Celebrating women in engineering at Ensera: A roundtable discussion

What motivated you to become an engineer?

Aleksandra: I was studying engineering management at the University of Science and Technology in Poland, and I remember realizing how powerful it was to take something theoretical and apply it to real life solutions. That was a turning point for me.

Deb: When I was seven, my Dad brought home a single board computer. I think it was an MOS Kim One, a little hex keypad. It had a little hex display and a book that had programs in it. I typed in programs in machine code and I was fascinated. I’ve always wanted to play with computers since then.

Kerry: I thought I might study interior design or architecture and then I went to a university open evening. There was a stand for product design engineering and a lecturer talking about it and the combination of design and mechanical engineering felt like it ticked all of the right boxes for me.

Kessie: At school I liked sciences, but thought I would go into something like architecture because I didn’t know what engineering was. Then one day my Gran showed me like an article she’d cut from a newspaper about getting more women into engineering. And I thought, oh, that’s interesting. What’s engineering? I still went to university thinking mechanical engineering was how to become a mechanic, but quickly learnt that wasn’t the case!

Katie: I very much resonate with thinking mechanical engineering was yellow hard hats and big spanners. And I think similarly I enjoyed tinkering with stuff as a kid and enjoyed sciences. My physics teacher ushered me to look into engineering as I liked things in the real world.

Who or what has helped and supported you throughout your career?

Deb: My first opportunity was a neighbor, I asked if I could do some software for him and worked for him for my senior year in high school. He then wrote me a recommendation letter when I went to University of Colorado Boulder.  When I went in ’87, Steve Wozniak [co-founder of Apple] sponsored a scholarship for four students. He was looking for people who were not the standard student. It was a huge deal at the time and it gave me a big leg up. I really think I was incredibly lucky and it pulled down a bunch of barriers for me that would otherwise have been there.

Katie: It was interesting that you said it was a lot of luck, having just given us quite an extensive history of you being very inspired and self-motivated to gather a lot of experience! I’m sure a lot of us can resonate with that idea of someone probably approaching us or offering us that recommendation and pushing us to go for an opportunity. One of the things about being a woman in this kind of discipline is you go, oh, that’s luck. I wish I could go to a younger person or to a younger me and say: back yourself, go for it, talk about your experience that you’ve gained with confidence and own the opportunities you get from it.

Anna: One of my family members who was successful in engineering inspired me. I thought maybe I could go the same way. He supported me during my studies, and I have good friends who were women and we supported each other during the exams. That support was very important to me.

Tell us a bit about what you enjoy most about your role?

Julianne: I enjoy being the owner of projects, having the big picture, not being the being SME [subject matter expert] in a piece of equipment, but being an SME of the project, the go-to person. Obviously we’re going to come up with challenges in every project, but I feel very supported here in my role with a lot of great mentors that I know I can rely on.

Deb: While my title is director, it’s still very hands-on. I get to do some software, I sit and pair program with someone, I work through an architecture problem with someone. I very much like that my role allows that flexibility and I get to teach people. I love teaching people. It’s one of my favourite things to do. I really like the opportunity to do all those things.

Aleksandra: I’m a project engineer and I think management are doing a really good job, especially when they support our new ideas, our creativity, and really motivate us with our ideas.

Katie: We were interviewing recently, and I got to the point of explaining my experience of being at Ensera Design, and I feel like I can be the most me version of an engineer. It’s really nice to come to work and be me in a professional sense and really get to chase what I’m interested in.

What advice would you give to a young woman considering a career in what is still a male-dominated field like engineering?

Kessie: Yes, engineering is male-dominated, but it doesn’t have to be that way and it won’t necessarily always be that way. So don’t ever let it put you off as a person who is relatively new to the industry. Equally, if you’re in the situation where you’re in that male-dominated field and you’re experiencing bias, or it’s not suited for you as a woman, there are so many teams out there and so many people that do want to support women in engineering. So, find the right group, find the right place, find the right company.

Deb: To follow up on that: try the thing. There are opportunities, and in my experience, the men who are good at what they do will be supportive of you. They’ll think it’s awesome. The men who really know what they’re doing are supportive of people who want to do stuff. If you try to do stuff, you will get support from people. It excites people, particularly in engineering, because there’s math and science grounding. People love it when you’re excited about that stuff. Try the thing. Take some chances.

If you had the chance to go back again, would you change anything?

Anna: No, I wouldn’t. That’s not because it’s always easy , but I never doubt myself for working in engineering, even though sometimes it was hard to convince other people of my point of view. If you like what you are doing, don’t change anything. If you feel that you are in the right place, then then do that.

Deb: I might reassure myself a couple of times where I had particularly bad interactions with people, but that’s not how it usually goes. And there are lots of people who support you. There’s lots of people who actually like what you do. And remember that you’ve got people who want you to succeed and who like working with you. They really do exist. That’s going to be most of the people that you’re going to work with.

Kerry: Yes, I agree, Deb. There’s a few times I can think back that I think I wish I’d stood up for myself a little bit differently and I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t feel confident enough to do it when I was more junior. But I’ve definitely learnt from that. And I think some of the hardest things that I’ve had to tackle have been the things I’ve learnt the most from. Deb, similar to what you’re saying, it felt very difficult, but it’s actually made me a better engineer and much stronger in my role now.

Katie: I’d be better asking for help, and just trusting that I do deserve people’s time and they’re happy to offer it.

What advice would you give to recruiting managers or organisations that are looking to create more diverse and inclusive teams?

Kerry: One thing that we’ve done at Ensera Design is have quite open conversations about who we’re recruiting and why and challenge ourselves when someone doesn’t think that person is right for the role, and this goes across all different aspects of inclusion.  We’re trying to really understand the mix that we need in the team and recognise that having more diversity makes us much better.

Deb:  I look for resumes that are women or people of color. I want to give that resume a second look and make sure that I’m actually considering those because I know there’s this huge bias in terms of what resumes I would get. I want to do at least a little bit to make sure I catch those when they come through. If the interesting people are only 5% of the resumes that you get it’s very easy for them to just go away if you don’t look for them.

Kessie: Keep being out there in the communities that you’re trying to recruit in and be there for the people that you’re trying to recruit on that side of it as well.

Anna: Give women the same opportunities, in training, in getting projects. I don’t feel like there is a need to treat them any special way in normal work. Just, treat them equally like everyone else.

Aleksandra: It’s also key to create a supportive environment. I’m grateful for my managers creating this kind of space where I can share my ideas, my kind of perspectives. and they are really supportive of this. And I feel that my ideas, my thoughts also matter.

Are there parts of your role which you think translate into other parts of your life?

Katie: It’s a skill set where we naturally sit in a space of a lot of problem solving. I think over my professional experience and studies I’ve built up a skill for how to take quite big, unfathomable problems, understand a core principle to them and build back up a solution. If you take that outside of the technical space, it probably fits a lot of my life. It gives me that skill set to break stuff down and make it feel more manageable, because I do, in my way of working and thinking in general. I rely on having a good understanding of anything fundamental.

Julianne: Yeah, we’re all engineers, we’re all working for the same company, but the positions we’re in are vastly different. My specific role here is project engineer, I do a lot of planning, I manage the supply chain, as well as making sure the timeline is going to be met. Obviously, we have our hands in the equipment, but making sure that the whole project aligns is something I take outside. Honestly, I’ve planned some pretty good organized vacations! I’m on top of the budget, I’m on top of the deadline, making sure every day is filled, but not too filled, making sure we have transportation and everything.