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What's it like being a Structural Engineer?

Kate lives in South London with her husband and works in Epsom. She uses her engineering skills outside of work to get involved with charities like STEMNet, Engineers without borders and RedR. 

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Job title: Senior Structural Engineer

Current employer: Atkins - A Global Engineering, Design and Project Management Consultancy

Industry: Engineering/Construction

Hours: 40 hours per week on average

How long have you been practising in this field? 9 years.

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In your current role, what do you spend your time doing?

As a structural engineer, I spend my time working with other people to design buildings and make sure they get built properly. I use maths and science and  computers to draw 3-D models.

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What's it like working in your role? What does a typical day look like?

It really depends on the project I’m working on. At the moment I’m based in the office nearest my home, dealing with clients by phone or face-to-face, leading a team of other engineers, doing computer-based design or hand calculations, sketching ideas, writing reports and attending meetings.

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On other projects I’ve been based in various other offices (including India for 3 months) and ‘on-site’ (where the building is being built) during construction. I'm always dealing with people from lots of different backgrounds - architects, other engineers, on-site operatives and clients - and I'm always solving problems. Sometimes there’s lots of problems to solve in the day to keep the construction process moving, other times it's a few bigger design-based problems which can take days or weeks to work through.

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Are there any specific qualifications you are required to have in your field?

I have a Masters degree and am professionally chartered - but there are increasing numbers of people going through apprenticeship routes, so you can enter the profession straight from school and work towards degree/chartership whilst working.

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What’s your favourite part of your job?

There's lots of things I love - it’s great when you figure out a solution to something and it works. It’s awesome seeing something that you've designed being built, and it’s really fun helping colleagues learn and progress.

 

What were your favourite subjects at school?

Drama, History, Maths and Science.

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Was there anything you liked doing at school that helped you get to this career?

In primary school I think group projects, maths and science and running experiments helped. At secondary school, additionally Design and Technology and Drama probably helped supplement those skills.

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What did you want to be as a child when you 'grew up'?

Many things! At secondary school I wanted to join the army.

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Can you remember what your parents reactions were to that aspiration?

I don’t think they were thrilled - they were relieved when I was ruled out of the army by my asthma.

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Has anyone ever been surprised when you told them that you were an Engineer?

Yes, people outside the industry are generally surprised, but they also don't have a very good idea of what engineers do.

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What do you think are attitudes towards and expectations of women in your profession?

Societal expectations do intrude at times - you see a lot fewer women on site - women are not expected to want to be in the ‘harder’, ‘dirtier’ areas of the job. People are always apologising for swearing (although minor this is symptomatic sexism).

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There is still a big disparity between numbers of men and women in senior roles - you find that women reaching senior levels in engineering or construction companies tend to be in the functional roles like HR and Finance. Women tend to be more involved with the less-appreciated extra-curricular work like STEMNet or other charities.

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There’s seems to be an expectation that women will get to a certain point, have babies and then start working part time and there’s still a lack of value placed on part-time workers, particularly on site. Things are changing and there are pockets of good practice.

 

Are there any challenges or benefits working as an Engineer? 

It can be long hours and high pressure. A good team helps, as does the ability to leave work behind when you go home. Depending on what type of job you go into, you may end up spending long periods of time away from home, I have a very supportive husband and no caring responsibilities yet, so that's something to consider.

 

What advice would you give to young girls who are aspiring to be in your role, or who maybe haven't even considered it as a career?

Consider it! Engineering is a very broad area but engineers are always there to solve problems and the main thing we do is change the world around us through building the roads and structures that we all need to live and move around, designing the medical equipment that doctors use to save lives - or even going to developing or disaster-struck countries and helping them rebuild.