One day Brenda Carbonette decided she was sick and tired of waiting for tardy repairmen.

She was 45 years old. A self-confessed girlie-girl who once won a beauty pageant back in her native Canada, and had a passion for diamonds.

“I thought I could learn to fix things myself; it can’t be rocket science,” she said.

The chartered accountant enrolled in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning course at the Bermuda College.

Her dream was to be able to fix things that broke in her own home, or at least have more input into what was done.

“I was looking for a change in my life,” she said. “I was the only female in the class for two-and-a-half years.”

Her first few days didn’t go well. She felt intimidated even though her fellow students and her instructor were all highly supportive.

“A lot of it is based on physics and that was the subject I wasn’t very good at in high school,” she said. “I was also really intimidated by the tools. I had a drill at home that I was scared to use. I was really out of my comfort zone.”

One of the students showed her how to use the drill; others gave her tips on how to get leverage on a sticky bolt without needing a lot of strength.

Mrs Carbonette found she had a knack for theory.

“She challenged me every step of the way,” said her instructor Canny Roberts. “She challenged the book where there were lots of mistakes. Therefore, it made everyone else work harder, which was good.”

Mrs Carbonette graduated top of her class.

“I felt so empowered,” she said.

Mrs Carbonette now tutors twice a week. Mr Roberts is hoping her success might attract more women to the programme. Barbara McQueen was the course’s first instructor in the 1990s. Aside from Mrs Carbonette, only one female has signed up for it since then, although there are a couple in the college’s automotive and electrics course.

Mr Roberts thought some women might be discouraged by the misconception that a lot of heavy lifting is involved. “There isn’t,” he said. “Most things we are repairing now are made of plastic. When I started everything was metal, but now things need a delicate touch. We have equipment to help with any heavy lifting.”

Added Mrs Carbonette: “You don’t need strength to fix a circuit board and often that is what we are dealing with. I am not strong at all.”

She said she has found her niche with tutoring. She also has a talent for diagnosing problems.

“I am a bit of an armchair analyst,” she said. “I can diagnose things from what people tell me.”

She still has to call repairmen sometimes as she doesn’t keep a lot of equipment.

Storing oxygen, for example, is dangerous. However, she can now tell the repairman what is wrong with her refrigerator or air conditioner, and that allows him to bring the right parts to fix the problem in one trip.

“This saves me money,” she said. “I was at lunch and a friend said ‘my refrigerator freezes but is still cooling. I have ice everywhere’,” she said.

“I said, ‘It is your defrost timer’. He said the guy has come and had a look and he can’t figure out what is wrong with it.

“The next time I saw him he said I was right; it was the defrost timer. That felt great.”