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Media release
TAFE NSW Maitland | 7 July 2025
'Follow your passion': Tom urges locals to consider a career in the trades
“School was just the wrong environment for me but as soon as I started going to TAFE NSW, I rediscovered my love for learning.”
Tom Carter
A proud Wiradjuri man who has built a promising career despite leaving school in year 9 has urged other young locals to consider entering the trades. Tom Carter, 27, from Abermain, had a challenging time at school, feeling stilted by the learning environment and the “politics” of the schoolyard. He left school in year 9, bouncing into a series of labouring jobs before deciding to follow his dad’s career route into roof plumbing.
Enter TAFE NSW.
Now a third-year apprentice, Mr Carter has attended TAFE NSW once a week during term for almost three years and said it has helped build his skills – and confidence to learn. His experience prompted him to deliver a powerful message to other young locals: “Just because you don’t succeed at school, doesn’t mean you’ve failed at life.”
It comes as the Hunter region celebrates NAIDOC Week (6 July to 13 July), with this year’s theme celebrating the achievements of the past while looking to an equitable future ahead. “School was just the wrong environment for me but as soon as I started going to TAFE NSW, I rediscovered my love for learning,” Mr Carter said.
“It’s a much more adult environment and the teachers are so invested in you succeeding.” “I’m now in an in-demand career with the potential to earn more money that many people with degrees, and I’m loving it. When you’re learning what you want to learn and succeeding at it, it make you so proud.”
Master Builders, the nation’s peak building and construction industry association, anticipates at least half a million workers must enter the construction industry by 2029 just to keep up with current construction demands. There are currently about 10,500 roof plumbers in Australia
Now working as an apprentice in his dad Chris’s business, Always Metal Roofing, Mr Carter said he would eventually like to run his own roof plumbing business.
For TAFE NSW Maitland roof plumbing teacher Jeremy Loades, Mr Carter’s story is a familiar one. “There’s such a shortage of roof plumbers in the Hunter with all the construction going on and we regularly field calls from companies looking for new apprentices,” Mr Loades said. “If you’ve got the fitness and drive to succeed, you can make a great living in roof plumbing and easily open your own business.
“It’s not about academic skill, it’s about passion and drive, and Tom’s story is another example of that.” He said the Certificate III in Roof Plumbing covered a range of essential skills for the trade, including scaffolding, levelling, and working safely at heights.
Media contact: Dan Johns, TAFE NSW Communications Specialist, 02 7920 5000
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