The internet has really democratised access to skills and expertise. I'm a male, late 20's, structural engineer. I do agree that I don't see blatant discrimination. I'm a female mechanical engineer, early 30s. Basically relating stories about wives and girlfriends and going, "Ha! One day he actually had a female engineer interview for a position that had been open for a long time. My experience has been that gender isn't so important as softness. A Day in the Life of a Female Electronics Engineer Unknown 23:01. I try to insert as much humour as possible when I utter these words. Half way through the tour, we're standing there talking and she asks me if anyone else had applied, and stated that we should hire her because she's "probably cuter than the other applicants." I have a team member who is a woman who is tough as nails and is very good at what she does. and how they started their careers. Since hitting the senior ranks things have become FAR more difficult. Day in the Life of an Architectural Engineer There is a huge misconception that architects and architectural engineers do the same thing. May be different for mechanical engineers, but I think the "female engineer" stigma is largely gone.. My experience has been similar to yours in that I've worked at companies where I was told by a manager that he didn't think he could be the first person to hire a woman into our engineering department. Engineers; I'm an Engineer; Stories & Interviews; Day in the Life; Historical Engineers; Ask An Engineer; Why Be An Engineer; Day in the Life Day in the Life of Andrea DuMont "I wake up with second-day hair, sleep-reading my emails and the Google news bulletin. In the shop, there are comments about my gender and how I'm "clearly not a gold digger" (that was a new one) but I honestly think they haven't met a woman interested in engineering so while their comments are off-color, they mean well. A day in the life of a Senior Systems Engineer If I had known about engineering opportunities as a child I would have been really keen to try it … Technology is known to be a boy’s toy. A Day in the Life of an Electrical Engineer Meet Fiona Redmond, an Electrical Engineer with Hughes Network Systems. Engineers; Day in the Life; Explore. Its just up to you to be aggressive about it and not afraid. SWE's Ongoing Work for Intentional Inclusion >. A Day In The Life Of Female Engineer Apprentice Beki Davies. I am a female and I am currently pursuing a Master's in ME. I believe lots of female engineers give up in mid to late career simply because the effort required to put up with the bullshit is exponential, and just not worth it. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Read the sidebar BEFORE posting. EE here and women are considered the same as men in my workplace. I've also been at companies that have many female engineers and managers outside of engineering. To add to this, there are definitely still industries where female engineers are virtually nonexistent. Meet SWENext K-8 Newsletter Reporter, Allison! Become part of SWE and #BeThatEngineer! I would like to know what it is like in the daily life of a female engineer. Also, our team is responsible for a couple of real-time applications and services that p… The first 10 years of my career was by far the most enjoyable. A Day in the Life of a Petroleum Engineer Meet Lindsey Williams, a Petroleum Engineer with Chevron. I ended the tour and told my boss not to hire her. Find stories about SWE members, engineering, technology, and other STEM related topics. Some people will be expecting a female to be indirect and avoid confrontation. Be respectful of your technicians. Contact. I am attempting to get out of my current environment because of the flowers, rainbows, and dancing around issues. And if you work directly with construction crews females may need to assert themselves more than males to "earn" the crew's respect and stop them from talking shit. Thankfully, after seeing my skills the fact that I was a woman was no longer relevant. Lots of learning, feeling like I was contributing to the overall goals of the team, and sense of advancement. A Day in the Life of a Robotics Engineer Meet Gail Dyer, a Senior Controls Engineer for Corning, Inc. to learn about her work with industrial robots and how you can #BeThatEngineer! You will get cut out of the loop on things regardless of gender. From design companies, to finance, to manufacturing, software engineers are needed across the board, and that’s exactly what makes this career path so hot. is an experience designed to encourage middle school and high school girls to choose a career in engineering. Invent it. A study last year suggested that the number of women in UK engineering jobs stood at just 6 per cent. I am also an Australian, so a different culture. Share Options. I never saw any gender bias in the vast majority of younger American/western people I work with, but your experience may vary. I would like to see what the ladies on this subreddit have to say. My other bosses had no bias and hired whoever was best and treated everyone equal (as far as I could tell). It is much appreciated! When the opportunity came about to participate in the STEM Aspire Diversity and Inclusion program, I was very excited. Engineers; Day in the Life; Day in the Life of Andrea DuMont; Explore. These posts describe what life is like for all kinds of women in engineering and technology including students, professionals, and academics. Lauren Boyle talks about … Copyright © 2020 Society of Women Engineers. A day in my life consists of emails and conference calls to team members on various projects to check off goals or create new ones. If I had to make a blanket statement, I would say the "Good Ole Boys" club still exists, but it's more prevalent with older men and is not limited to any particular industry or workplace. I'm a male, also late 20s, structural engineer. To date, I haven't worked with a female engineer I didn't like working with. Your experience will vary greatly depending on the company and people. Sexism in the field is still prevalent, I agree. My Bachelor's is in Ag Communications and I am now working in computer forensics. Don't tell them to respect