International Women in Engineering: The series
Interview with Jenny Lohr
This year, Norwest wanted to take a different approach to celebrate women in engineering by celebrating them all week (not just the 23rd of June). We also wanted to celebrate women within the field of engineering who do all magnitudes of work. So without further ado, here is the “International Women in Engineering” series.
The stories and interviews told throughout this series are meant to inspire the next generation of young girls who want to become engineers. Engineering is a very gratifying and profitable career path for women with many unique opportunities, as described in the following interviews.
We start the series with Jenny Lohr.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to discuss misconceptions of engineering, what you do as an engineer, and delving into the nit and grit of what it takes to become an engineer.
Q: What sparked your interest in engineering? Can you describe the moment you realized this was a field you’d like to pursue?
A: The combination of the challenge and the practical application. It was not an individual moment that led to me pursuing engineering, more process of elimination, and a couple of introductory engineering classes that helped determine it was a career that would keep me challenged and interested.
Q: Engineering is known as a particularly intense major. What was the most challenging part of your college experience? Did you ever experience any uncertainty that this was the path for you?
A: The most challenging part of the college experience was balancing the course load and making time for other life developments. Once I decided to pursue chemical engineering, I had moments where I had some uncertainty on what I wanted to do with it, but I did not question pursuing engineering while in school. After working in engineering for eight years, I got a bit burned out and took some time away to start a martial arts school. In the end, I returned to engineering for the mental and technical challenges.
Q: Tell us about your first job. What did you learn there that you could not have learned in the classroom?
A: My first engineering job was with a solar power company using concentrated solar rays to heat different fluids to generate steam/power. After that, I worked in the R&D / modeling department. In that position, I learned a lot about how external factors like funding, internal politics, and communication methods can impact the development of a project. I also learned the importance of knowing your audience and documenting every step of the project.
Q: Describe your job at Norwest Engineering. What does a mechanical engineer at Norwest Engineering do? What does your average day look like?
A: As a mechanical engineer at Norwest Engineering, I help size and select mechanical equipment and check designs against code requirements. I also work with designers to lay out piping to connect the equipment and evaluate how everything fits together. On a typical day, I run sizing or code calculations, review equipment datasheets, and discuss the equipment with vendors and clients. I also review drawings to check against the project and code requirements and work with vendors to provide clients with quotes and cost estimates.
Q: You work on very large-scale projects with long time horizons. What are your go-to time management strategies? Any apps you’d recommend for us?
A: My primary time management strategy is to lay out all of my required tasks and due dates in one place. A big part of this is making sure I do not add anything to the list without knowing when I need to complete it. This also lets me determine quickly when I have conflicts and work to get the due dates shifted if required. I also add any personal tasks/goals to the list and make sure I keep enough time available for those. I’ve tried multiple apps, but I have the most consistent success with a sheet of paper updated at the start of each day.
Q: Many people imagine engineers sitting in their offices and making calculations all day. What are the biggest misconceptions people have about your job?
A: Most of the time is not spent on calculations but talking to people: vendors, clients, end-users, designers, and other engineers. So only about 25% of my time is calculations. The rest is making sure everyone else involved in the project understands the implication of the calculation results.
Q: What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts? Any advantages?
A: In general, I do not notice much of a difference based on gender when working with coworkers. Being a woman means I have to work harder to prove my technical knowledge, particularly with clients. This means that I try to make sure I can provide reasoning for any recommendation to help focus any questions. The main advantage can also be a disadvantage in that, at times, the clients can be more vocal about their technical requirements, which can help complete the project quicker.
Q: What advice do you have for women interested in engineering? What kind of practical experience should they have? What technical skills should they pick up?
A: My main advice for women interested in engineering is to develop their voice and ability to advocate for themselves and push their ideas. Being solid in technical skills is essential, but only if you can communicate your conclusions and get everyone to listen to you. This should include not just engineers but people with a wide range of backgrounds. I would also recommend some experience working with the operators or end-users for any engineer to help appreciate not just the technical and efficiency aspects of a design are essential.
"My main advice for women interested in engineering is to develop their voice and ability to advocate for themselves and push their ideas."
Q: How did you find yourself at Norwest Engineering?
