The following summary is of a focus group that I conducted with 3 female engineers.
Q1: Tell us your name, your area of engineering, and type of job.
For my focus group, I included 3 female engineers who are currently working in private engineering firms in the Columbia area. They all have about 10 years experience in engineering. Participant 1 is a geotechnical engineer who works in geotechnical engineering and construction materials testing. Participant 2 is also a geotechnical engineer. Participant 3 works in water resources and environmental engineering. She does consulting and design work.
Q2: What made you want to be an engineer?
Participants 2 and 3 wanted to be architects but there was not a program for architecture at their colleges. Participants 1 and 3 both talked about having fathers who were engineers and how they helped mentor them and encourage them to be engineers. Participant 1 talked about being good in math and science.
Q3: Think back to when you first began your career as an engineer. What were your first impressions?
Participant 2 talked about how she thought she would work in an office and dress up in fancy work clothes doing “cool” projects. She soon realized that she would be outside in the field doing her work and that wearing nice clothes wouldn’t be appropriate. She also said that she has come to enjoy working in the field.
Participant 1 talked about her first job and the lack of training and how she felt very overwhelmed when she had to make recommendations about jobs. In her present work place, she feels better prepared to make those recommendations because of better training and support. She also talked about wearing work boots and jeans to work and how as a child she had envisioned herself to being a businesswoman wearing suits to work. She said that if you did wear nice clothes to work, you’d better be sure that you have a change of clothes in the car because you would be sent out to do outside work. She talked about how she doesn’t like doing proposals and making predictions about how much a job will cost and when it will get done.
Participant 3 also thought she would be in the office when she first started but in reality was out doing surveys when it was hot. Her biggest shock was how much economics had to be taken into consideration and the amount of paperwork and permits that had to be done was overwhelming.
They all felt that what they had learned in college was very different from the realities of being an engineer. College was heavy on design and problem solving while their everyday work is application, project management, reporting, proposals, phone calls, and meetings.
Q4: What aspects of your engineering career have been great thus far?
Participant 3 talked about seeing projects thru over a long period of time and being able to help communities by bringing water and sewer to poor communities.
Participant 1 talked about changing jobs and actually feeling like an engineer. She also talked about the diverse jobs that she was able to do at her new work. One job that she had really helped her grow as an engineer and a person. It was a “horrible experience” but helped her grow in confidence so she didn’t feel like she was being pushed over. Her latest project has helped her have more experience on the reporting side of engineering.
Participant 2 talked about being able to participate in diverse jobs; traveling and seeing how soil works in one area as opposed to another area. She like geography and problem solving how soil works at different areas.
Q5: What has been particularly frustrating for you during your experience?
Participant 3 talked about working with government agencies that have their own time schedules that normally don’t match up with hers. The economics are also frustrating because she has to convince contractors to spend money to do a job right.
Participant 2 talked about starting a job and scheduling drillers and utility locators. If she hasn’t been able to visit the site, sometimes she can’t accurately tell the utility locators what she wants done. Sometimes there’s miscommunication and then there’s a lot of phone calls to clarify what they want done. Working with drillers can be a challenge, especially being a female. She gets a lot of questions like, “Is this what you do all day?” When at meeting with clients, there may be 20 people in the room and she is often overlooked because she is female. She talked about having to learn the balance between being assertive and being aggressive in these types of situations. She talked about having a man mentor her and how this has been difficult because she isn’t a man and she isn’t going to act like a man. So often the advice she gets on how to handle situations aren’t helpful because it doesn’t suit her personality.
Participant 1 identified with Participant 2’s experience on the field. She also discussed the personal questions she receives on the job site and how she had to learn what to say and not say on the job site about herself. She talked about doing proposals for the government and the thousands of pages of job specifications but doesn’t really describe what the project is about. Proposals take a long time and aren’t billable hours. She also discussed not speaking up enough in meetings. How she figures out that the men in the meeting are often just talking and what they are saying doesn’t make sense. The other men in the meeting don’t call them out and she doesn’t want to call them out either. She is looking for the balance between being assertive and aggressive. She also talked about how in her job reviews she has been given marketing strategies that are male-centered (taking business prospects out to lunch) that doesn’t make her feel comfortable.
They all discussed the frustration of the assumption that they aren’t the engineers on the job site.
Q6: In what ways do you think you have changed as a result of being an engineer?
Participant 3: I have a lot of confidence because not a lot of women do it and there’s a lot of respect for the profession. I feel like I’ve gotten calloused and my compassion has been eroded because I’m in the male-dominated field. I’ve picked up those masculine traits.
Participant 1 agreed with Participant 3 about picking up masculine traits. She also feels like she has more confidence doing a job that not everyone does.
Participant 2 talked about being more detailed oriented and giving as much information as possible in her reports. She also talked about being a mentor to younger people to become engineers. She feels like she has more opportunity to encourage young people because she is an engineer.
Q7: How do you think you have an impact on your working environment?
Participant 1 talked about how women engineers changes the dynamic in the male office. She said some men are “better behaved.” She talked about not wanted to be seen as “one of the guys.” She said that she knows when she goes out to lunch with them they are going to talk about sports and not her personal interests.
Participant 2 agreed with Participant 1 that she has seen a lot more consideration because she is a woman in the field and that the men are better behaved.
Participant 3 agreed with Participant 1 and Participant 2 that some men are better behaved because a woman is around in the office.
Q8: If you had a chance to give advice to a girl who wanted to be an engineer, what advice would you give?
Participant 2 talked about learning how to be comfortable around men and learn how to represent yourself in a respectful way so that you don’t get a bad reputation. Girls also need to learn how to speak up and be confidant.
Participant 1 talked about girls job shadowing work situations they are interested in going into.
Participant 3 talked about engineering being a great base for other careers like business, law, or teaching.
Q9: Is there anything you would like to add to the conversation about women’s experience in engineering?
Participant 3 talked about in the private sector, time off is difficult and having a child could derail your career because of the additional time you would have to take off. This might not be an engineering issue but an issue in most private work environments.
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