I'm a Gen Z welder. This job kills your body, but I'm earning $2,000 a week and getting ripped doing it.

• Elizabeth is a Gen Z welder who chose a career in the trades over going to college.
• She says being a welder not only pays well but is great for getting physically fit.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Elizabeth, 23, who opted for a career in welding instead of going to college. She lives and works in Alberta, Canada. She wishes to keep her last name anonymous, but Business Insider has verified her identity and employment.

I always knew I didn't want a desk job. I love getting outside and getting my hands dirty so going to college never interested me.

By chance, when I was 18, right out of high school, I was introduced to a beginners course for young women to encourage them to get into trade jobs.

The three-and-a-half-month course taught us the basics of a whole range of trades: automotive, plumbing, carpentry, joinery, welding, and ironworking. In-class sessions also taught us how to use blueprints and how to make resumes.

From the moment I started, I knew welding was my trade.

There are loads of different types of welding, but at its basic level, it's about fusing two metals together with a hot torch.

I was drawn to that hot, tough aspect of it, of constantly having your head down in the heat. It's hard work and requires you to be precise — that kind of intensity was something I was looking for in a job.

You get to take scrap metal and turn it into something really cool by yourself.

It also helps that the job pays really well. I now earn around $3,000 CAD ($2,000 USD) a week from welding alone.

Welding is great on the body

After I finished school and the introductory course, I sent out a bunch of resumes. I already had some industry contacts — from part-time trade work I'd done during high school, so finding a job was a little easier for me than for some of my peers.

While some people were chasing the highest-paid jobs, I just wanted to get my foot in the door.

My mentality was: get experience first, the money will come later.

I managed to do that, and I've jumped around various welding jobs since graduating.

There are other less physical trades like electrical, but I like how tough welding is.

I'm killing my body every day, but it's worth it because welders make insane money, and I'm getting jacked doing it.

I'm constantly moving and climbing, so my abs are getting more ripped, and my butt is getting bigger.

I can see the hard work paying off physically; it's great for the body.

I'm covered in bruises and scratches from the job — I'm definitely pretty beat up. But it makes me super strong, and getting to work outside is a real perk. Earning money while spending time out in the beautiful Alberta scenery makes me feel incredibly grateful for this job.

I love this job, but it's definitely not easy being a woman in this industry

There's a lot to love about this job, but I'd be lying if I said it was easy to be a woman in this industry.

I'm often the only woman on most of my sites; there are few women in the trades in general and even fewer in welding.

You need a lot of patience and self-respect to get by.

I've had male coworkers scream at me and belittle me at work, and few procedures are in place to prevent this. You just need to ensure you have a good supervisor who knows you work hard and respects you.

That's why I'm super lucky in my current job. My supervisor approached me in my first week to say, "If anybody is bugging you, let me know because I will get rid of them immediately."

Sure, it's the bare minimum, but it's refreshing in this industry.

I work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week

Having a supportive employer like my current one makes such a difference. You work unrelenting days, so the last thing you want is to have to put up with harassment on site.

I've been in this job for two years, and I work with my partner, who's also in the trades. We've been camping in his roof tent and living out of our trucks across small towns in Alberta, which lets us save as much money as possible and not be too tied to one place.

The day starts at 6 a.m. when we pack up our tent and get our pet animals ready to go. Then, we make ourselves a smoothie and head to the site.

We pull up to work around 7 a.m., parking in a grassy area so we can leave our animals to roam around.

Each working day starts with a safety meeting; then, you're assigned tasks and gear up. We work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.

By 5:30 p.m., we clock off, head to town for a shower, and head back to set up the campsite, have dinner, go to bed, and do it all again the next day.

Camping means we can bank all our money

Living out of our trucks isn't the most comfortable setup, but it means we get to pocket our Living Out Allowance — a daily tax-free sum, which can be as much as $205, from our employer that goes toward accommodation and food as we work away at different sites across the province.

For most people, that money gets swallowed up on accommodation, but camping means we can bank it.

With that money plus the money we earn from my job, I'm clearing thousands of dollars every two weeks, and my partner makes even more as a journeyman.

None of our peers are making as much money as we are because nobody else has the balls to camp.

For me, the ability to move around is a huge perk of the job. I can't stay in one place; I want to see more places, even if those places are just tiny towns around Alberta.

Career progression in welding

Next, I want to get my next three Red Seals in welding, ironworking, and crane operating. These basically allow you to be fully certified to work as a tradesperson on any job: more tickets, more money. To get those, I'll have to go back to do more training and do more exams.

The long, hard days mean I don't have much time for other hobbies. The one thing I do love doing is posting about my job on TikTok. I find making video edits so fun, and it's a nice way to share my experiences as a female welder with other people.

There are definitely people who give me hate for posting about my job online. They assume I'm not working hard and accuse me of being unsafe and distracted on-site.

But it's just fun to share what I do and show that there's not just one way to be a welder.

And hey, it would be great to get brand sponsorships from it.

Within welding, my dream would be to own a business focused on getting women into the trades. My experiences in the industry have shown me how necessary it is to help reshape this industry to include more women.

Why should we be pushed out when there's all this money to be made?