A: When I was ready to return to engineering, I knew I wanted to work for a design and consulting company. I was familiar with Norwest Engineering from my previous engineering job, and I knew they did good work and what I knew of the company culture was positive. So when I saw they had an opening, I put in my application.
Q: How is Norwest different than your previous employer?
A: My previous engineering position was as an onsite process engineering for a fertilizer plant, so it has been a significant shift from a day-to-day manufacturing position to longer-term projects in a consulting role. The big difference is the wide range of different clients, each with their priorities and preferences.
Q: Finally, what do you wake up looking forward to when it comes to your work? What is next for your career?
A: I wake up looking forward to learning something new or seeing a different way of tackling the same problem. Career-wise, I am improving my technical skills and plan to pursue my professional engineering license in the next few years.
Thank you so much, Jenny, for taking the time to talk with me and to describe your experiences as a female engineer. Jenny’s positive attitude and enthusiasm is contagious, and she had such wonderful advice for future engineers. If there are any questions, please comment below! Also, make sure to come back tomorrow to find out who is next in our ongoing series for “International Women in Engineering”.
Interview with Ruba Abu-Shamat
Yesterday we had the pleasure to talk with Jenny Lohr, our first woman in the engineering series. Today we are talking with Ruba Abu-Shamat, a civil engineer at Norwest Engineering. As discussed yesterday, we wanted to take a unique approach in celebrating female engineers and all women working technical jobs within engineering. So without ado, let’s meet Ruba.
Q: What sparked your interest in engineering? Can you describe the moment you realized this was a field you would like to pursue?
A: My father and brother are engineers. I was also a Math and Physics genius. I was watching a documentary about airplane ergonomics. I put Industrial Engineering in my mind, but that changed 2nd year of university when a professor convinced me I would do very well in Civil Engineering, so I switched my major.
Q: Engineering is known as a particularly intense major. What was the most challenging part of your college experience? Did you ever experience any uncertainty that this was the path for you?
A: Engineering was never an uncertainty at any point. I was sure I was in the right place, so I would not call my experience in university to be a challenge, just like any student trying to grasp the concepts of engineering and get good grades.
Q: Tell us about your first job. What did you learn there that you could not have learned in the classroom?
A: My first paid job was in Dubai, right next to Burj Khalifa, which was quite the distraction. It was a different world for sure; you learn company structure and dynamics. You learn the business side of engineering, not just applying your technical expertise.
Q: Describe your job at Norwest. What did your average day look like?
A: I will describe my job when I was last in an office with my previous employer. COVID times are not the traditional days for engineers. A Civil Engineer would get a coffee and have some small morning talk with other fellow employees. After that, the day would be a mix of meetings, replying to emails, doing actual engineering, and one on one discussions at a peer’s desk.
Q: You work on very large-scale projects with long time horizons. What are your go-to time management strategies? Any apps you would recommend for us?
A: To-do lists and brainstorming thoughts on paper daily is how I did it. I would use my Outlook Calendar and computer sticky notes to keep track of thoughts or activities/actions to be done.
Q: Many people imagine engineers sitting in their offices and making calculations all day. What are the biggest misconceptions people have about your job?
A: It depends where you are in your career; as you climb the ladder, you get more involved in the business side of engineering and personnel side if you manage people. An Engineer now has many tools to minimize the time spent on actual engineering/calculations.
Q: What is it like to be a woman in engineering? Do you feel that your gender gives you a different perspective and experience from your male counterparts? Any advantages?
A: I do not believe there is a difference in technical engineering experience between a male or female. Human beings have different traits that apply to both genders; your experience would be dependent on your traits as a human being, not gender. Being a woman in an industry that is male dominant is at times intimidating. You need to have the confidence that males have. You need not be apologetic, and you got to walk the walk and talk the talk. Once you do that, you are invincible since you got the advantage of being a female too.
"You need not be apologetic, and you got to walk the walk and talk the talk. Once you do that, you are invincible since you got the advantage of being a female too."
Q: What advice do you have for women interested in engineering? What kinds of practical experience should they have? What technical skills should they pick up?
A: with what your heart and gut say, start your story and always be true to yourself. Experience will come by time; grasp every learning opportunity and use it to your advantage. Learn to be an engineer and designer, gain both technical experiences.
Q: How have you built personal and professional networks when you are just starting out?
