The following is the first of a two-part series that focuses on attracting women to careers as diesel technicians. The second part of the series, which looks at the challenges women face when trying to enter the field, will publish next week.
Taylor Johnson’s father worked as a diesel mechanic at a high school when she was a young girl, and she remembers helping him around the shop. It fueled her passion to pursue a career as a diesel technician.
Johnson attended Universal Technical Institute in Arizona and now works as the only woman diesel technician at Werner Enterprises’ Phoenix terminal.
While the male-dominated field is slowly opening its doors to more women, the growth isn’t fast paced despite a technician shortage.
Jim Mathis, president of WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming, said he has seen women – though very few – in the diesel tech space ever since he began his career at the technical college in the 70s, but the number of women entering the field is ticking up.
