We drive across bridges everyday, but it isn’t often that we
think about the safety, how they’re constructed, and what goes
into maintaining them. Lindsey, a bridge engineer, and one of
few women in her field, spends her days making sure that we
all stay safe.
produced by SARAH HARTLEY
Unbeknownst to me, there would be a
fair share of climbing ladders and being
forced through holes in steel. I had a
lot of trouble (forcing my body through
the tiniest holes I had ever seen) going
up the tower. So I guess we can add
“confined spaces” to my list of feared
objects. The hardest part of my job
usually comes down to scheduling. We
are federally required to perform our inspections the month that they are due,
and sometimes our time gets eaten up
by other unpredictable challenges. If we
have too many tardies in the system,
the federal government can choose to
withhold funds to us. Our most recent
metric report states that for Fiscal Year
2015, we currently have 100% of our
inspections on time, so we are weathering the storm just fine!
YOU’RE IN A MALE DOMINATED FIELD, WHAT HAS THAT BEEN
LIKE? DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR
OTHER WOMEN LOOKING TO ENTER
YOUR FIELD?
Honestly, it’s just beginning to get easier. My co-op and first year as an engineer was a very valuable experience
for me. I was placed on a construction
site and told to make decisions about
the acceptance of concrete, aggregate,
and asphalt for the project. I heard “Little girl, I’ve been doing this job longer
than you’ve been alive” way more than
I needed to. Somewhere along the way
I developed a backbone and learned to
stand up for myself. You have to. I have
worked for the company that drastically underpaid its female engineers
(and subsequently watched many of
these females leave and become powerhouses in their areas of expertise).
Unfortunately, sometimes you have to
go through it and “do your time” with
the knowledge that eventually it gets
easier. You learn so much every day,
and every scrap you pick up is something you can build on. I’ve worked for
the state now for nearly 3 years, and
find employment here to be wonderful
for a female. You are compensated by
position, not by gender. I do feel that effort gets rewarded, and of the females
I have seen in engineering, we are not
short on effort. I believe it’s a great
experience to provide for learning, so
every year I take a co-op to assist me
with my bridge inspections. This year,
I selected an ambitious female. Her
perception of females in engineering
is that there are many more than there
were when I was in school; it seems
that some of the stereotypes of engineering being a “mans job” are sloughing off, and female enrollment is up. A
challenge I hear often from students
considering engineering is an inability/
lack of desire to perform complex math
and calculus all day. I promise you that
in the almost 10 years I’ve been an engineer I have rarely used these skills.
They are just building blocks to teach
concepts upon. If you are considering
civil engineering and have a hang up
about the coursework, look at the core
classes and see if you have an interest
in working in fields similar to those. If
the answer is yes, do everything you
can to get through the tough classes
with a passing grade. And when your
friends graduate with electrical and
mechanical engineering degrees and
make $30k more than you do, try and
remember that your s