A: Be true to yourself and make other people’s life easier so that it reciprocates. Ask how someone is doing, listen and remember the details. This is advice I always liked, dress for the position you want in 5 or 10 years from now. Appearance and selfcare comes handy when you want to create professional relationships.
Q: How did you find yourself at Norwest Engineering?
A: I was contacted by a recruiting company about a remote position for a Civil EIT. I went through the interview process and landed the job.
Q: How is Norwest different thank your previous employer(s)?
A: At Norwest you are not just a number. You are important and they invest time and money in you.
Q: Finally, what do you wake up looking forward to? What is next for your career?
A: I look forward to the next challenging project to conquer and add to my resume. The next step is becoming a PE and leading projects.
If you have any questions for Ruba, please feel free to comment down below, and once again we want to say thank you to Ruba for taking the time to talk to us about the world of engineering.
Interview with Rhythm Ghiya
Today, the 23rd of June, is International Women in Engineering Day. If you have been following along, you know that we have decided to celebrate women in engineering all week long, not just today. We believe it’s important to celebrate women in engineering, as the landscape has been changing over the years; by celebrating this day, we are providing a significant opportunity to raise the profile of women engineers and highlight the fantastic career opportunities that are available for future generations.
Today we are meeting Rhythm Ghiya, a mechanical engineer at Norwest, and her story is slightly different than the other two engineers we have talked with earlier this week.
Q: What sparked your interest in engineering? Can you describe the moment you realized this was a field you would like to pursue?
A: I don’t have an extraordinary story for choosing engineering; however, I want to normalize being confused or hijacking your "life" plan. I knew that I didn’t like biology or blood, or really learning about bodily functions. My ideal choice was research in pure physics, but I also wanted money. I arrived at space engineering as my preferred major, but life happened, and I ended up in mechanical engineering. I still hoped that mechanical engineering would lead me somehow to physics or NASA. However, once I started my first job in consulting engineering, the excitement of solving real-life problems was exciting. This made me realize that consulting engineering was it for me.
Q: Engineering is known as a particularly intense major. What was the most challenging part of your college experience? Did you ever experience any uncertainty that this was the path for you?
A: I was not particularly fond of drafting/CAD subjects requiring me to draw things by hand or digitally. These were the only subjects where I struggled, they were hard for me to master. Still, I pushed through that struggle and it was the best decision I ever made.
Q: Tell us about your first job. What did you learn there that you could not have learned in the classroom?
A: Unfortunately, my boss at my first real job was a misogynist. It taught me that I might have to prove myself from the scratch and every single day as a woman. Engineering-wise, it gave me a genuine appreciation for those boring, complex subjects when I saw them used in real-life applications. I don’t think that hours-long explanation of how they are used in real life would have convinced me. (To use an elementary example, having a disclaimer that air resistance is ignored in velocity calculation or use an arbitrary constant seems absurd in the context of the theory. Actual use of those calculations for calculating rocket speed or airplane provided a better understanding of the overall theory.)
Q: Describe your job Norwest. What does a mechanical engineer at Norwest do?
A: As a mechanical engineer, my primary responsibilities are reviewing drawings created by designers, do hydraulics or stress analysis-related calculations, develop project schedules, attend meetings for coordination between design and engineering or between different engineering disciplines, etc.
Q: You work on very large-scale projects with long time horizons. What are your go-to time management strategies? Any apps you would recommend for us?
A: I am still learning! It helps to have enough understanding of a task to estimate completion time either by you or others. If you are responsible for more significant tasks, break them down into smaller ones with estimates for completion for each subtask. I like any to-do type app that could track between my calendars, email, and task lists. One example is MS outlook connected to OneNote.
Q: Many people imagine engineers sitting in their offices and making calculations all day. What are the biggest misconceptions people have about your job?
A: The biggest misconception is that you need to do complicated math every single day. In this age, any mathematics more complex than arithmetic or algebra is automated.
Thank you again, Rhythm, for taking the time to talk to us and better explain your experiences in the workforce. Luckily for Rhythm, she no longer works for the company she spoke of during our interview. When asked what made Norwest stand out, she said it was the people she gets to work with and the diversity of projects that she gets to work on at Norwest Engineering. If you have any questions for Rhythm, please comment below.
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