what trade would you choose and why?

Sophie Magee (21:10)

⁓ okay. That's actually really different.

Honestly, I'd probably be a carpenter because you can do anything to your house. You can have a media wall, little cupboards under your stairs, like anything. Anything you want, you build it. That's cool.

Laura (21:17)

Would ya?

That is cool. And again, I will say it, it's the most popular that everybody chooses. It really is, definitely. And what trade should I have on the show next, do you think?

Sophie Magee (21:30)

Yeah. Don't say.

and

Laura (21:40)

Who would you like to hear from?

Sophie Magee (21:42)

I see it's a bit more difficult because they're in particular areas. think I'm biased, obviously, but having a wind engineer, a wind turbine technician or something that can give an insight into what they actually do would be really cool.

Laura (21:54)

Yeah.

Sophie Magee (21:58)

You just have that masonry. What's her name?

Laura (21:59)

Yeah, I've had a couple,

I've had Rosie come on, the stonemason, and I've also had Rachel, who works on the Lincoln Cathedral. So I've had a couple of them. I know, aren't they? So I have actually messaged Jasmine, wind turbine girl. I'll have to back that up with a couple more follow ups, if she's up for it. Yeah, please do. I'd love that.

Sophie Magee (22:04)

Yeah.

Yeah, iconic. They are cool. They are really cool.

I'll message her as well. I'll tell her to go on it. Yeah. I will, absolutely.

I think she would too.

Laura (22:28)

Awesome. Yeah? love it. Let's sort that out.

Okay, so where can people find you, Sophie, on your social media and stuff?

Sophie Magee (22:42)

Yeah, I am under McGee Electrical and you'll see me because I'm bright orange. It will stick out. And yeah, feel free to ask any questions or, you know, give me a DM. I do love it when new apprentices go, can you give me some advice? I'm like, oh, yeah, because I used to do that all the time, ask people. And now it's my turn. I'm like, I'm so ready to share my wisdom with nothing.

Laura (23:06)

Absolutely.

that's brilliant that you get people asking you and you're still going through your journey. That's amazing. That's great to hear.

Sophie Magee (23:14)

Yeah,

yeah, it gives you bit of imposter syndrome sometimes to be honest because you're like I don't have all the wisdom but I can give you little bits that I don't know. But yeah I do love it.

Laura (23:23)

Aww.

Brilliant.

that's great. So McGee Electrical, is Wicked. Well, I will make sure that that is in the show notes for people to click the link on and follow you on the rest of your journey and going forward. So yeah, amazing. Thank you so much for giving me your time. It's been a good little giggle. ⁓

Sophie Magee (23:30)

Yeah, MAGEEA.

Beautiful.

And you. It has,

it's been a right laugh. I've had so much fun. Thank you.

Laura (23:51)

Good, good, you're welcome. And yeah, stay in touch, okay?

Sophie Magee (23:55)

Absolutely, I will do.

Laura (23:57)

All right, I'll speak to you soon.

Sophie Magee (23:59)

Okay, bye bye.