A young woman has revealed why she made the decision to hit pause on her law degree and pursue a career as a bricklayer.
Bonnie, 29, studied law and criminology in Queensland before packing up her life and moving to Wollongong, 85km south of Sydney, to work in construction.
The tradie explained she had been forced to work 40 hour weeks doing night fill shifts at Woolworths in order to finance her studies.
As part of her degree, Bonnie was required to complete a full-time six month placement, which she said would have very likely been unpaid as she only had retail experience.
‘I had no idea how I was going to do that but I thought the best thing to do was start studying and cross that bridge when I get to it,’ she said in a TikTok video.
Bonnie explained she would have to move out of housing into shared university accommodation, commit to 25 hours a week of night fill shifts at Woolworths and 20 hours of study alongside the full-time placement.
She planned to take a brief break from her studies to prepare.
The 29-year-old moved from Queensland to Wollongong and started landscaping.
Bonnie said she could suddenly earn twice as much as she was earning in her retail position as an entry-level tradie.
‘The first time in my adult life I was happy to get out of bed to do the work, to do the thing I needed to do to earn money and have a quality of life,’ she said.
She worked out if she ‘could pursue the highest pay rate without qualifications in the construction industry’ she could save $30,000.
‘That’s how much I needed sitting in a savings account to survive for six months without having a job to do the placement and fully commit myself to it,’ she said.
‘That’s how I’d get through this law degree.’
Bonnie soon found herself needing to find another job in construction, but was told she didn’t have enough experience.
One day she was walking past a bricklaying crew and stopped to write down the information of the carpentry and plumbing companies used on site to apply for a job.
Bonnie (pictured) worked in Woolworths while studying law and criminology before moving to Wollongong and becoming a tradie
A 45-year-old male brickie wolf-whistled at Bonnie and asked if she would like to go out for a drink with him.
Bonnie hit back: ‘No mate I’m looking for a job.’
In a surprising turn of events, the tradie called over to Bonnie and offered her a job on the spot to be a brickie’s labourer.
She started onsite the following morning and since then has gone from strength to strength in her new career.
The 29-year-old said she still intends on completing her law and criminology degree as criminal law remains her passion.
However, for now, she’s happy pursuing a career in construction.
In Australia, an entry-level bricklayer can make as much as $75,000-a-year while an experienced worker can pull in north of $90,000.
Bonnie received a flurry of support after sharing her story, with one viewer commenting: ‘Girl your attitude should be trademarked.’
Someone else wrote: ‘You will go far no matter what field of work you take. You are a go getter and inspirational really!’
‘What an absolute weapon you are!’ another said.
‘You’ve got a killer story and the way you carry yourself is so positive you would be an inspiration to so many young girls keep it up.’
