Diversity bolsters engineering strength
As managing director at a civil, structural and engineering consultancy, I often get asked whether a career in engineering is a good choice, and in particular for women.
As a new cohort of engineering graduates enter the workplace, I thought it would be interesting to conduct a short survey of my female colleagues to get their take on what it’s like to be in engineering.
At Will Rudd, women are excelling at all levels of the business, fulfilling technically challenging roles across a wide (sometimes niche) range of engineering disciplines and sharing their expert knowledge and insight with both colleagues and clients.
Engineering undoubtedly makes for a rich and varied career with so many opportunities to grow and learn within a given role and to advance through the practice. When I asked colleagues to describe a typical day, the response was that no two days were the same. All of the Will Rudd team get involved in varied projects. This, I believe, is key to nurturing talent and honing technical skills.
One of our newest recruits, for instance, graduate engineer Ira Abu Omar gets involved in all types of projects, such as designing structures from steelwork, new builds, roof trusses and underground pipes. Whereas project engineer, Nikki Devon Brannan Johnston could be out one day (or night) hanging over a bridge doing inspections, the next she could be crunching numbers doing hydraulic modelling. Her colleague, senior engineering technician Tracy Milne, could be on site undertaking surveys; or drawing 2D and 3D layouts.
Irem Serefoglu, an experienced project engineer who recently joined our practice has worked in regions where women typically don’t go for technical jobs. I had to smile in agreement when she told me that as a woman in engineering, it’s always fun to surprise people with your knowledge and technical skills, and yes, I agree, that’s definitely a nice part of our job.
I think I speak for all engineers when I say that a highlight of the job is seeing a project you have worked on come to fruition and knowing that it will be seen, used and even admired for years to come. And projects really do come in all shapes and sizes. I myself have worked on Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport — I am still very proud every time I travel through Heathrow to know that I contributed to it. More locally, at Will Rudd, I led the renovation of the Usher Hall.
My colleague Shirley Evatt, senior associate, who has been with the firm since the nineties has taken the lead role in so many ambitious and diverse projects. The more unusual ones that spring to mind include designing bases to support huge model giraffes; and redesigning steel trusses to make sure Concorde’s tail could fit inside an aircraft hangar. Shirley is now working on the multi-million-pound renovation project of the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh.
I know the stereotypes that are often attached to engineers. Everything from being a boffin (some of us are) to being covered in dirt all day, every day in a pair of wellies (some of us are) to being an industry for old white men (some of us are). However, what I want to say about women in engineering is that we love our jobs, we are problem solvers, we are out and about building things, making things happen.
I say to the women and girls out there contemplating a career in engineering: Just go for it! There are not many jobs where you point out structures to other people and say, “I did that!”.
Gillian Ogilvie is managing director, Edinburgh, at civil and structural engineering consultancy Will Rudd Davidson
