Mercury Marine just released a video that’s sure to inspire anyone in the boating industry to follow their passion. Kaitlyn Schneider is a rare thing: a female mechanic in the marine industry. After attending the Marine Mechanics Institute in Orlando, she moved back home to Wisconsin and started looking for jobs. After being turned down multiple times, she caught a break at Lakeside Marina in Oshkosh, Wisc.
Joe Honsa, president of the marina, says Kaitlyn is the first woman that’s applied for the true technician position at his store in the more than 30 years he’s been in the industry. “She showed up one day and inquired if we were looking for a tech,” Honsa recalls of his first meeting with Kaitlyn. “My first inclination was ‘Who do you know?’”
Schneider says, “I went in and asked them if they were hiring and the service manager gave me the, ‘Why, do you know someone?’ comment. I said, no, I know me. I still feel like I need to prove myself because I’ve only been here two years. I want to show that I’m still capable of doing this and won’t back down because it gets tiring or boring. It’s what I like to do and I’ll keep doing it.”
Honsa continues, “At times it’s intimidating in an all-male environment working as their equal. I would put her up against any of my technicians on the jobs that she knows.”
When I got into high school, I decided to take small engines classes because I loved boats,” says Schneider. “While girls were taking economics and art, I was taking motor classes. I like engines and cars; not normal things for a girl.”
Check out the video below for more of her story.
