34-year-old electrician makes $43,000 a year after leaving design school: I have 'many ways to move up' and earn more money

Zen Stewart knows firsthand that career paths aren't linear. Hers hasn't been.

Today, the 34-year-old is an electrician in Raleigh, North Carolina — a construction wireman level four, to be exact. That would've surprised her younger self.

"I always liked fashion, design, architecture," she tells CNBC Make It. "I never for once thought I'd be in the trades."

After graduating high school, Stewart pursued several fields of study, including interior design, graphic design and business. None felt right.

"I knew in my core that something else was out there for me," she says.

Stewart cycled through stints deejaying and working in retail, jewelry, sales and telehealth. She was laid off from that last job, scheduling routes for health workers, as new software replaced the need for human workers, she says.

"The idea of becoming an electrician didn't even hit my mind until I started getting, like, laid off from jobs that I thought were good jobs," says Stewart, who began researching what careers "aren't going to be replaced by AI anytime soon."

She landed on electrical work because "there were many ways to move up and many pathways that paid very well" and because it gave her the chance to work with her hands and still be creative.

Stewart was also drawn to the electrical trade over others because it's physically more feasible for her as a woman, she says. "I figured I'd be able to handle that."

When Stewart told her friends and family about wanting to become an electrician, "it was a shock," she says. "It's very different from the things I had been doing."

"They were kind of used to me saying, 'Oh, I want to be an interior designer. I want to be an architect. I want to be a DJ.' So they were kind of like, 'Oh, you know, well, here's the new thing,'" she says.

Stewart's mother nevertheless connected her with the electricians from a company who happened to be working on a job at her own workplace, a jewelry store, and the rest is history. "I literally went into their office that same day, filled out my application," Stewart says. "That next week, I was working."

In 2025, Stewart made roughly $43,000 from electrical work, in addition to some income from her social media. In the future, she hopes to multiply her income, be debt-free and own a home.

Stewart joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in August 2025, citing benefits like good health insurance, tuition assistance and ease of finding work. She pays roughly $57 monthly in union dues.

Stewart mostly works eight-hour days, sometimes 10, on Monday through Friday, with a rare weekend or night for overtime. She usually begins her days with a 4:30 or 5 a.m. wakeup.

"It was a huge culture shock because I wasn't used to being up at the crack of dawn," she says. But "after I got into the rhythm of things, I really enjoyed it."

One of the biggest challenges is "trying to navigate this male-dominated field as a woman," she says. "Yes, I feel safe and secure, but a lot of the times, because I'm a woman, I feel like I have to prove myself more." While Stewart says her coworkers mean well, she sometimes feels she has to remind them, "It's okay, I've got it. Like, I can do it myself."

Stewart is currently preparing for her exam to become a union apprentice. After a multi-year apprenticeship, electricians can typically get their journeyman's license, which allows them to work across residential, industrial and commercial settings without the supervision that apprentices are typically subject to.

She wants to learn "how to actually run my own crew" and "be in charge of a whole site." With a union journeyman's license, she hopes to travel and work in different states, which she says can be lucrative.

Stewart currently does commercial electric work but eventually wants to segue into industrial electric work, which typically pays better. Later on, she hopes to transition into more of a desk role in the industry, say, in project management.

"I do think about the physical toll of this work," she says. "I know after a certain age, I'm not going to want to be out in the field."

Stewart doesn't believe AI will replace skilled trades workers for "a very long time," if ever. But she does "see it starting to creep in a little bit," she says, noting she's seen bots that can map where a door should go or where a wall should begin. "I definitely believe that AI is going to hold a place in construction," she says.

On social media, Stewart offers a look into her job.

"I figured if I could shine my light through my perspective of how it is in my day-to-day, that that could get other people interested in the trade," she says. To those considering it, she adds, "Don't let lack of experience stop you.

As for her job, she loves that "every day is different" and that she gets to "see things from start to finish," from a pile of dirt to a completed building, she says. "Then being able to flick on the lights and seeing everything come to life, I think that is so satisfying."

Stewart hopes to one day build a house from scratch. "I still have that creative spirit," she says. "That still is very alive and well in my life."

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