Women's Room - come talk

[RIP - VTEnviro]

But, any girl who is considering engineering as a career needs to be exposed to the real world, which is mostly men.

That was the situation my wife found herself in when starting grad school, and now in her post doc. She is an excellent up and coming researcher (her boss' words, not mine) but still can't shake the feeling of being the token white girl.

It helps that she is a tom boy, and 'one of the guys'. But its still weird for her sometimes.

 

[maryannette]

I'm trying to remember if I ever felt like I didn't belong and I think the only time was in college classes. I have 4 brothers and I think that helped a lot. A lot of times I fit in better with guys. I think it is a very complex thing to develop a level of comfort where you work. It's not just a male-female thing. Age and personality play a big part, too. I think the way you treat people is important. And you have to be genuine. You can't be somebody you're not.

 

[TXengrChickPE]

Wow, I just read this whole thread... I've only been gone about a month, but I missed a lot!

Mary, you have some awesome stories!

As for how I got into engineering, I was good at Math and Science in high school so the guidance counselor said I should go into Engineering. I had no clue what engineers did... but at 17, that's what I decided I was going to be "when I grew up". I was another female who didn't know until I got to college that girls weren't supposed to be good at Math and Science... as a female in engineering, it was recommended that I take a course about Women in science and engineering as one of my required humanities classes. I almost failed the class because the instructor wanted us to write/talk about how hard being a woman in a male-dominated field was...