Landyke's guide to learning auto mechanics as a womon on your own:

1. Buy a total beater (of a common make and model so you can find parts) that you can test drive that has a decent engine/ transmission. Ideally it is a truck/ SUV type. Sedan is not ideal but ok. Minivans are bad. Get triple AAA and try to only drive it locally for a while. Get an older car without all that plastic junk covering everything important up.

2. Buy a socket set, oil drain pan, and Chilton manual for your new chariot. Rhino ramps if you got a sedan or vehicle you can't get yourself underneath easily. With ramps you won't have to jack it up every time you want to change oil or look at something.

3. Change the oil, air filter, transmission fluid and coolant. There are many YouTube videos you can look up. Might want to flush brake fluid too, if you're in a humid climate and they're spongey.

4. Look up the maintenance schedule for your vehicle, do at least the engine/transmission maintenance.

5. Something will break! Read your Bible (Chilton). Replace it. Look up how mechanics diagnose problems you have. Decide if you want to buy the tools for the job, or if you'd rather loan them from the auto parts store. You probably don't need to own a fuel pressure test gauge kit for example.

6. When you change your brakes, don't take your noble steed onto the road until you're SURE you did it right (particularly on drum brakes.... trust me...)

7. Keep doing this until your vehicle completely shits the bed.

8. Get a new vehicle that is hopefully less of a beater and repeat.

Remember that cars are designed to be worked on by lazy, ignorant men with, on average, a HS diploma and *maybe* some formal training. Most things are not super complicated. Most of the time you'll spend fixing things will be prying 20+ year old parts off.. seriously it's like they get superglued.

A few career tracks in skilled trades for curious women:

Arborist: professional Lorax. They care for trees! Tree maintenance, disease management, fertilization, and pest control. They climb trees and use chainsaws while 30 feet in the air. Badass. Definitely a job that you get to see a lot of beauty, being in nature/outdoors often. Average hourly pay in USA in $29 an hour, starting at $15 an hour.

Boilermaker: these women install, maintain, and manufacture boilers and tanks. They create, test, and install heavy metallic structures, including furnaces, towers, heat exchangers, and boilers. Boilers heat liquids, such as water, to generate electricity or provide heat for ships, factories, or buildings. Badass. Big ass tools. Hard hats. Average hourly pay in USA is $19-38 an hour.

Carpenter: you wanna make a bunch of stuff all day? That's what carpenters do, baby. Working primarily with wood, they build, install, and fix structures in residential, commercial, and industrial use. A skilled carpenter has a very precise hand and eye, often covered in dust. The work can either be indoors and outdoors. A highly variable job with highly variable wages.

Electrician: STEM girlies rise up, now's your time to shine (and make bank doing it)! Electricians install, maintain, and repair electrical power, communications, lighting, and control systems in homes, businesses, and factories. If you like science, puzzles, and being introverted, you'll do great. I am honestly not that good with electrical issues, it's like magic and electricians are like wizards to me. Do you wanna be a wizard? Average hourly wage in USA is $19-50.

Elevator Mechanic: it's constant ups and downs for these women. Do you want to feel like a monkey climbing trees but like, cyberpunk? That's an elevator mechanic, installing new elevator/escalator systems, ensuring proper assembly, wiring, and alignment of mechanical components. They conduct routine inspections, maintenance, and servicing. There's something really cool about being able to climb through a building's forbidden, secret innards. This is a great job, but be warned, the unions are small and selective. Average hourly pay in USA is $26-55.

Watch the joy in my eyes die after a woman says she would love to be in the trades but doesn't want to get sexually harassed all day.

Like that's fair, but the reason why there is so much sexual harassment is because, in part, there are not enough women in the industry. Are you just waiting on men to stop being assholes on their own? Things won't change unless you do something about it

Women are avoiding men in order to see a personal change in their lives. Yes, this is a kind of "letting men win" but it's also an act of self-preservation :/

So we lose either way. I got sexually harassed much worse as a server than as a mechanic tbh, even though most of my coworkers were women. All it takes is one man. Actually it's reported that food service and retail are the worst industries for sexual harassment against women. Third place is manufacturing.

Many stereotypically feminine jobs are FULL of sexual harassment, so the "self-preservation" is a myth imo. It's just fear-based decision making. Wherever we go, whatever we do, if a man is around, sexual violence is a risk. It's everywhere that men are period. I feel like this really intense fear that women have about like, donning tool belts, is really about how we fear what we don't know, and that we fear making mistakes.

With nearly every trades-related post I make, there are women who respond with "I wish I could do this," "I want to do this," things of that nature. Well why can't you?

You can do it.

Most of you responding like that are in your early 20s like me. I originally wanted to learn carpentry when I was a teenager but my father didn't let me. My father never wanted me to do a man's job despite my mechanical aptitude. So I moved out, and within a year I was starting trade school.

You can go to school, and if you can't afford it financially there are many grants and scholarships especially for women in trades. There are women's groups divided by trade industry that can and will help you get to where you want to be. Trade schools often have both night and day class options, full time and part time.

If you don't want to go to school, there are other pathways. You can begin with an apprenticeship (which involves making connections) or you can simply start at an entry-level job and get on-the-job training. Thankfully, many trades will take on new employees without prior experience.

My trade is 98% men, 2% women, and it's true that I face discrimination. But the more women there are, the less discrimination we will face. I think there are so many women who would be brilliant in the trades but simply don't pursue it out of fear. I was scared too, and now I am so fucking proud and happy that I have stuck with it and kept going despite all the challenges. Because as challenging as these careers can be for women, the pay-off is well worth it.