Program Details

Jennifer Sandoval enrolled in the Chicago Women in Welding 10-week training program on May 2, 2022. Before that, Jennifer worked as a dispatcher at Motorola for four years. During enrollment, Jennifer worked part-time as a Food Delivery Driver for DoorDash, UberEATS, Grubhub, and Instacart. Jennifer stated she wanted to do something different to utilize her hands and create things. Jennifer decided working in an office was no longer for her, so she decided to Google Women in Welding and located Chicago Women in Trades.

After contacting Chicago Women in Trades, the welding case manager determined she met eligibility and suitability requirements. During the training program, she received a wealth of Career Readiness services and technical skills such as MIG, TIG, and Arch Fabrication. In July 2022, Jennifer completed 288 hands-on training hours and gained an American Welding Society (AWS) D9.1 Credential and OSHA-10-hour general industry safety certification. As a result, within three weeks of completing training, Jennifer gained long-term training-related employment, working full time and making $22.00 hourly wages.

She shared this bio: "I am a welder and metal fabrication at a local Villa Park shop, where we create or repair anything and everything made of metal. We utilize stick, TIG, MIG welding, welding, and soldering as needed. What I enjoy most about my job is that I'm doing something different and learning something new every day. I like welding because welding is an art where I am constantly learning to improve, and it is very calming to me when I can tune out the world, focus on my weld puddle, and lay a nice bead."