Fixing water woes spurs ex-tradie’s job shift

It was on a volunteer trip overseas to check in on a village classroom where ex-boilermaker Lucas Farrell made the decision he wanted to make a significant contribution to his community.

Five years later, Mr Farrell has traded welders for the web, finding meaningful work helping fellow volunteers understand the basics of computing.

Mr Farrell is among 31 individuals and 14 organisations up for 2023 WA Training Award gongs this year spanning diversity, student, trainer and employer categories.

The former boilermaker and welder was forging a career in the resources industry but felt trapped by the lucrative wages and spiraling mental health struggles.

It was on a return trip with Rotary to East Timor where they found a classroom built a year prior had sat unused because children in the village were too busy carting water every day that a fire was lit in Mr Farrell’s heart.

“In order for this school to be used, we needed to bring the water closer them, so using my piping skills, I designed a gravity fed water system,” Mr Farrell said.

“That was really rewarding seeing the actual change in peoples’ lives and getting photos of the school being used.

“For something that I felt was quite simple, when I was revisiting my work direction, that was in the forefront of my mind.

“I thought ‘what if you could get that feeling five days a week for the rest of your working life?’.”

Energised by the new direction, Mr Farrell applied to study a Certificate IV in community services at North Metropolitan TAFE’s Leederville Campus, where he is now undertaking a diploma in the same field.

While admitting he did not have a strong background in computing, Mr Farrell knew enough and quickly found joy in helping volunteers at disability support group RISE learn core tasks such as setting up emails and using online accounts.

One of the most important lessons Mr Farrell quickly learned was to avoid telling those he was helping the tasks they were struggling with were “easy”.

“I've got a guy that worked for the US Navy in weaponry for 20 something years,” he said,

“Letting him talk about his job and his role and how he saw himself in his working life… is almost like them saying I'm not completely useless, I do know some stuff, It's just not relevant to me anymore.

“It has really made me cautious of not belittling or condescending, giving them some room to be to be vulnerable and say I don't know what I'm doing.”

Training Minister Simone McGurk said the finalists were ambassadors for WA’s training system.

“Our State’s skills sector provides incredible opportunities for Western Australians, helping them to develop job ready skills that are highly valued by employers.

“The WA Training Awards celebrate the best-of-the-best in vocational education and training, from young apprentices through to well-established organisations.

“It is wonderful to take a moment to celebrate their achievements and acknowledge the incredible efforts in this field.”

Training Award winners will be announced in September.