Women4Engineering

I was inspired to become an engineer because my grandmother worked in science when she was younger and I always looked up to her. A challenge I face in this field is not being taken seriously by adults or male classmates.

I was inspired to become an engineer because I like science/math more than the arts. A challenge I faced in this field was explaining to my friends why I had more homework than they did.

I was inspired to become an engineer because I fell in love with construction and building big projects! A challenge I faced in this field was school. Your first 3 years after school will be the toughest in your career. You will constantly feel the need to prove yourself, although you will probably outshine your peers!

I was inspired to become an engineer because I was always interested in buildings and architecture. I also loved math! A challenge I face in this field was I often was the minority on my team, in meetings and construction sites and it was intimidating at first.

I was inspired to become an engineer because my sister introduced me to what engineering was. I wanted to work in sciences but not in research or teaching. Engineering embodies applied science and math. I specifically wanted to work in a way that was good for the earth and environment. A challenge I face in this field was smaller representation in class rooms and not as much understanding from other women at school for what I was studying.

I was inspired to become an engineer because my mom was an engineer, so I always knew it was an option. I always liked math and science and when going into college, decided to study environmental science. But when I learned that engineers actually get to design & build the things I was leaning about in environmental science, I decided to make the change to mechanical engineering. A challenge I faced in this field was being one of only a few females in my engineering classes in college, and sometimes people didn't believe me when I said I was studying mechanical engineering. But I ended up liking that I stood out. I liked the boys knowing I was just as smart as they were.

I was inspired to become an engineer because of my dad (mechanical engineer). A challenge I faced in this field was gender stereotypes. One time I overheard my team leader talking to a colleague about his middle school daughter and how she was struggling in her math class, when he basically said that was to be expected as she's a girl. The colleague he was talking to commiserated by talking about his son struggling with his English class, also, to be expected. I wish I had had the guts to speak up. Each parent was doing such a disservice to their child! Clearly the story still sticks with me more than 10 years later. I use it to fuel my inner fire, ha. But, for the most part, I did not feel like I was treated differently by my peers.

I was inspired to become an engineer because of my mom. A challenge I faced in this field is as a woman, I was the minority in classes and job environments. This was hard in field classes where I had travel and sleep with class mates.

I was inspired to become an engineer because of my dad, and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. A challenge I faced in this field was I didn’t have any female engineering role models until I started in my first engineering role…and even then, there weren’t very many. It’s hard to be what you can’t see.