The Aotea Electric apprentice, who works with the University of Otago property services team, beat four other apprentices to win the switchboard module for wiring of a commercial switchboard at the competition in Taupo last month.
The win was "awesome", she said.
"I work really really hard, putting in more effort than others, to prove myself."
Miss Pye began her apprenticeship three years ago after finishing at Queen’s High School.
"I always liked doing practical stuff.‘‘I went around to pretty much every electrician with a CV and asked for a day’s work experience."
Three years on she was "shocked" and "thrilled" to have her skills tested at a national level.
Only about 3% of the industry were women, but two of the five finalists in the competition were females, she said.
"It’s quite cool if we are 3% of the industry and we ended up two out of the five competitors."
The master electrician competition included two-hour tests on home automation electrics, room lighting and underground, solar and extreme temperature cabling.
During a distribution boards testing module "hundreds" of master electricians who were at the venue for a conference watched Miss Pye.
"Suddenly they were there milling around watching me."
The sudden audience added some pressure, but it provided an opportunity to prove her skill to even more people.
"As a woman you do notice at first that sometimes you’ll be given the easy jobs, but once you show you can do it, that changes."
She would complete her apprenticeship in March, and other than maintaining her record of never being electrocuted, she had no concrete plans.
"I’ll try to convince the other apprentices to enter."
As well as mastering the trade she had also mastered the knack of working in a male-dominated space.
"I tell people, ‘You are allowed to swear around me’ — I work with tradies; I’m very used to it," she said with a laugh.
