"They treat me like one of the guys, and I like that," a dark-tanned, platinum blond Sandra "Sandy" Rader said as she climbed down from a cement truck.

Ms. Rader is a driver for Castle Builders Supply Inc., 1325 Broadway in Hermitage, a seemingly unlikely position for a woman.

"But she IS one of the guys," said co-worker and supervisor Bill Mann. "If we're working a job and we get wet, she gets wet. We get dirty, she gets dirty," he added.

Mann trained Ms. Rader when she joined the company in April 2001.

"Each of these guys has taught me something, every one of them," she said. "They are good guys, all of them."

Ms. Rader began driving with a chauffeur's license and started trying for her Commercial Driver's License in 1993.

"First, you take a verbal test," she said. "I did fine on all that, but the first time I took a maneuvering test, I couldn't parallel park the 53-foot truck, but soon after that I tried again and passed that and the road test."

"I've always liked driving, and the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it," she said.

Before learning cement-mixer truck driving, Rader also drove truck to and from Buffalo, N.Y.

"Cement-truck driving is a lot harder," Ms. Rader said. "You've got to know about concrete, off-road driving, deal with the people and so much other stuff than regular truck driving," she said.

"She really holds her own, though," Mann said. "Like when you've got to learn to back a truck up on soft ground," he said with a grin. Rader found that lesson a hard one. "She has, a couple of times, found herself in danger of tipping a truck," he said, laughing.

"But, working for the state -- that is difficult -- and she's real good at that," said Mann.

Working for PennDOT requires more from a cement mixer driver than usual jobs, Mann said. Having the concrete at a certain mix, having a specified "slump" or thickness, keeping the rotation of the truck at certain revolutions per minute, and wearing orange are among the stricter guidelines for state projects.

The owner of Castle Builders Jim Carna said Ms. Rader is not the company's first female driver.

Despite that, Ms. Rader said some contractors and workers are still surprised when a woman jumps out of the truck.

"She has to prove herself even more than a man would," Mann said. "If a guy pulls up to a job, no one notices, lets him go about his work. When a woman does, they all make sure she knows what to do, that she IS really qualified to do it."

Women with CDL licenses are a minority in Pennsylvania, according to Communications Relations Coordinator for PennDOT Joan Nissley.

Only 367 women in Mercer County have a CDL, compared to 4,350 men. In Pennsylvania, 30,388 women have CDLs; 348,018 men have them, Ms. Nissley said.

"Sometimes I still get some flack for being a woman in that seat," Ms. Rader said. "I used to pull up to jobs and some men would tip their hats. Some would help put on the chutes (to pour the concrete from the truck) for a while, but pretty soon they learned I could handle it and would just let me do it," she said. "And, I like it that way. When they just let me be one of the guys."

On occasion, Rader has had some friction between sexist contractors or crewmen, but has found that humor usually alleviates that tension.

"Once a contractor told me to 'Pour it on smooth, baby, like pancakes.' I told him, 'I don't cook, I drive truck. I don't know what pancake batter looks like, so I'll pour it out like concrete.' That seemed to change their attitudes," she said.

Ms. Rader praised her co-workers for helping her learn the ropes.

"The guys here are great, and I wouldn't be here without them," she said. "They are what got me this far, and I still am learning from them everyday."

"It is a hard job, and you've got to know a lot. But, I love it," she said.