Life of a Fi-male Engineer

Last night I watched one of the most inspiring films I’ve ever seen – Hidden Figures. It revolves around the lives of 3 African-American women who are unbelievably clever and work at NASA. I really felt like I could relate to the 3 women: Katherine Johnson, a mathematician, Mary Jackson, an engineer, and Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician and leading programmer for the IBM. As an engineer in the 21^st century, the stereotyping I experience is nothing compared to these women and learning about their triumphs and success despite everything they faced was incredible. It made me want to be a better engineer for them.

Someone asked me the other day why I am bothering trying to change industry and apply for programming jobs, having spent 5 years studying for a degree in mechanical engineering. For me it was simple, I love it and I didn’t understand why someone would question the path I wanted to take. Now, as I sift through the virtual pile of rejection emails from job applications, I wonder whether I am crazy wanting to advance towards a career in programming and modelling.

But no. I love it. And I don’t see why I should have to settle for a career in something that I don’t love. I may not be the most experienced or knowledgeable, but I try to show companies that I will be the hardest working and dedicated employee. The film inspired me not to give up on something I enjoy just because people are trying to put me in the “box” of a mechanical engineer. My dissertation supervisor told me that to advance in engineering we need to climb out of the box we are put in and talk to others, learn new things and become multi-disciplinary people. I agree.

So now I am going in to this new week with a renewed sense of purpose and desire to achieve, all thanks to watching this film. This was one of my favourite quotes from the film from Katherine chatting with her husband-to-be and I think it’s just brilliant:

“You’re a computer at NASA. They let women handle that sort of…?” “Yes, they let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson, and it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses.”

Boom.

I really just fell into engineering when I was deciding what I wanted to study at university. It wasn’t an epiphany or something that I’d always wanted to do but it felt exciting and something a bit different for a girl to do. I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy and I loved to build lego houses as a kid which I honestly thought engineering was until I was 10 but I couldn’t have been more wrong!

What started out as something to put off being an adult, has developed over the last 4/5 years into a true passion. I really love engineering and the fact that no matter what you look at or do, an engineer has probably been involved. I feel like we have the power to change people’s lives for the better which is so exciting. I think my degree is so cool: the course is fun, I’ve participated in some really cool projects and been lucky enough to do 2 totally different and equally interesting summer internships. The possibilities as an engineer are endless and I’ve even spent a semester studying in Malaysia – which if I’d said that to my 15-year old introverted self, I’d have said I was insane.

Now that I’m halfway through my final year, I’m starting to decide what to do next and I’m thinking I really want to help people and do something positive with my time at uni. I have to be honest, going into an industry to make “big bucks” but hate my job is not top of my priority list… I want to have a purpose, so I’ll probably ramble on about that! I also want to tell you more about what it’s like being a woman in let’s face it, what is a very male-dominated industry. It brings a weird kind of pressure that you have to think in a particular way or that you have to somehow prove yourself – not ideal for someone with anxiety, and it’s something I really want to change. So, here’s to the next few months and trying to get this degree!!