you, give them a reason to. **Nicole Waterman discusses life as an engineer in construction and how Laing O'Rourke's parental leave policy is changing the game. I would agree with what most people have said here so far. If you come across as a bitch, at least you're direct and people know what to do. As an electrical engineer – and a female one at that – I’ve got used to being outnumbered. January 15, 2019 Unknown. We are responsible for feature engineering and data-mining of the data in the logs, in addition to operational responsibilities to ensure that the job finishes on time. A day in the life of a female fibre broadband engineer - from childcare to engineering . I've worked with some younger engineers with sexist attitudes, but they were foreigners from cultures with heavy gender biases. The life of a female engineer, is based on my actual experiences at University and in industry and the everyday challenges women face in engineering. Have a quick read about me and my aspirations for this blog. April 2, 2020 On the way back to the office she would say it wasn't a big deal, but I could tell it bothered her. A lot of weird jokes that amount to "Women, eh?" I'm a female chemical engineer, early 40's, and have reached the most senior technical level available in my company/field. Mechanical engineering day in the life This is a day in the life of a mechanical engineering student at ETH Zurich. That's exactly how women are!". EXPO. Read more About. Gender won't matter. Softness and indecisiveness is what will keep you from earning respect. But try not to be a bitch. For example, a high ranking female recently went on maternity leave for two weeks, which is short. I find it unnecessary, but I keep in mind that they're from a different generation and "have an obligation to remain chivalrous" (as my one manager once told me).I've also noticed that it's the older female engineers that are always organizing lunches, coffee breaks, and other events to talk about women in engineering issues. Male structural engineer here with similar experiences. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Join this virtual event to hear from female engineers at IMC about their experiences in a real-world tech job. Podcast: Dr. Kerri Phillips Encourages Girls to “Stay in the Game”, How Summer Internship Programs Are Adapting During a Global Pandemic: Discover, Podcast: The Business Case for Happy Remote Working Employees- Alessandra Costa, Turning Preschool Into a Pipeline for Female Engineers, Virginia Tech Student Makes Her Dreams Come True With SWE, A Day in the Life of Industrial Engineer Becca Lasky. He once told me he would never hire a female engineer. Joining is free. In both of these fields gender discrimination is ALMOST non-existent. However, an equally ranking man took paternity leave for about 5 days and no one batted an eyelash. Students participate in a hands-on engineering activity with members of the Society of Women Engineers. The first 15 years of my career were great. When you get to the threshold of management or higher, it all changes to the bureaucratic bullshit that none of us had a desire to do when aspiring to become engineers. SWENexters: Find Your Engineering SWEet Spot at WE19! SWENext is a way to become part of the Society of Women Engineers as a student through the age of 18. Being excluded sucked the most, even more than the time one of my (older) coworkers started playing with my hair. Our VP of eng is also a woman. My roomate's GF also works here and is an engineer, and she told me that she gets leered at sometimes, but it's usually the old creepy dudes who are near retirement. Cookies help us deliver our Services. It’s up-to-date information and news about the Society and how our members are making a difference everyday. My team is responsible for outputting a daily log of valid traffic identifiers for other teams to consume in order to produce their own metrics. Engineers; I'm an Engineer; Stories & Interviews; Day in the Life . I had a female intern working with me two summers ago, she was going into her senior year of undergrad in civil engineering. The login page will open in a new tab. Thank you for your 2 cents. Its more of a subconscious thing where both men and women may not realize the ways they are being biased. A few times the clients we were meeting asked why I needed to bring an assistant with me. I've worked with some sexist men. I'm still new so most of my time is spent in the machine shop learning the product, but so far my coworkers are much more inclusive. Build it.. SWE Blog provides up-to-date information and news about the Society and how our members are making a difference every day. I did deal with the stares and a fair share of talking shit. A day in the life of the talented women at AECOM. Build it. We all sort of rolled our eyes and ignored him. All attendees learn about engineering clubs, camps, after-school programs and competitions at the Invent it. My Bachelor's is in Ag Communications and I am now working in computer forensics. Keep Dale Carnegie in mind when you interact with people. With more of us hanging in there hopefully things will change. Sexism is still relatively prevalent in the field though. Software engineering is one of the most sought-after jobs in India. I am considered a bitch because I am direct. My female coworkers have been stared/leered at a few times while on inspections and field trips (even though they're wearing fire resistant coveralls that are not flattering at all). Shes a good engineer, the fact that shes a woman doesn't matter. Build it. 12 November 2018. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the engineering community. Share This: Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Share on Facebook; Copy Link ; Tuesday, November 10, 2020 6pm - 7pm. Share this: Twitter; Facebook; About. I've worked with some younger engineers with sexist attitudes, but they were foreigners from cultures with heavy gender biases. Find out how she got there, a project she’s working on, and how you can #BeThatEngineer on SWE’s All Together Blog. I am excited to move into a straight-forward field and leave the smileys behind me. At my new job, I'm the only female engineer and the average age of my coworkers is much younger than the defense company I previously described. I can't make people be buddy-buddy with me, no matter how friendly I am. IMC Trading is actively recruiting at WashU! In my experience, they've tended to be more pleasant and open-minded than the male engineers. Wow, people like her make the rest of us look bad :/. MIX SHARE SHARE TWEET PIN. One of my bosses is Middle Eastern. Any student 13 or older can become a SWENexter. for a couple years. Some simply won't, and unless it's really what someone want to do, knocking down those walls seems like a shitty way to spend a career. Find out how she got there, the types of projects she’s working on, and how you can #BeThatEngineer on SWE’s All Together Blog. On to Women in Engineering Day (23rd June), we spoke to Charlotte Wright, 35, project manager for Highways England – the government company tasked with operating, maintain and improving the country’s motorways and main trunk roads talks us through a typical day in her life. A day in the life of a software engineer is ever-changing. If you do more to help them than hinder them, they will respect you. That doesn't work. Thanks to the open source ecosystem, and popular sites that enable open collaboration, such as GitHu… I've seen young female engineers get away with murder threats, stealing, and screaming curses around the office. I believe lots of female engineers give up in mid to late career simply because the effort required to put up with the bullshit is exponential, and just not worth it. In the end, I think /u/mechtonia has it right. One thing I have noticed in my personal experience is that the younger engineers and coworkers (20's through early 40's) don't care at all about gender or give any special treatment. This means we ingest several logs in a MapReduce job, and produce new logs to load into Redshift. Most are not outright sexist in front of women. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. r/engineering is **NOT** for students to ask for guidance on selecting their major, or for homework / project help. Most places will respect the work you do, regardless of gender. Sophie is a part of This is Engineering Day, a day created by the Royal Academy of Engineering to celebrate the world-shaping engineering that exists all … This is especially apparent in meetings with higher ups. Find out what it's like to #BeThatEngineer. She did the plans and he was arguing it could not be done, blah blah blah, and she told him exactly how to do it and that she had detailed it exactly this way on the drawings. This could mean managing a couple engineers for a few months or tens of engineers, finance managers, other program managers, etc. First, responsibilities. I know how to approach that situation so it doesn't happen again. All Together, the blog of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), has been doing a series of blog posts called “Day in the Life of an Engineer.”  These posts describe what life is like for all kinds of women in engineering and technology including students, professionals, and academics. This was in the telecom industry. June 11… Learn more about her work in the aerospace industry and how you can #BeThatEngineer! Chris: Like lots of office jobs, the role has generally become less corporate. r/engineering is a forum for engineering professionals to share information, knowledge, experience related to the principles & practices of the numerous engineering disciplines. Women in Engineering: A day in the life of a Highways England female engineer. I used to work at a defense company as a mechanical design engineer and the few times I had to deal with issues it was with the older men close to retirement. I have never seen any work done by a female engineer be treated differently, among older or younger engineers. Earlier this year, The Terracon Foundation announced a $25,000 national partner grant to The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) to help support its SWENEXT program to engage the next generation of female engineers. A combination of helping out women engineers and trying to be progressive. Personally, passion is trying to get more women to study STEM subjects and into these jobs. If you are confident in your work and in yourself then people will trust you. I think some of the older folks are still a little uncomfortable with the idea but any well adjusted person doesn't have a problem with her. The first female Electrical Engineer Would you believe that the first female Electrical Engineer was born 135 years ago in 1883? Listen to their ideas, and work with them. Where Women Work takes a peek into what life is like for a talented and ambitious woman at AECOM, and how women are building sustainable … IMC Trading "Day-in-the-Life of a Female Engineer" Panel. There is a female engineer on my team. The biggest annoyance was not the comments about me being female or my appearance, but the Good Ol' Boys Club environment and the guys typically stopped talking when any of the female engineers walked by. While there are definite trends across the profession, the truth is that software engineers can work just about anywhere. For those younger than 13, a parent will need to be the primary contact. I work in defense, our CEO is a woman (not really hard to figure out here), but I haven't noticed anything (I am a man). In this industry, its this kind of subtle bias you will encounter. Those points I have nothing against but I've seen managers get very excited when there is a female applicant for a job. Recently, four women engineers working at Terracon participated in the SWE A Day In The Life of an Engineer Video Series to encourage future female students to consider engineering … and how they started their careers. Engineers tend to talk down to machinists/technicians, and use this attitude of "I'm the engineer, my design is perfect, you're the machinist, do what I say." One of my old bosses straight-up told me he didn't think women could handle engineering. In my field, if you avoid confrontation and generally pussy-foot around issues, you won't get any respect and will quickly get pigeonholed as someone that is ineffective.