After 10 years in clothing retail, Farah Benmihoub radically changed course to become an electrical fitter with Cegelec. She looks back on a journey of determination, accelerated training and adapting to a male-dominated environment, in which passion and perseverance guided her every step.
After 10 years as a sales assistant in clothes shops, Farah Benmihoub decided one day that it was time for a career change. “I loved working as a sales assistant: the relationship with the customers, the pleasure of seeing them happy with their purchases, and the trust employers placed in us to handle the cash. But in recent years, online competition and the chase after promotions and profits has made the job harder.”
Aged 31, this young native of Montpellier had been based in Brest since completing her commercial high-school diploma, but was now choosing a new path. And why not work with electricity?
“As a child, I always loved tinkering and repairing things with my dad, especially anything electrical,” she reminisces. “A friend who worked at Enedis convinced me to take a course to see the realities of the trade.” The two weeks she spent at the Brest-based company Dourmap making junction boxes for the Rennes metro in “an environment far removed from the stress of retail” persuaded her to take the plunge.
Unwavering determination
With unwavering determination, Farah Benmihoub taught herself via the internet and scored 18 out of 20 in her electrician’s accreditation. After two months working in the sector as a temp, she joined GRETA-CFA Est-Bretagne in Redon for nine months of training, and obtained her professional competence certification in June 2021. Her work placements were at Cegelec Quimper, which in August offered her a permanent job as an electrical fitter.
“Flipping the switch in a building and seeing the lights come on is very satisfying, because I know it’s the end result of my efforts.”
She pulled cables, performed troubleshooting, and wired up equipment. “I learned a lot in a pleasant environment and had two years with the same team leader, who took the time to train me up,” explains Farah Benmihoub. She then worked mostly in the medical sector (medical centres, the Cornouaille Quimper Concarneau Hospital Centre, care homes, etc.). “I really enjoyed a project installing electric roller blinds in a care home, where I was able to work independently and complete the project myself, and I got on well with the residents and carers.”
A taste for autonomy
At the end of those two years, Farah Benmihoub wanted to broaden her horizons and move to a larger city. So, in late 2023, she transferred to Cegelec Nantes, where she works to this day, mainly on office projects.
She is currently involved in a major building transformation for a mutual insurance company, which offers her the autonomy she enjoys so much. “I’m working on fire protection, power supply, low-voltage and access-control systems. The work requires communication with all the different trades, especially the plasterers and plumbers, who we electricians are quite dependent on. You need a lot of patience. My experience as a sales assistant taught me to be sociable and express myself clearly, which really helps.”
What inspires her about her job is “Creating something that will last and be useful. Flipping the switch in a building and seeing the lights come on is very satisfying, because I know it’s the end result of my efforts.”
She also enjoys having to adapt to each project’s unforeseen challenges and finding solutions that did not feature on the original plans.
Finding her place in a man’s world
“I also enjoy learning from others and meeting people from different backgrounds. I sometimes encounter other women, but it’s still rare in electrical engineering (women make up just 1% of the workforce). You more often find female painters. I’ve also seen women laying floors and working as carpenters.”
In this extremely male-dominated environment, Farah Benmihoub acknowledges that her relationship with the men is not always simple. “But I do find that Cegelec deals with the issue well. We have a gender-bias advisor, and the site managers receive training on the subject.”
Looking to the future, Farah Benmihoub could see herself as a team leader in three or four years. This warrior, who eats up the kilometres every week with her fellow running-club members, would not say no to a role with more responsibility. The only thing that might give her pause is apprehension about how best to manage what are essentially still all-male teams. But she hopes the training and support from VINCI Energies will make the task easier as and when the opportunity presents itself.
05/20/2026
Photo: ©Atypix David Priou
