r/womenEngineers

I have, and while I am deeply flattered and it is also kind of annoying. Most people don't know where the rule came from, and it's treated like it came down on some ancient tablet of engineering principles.

Ladies, it was a shower thought.

I had a tight, high level deadline. Had been slicing and dicing data in different ways trying to come up with the right way to do it. Worked late. Went home unsuccessful. Took a shower the next morning and bam! I'm making this harder than it needs to be. This is about communication, not precision. I went with a broad brush that was easy to communicate and audited. That was easily defensible.

Made my 10 am deadline.

Turns out was sticky idea, and took on a life of its own. Now, some 15 years later, it's a foundation behind hundreds of millions of dollars spending and safety work. One of the first things you learn as an engineer here. It is crazy to see how deep this concept has crept into people's heads.

So yes, deeply flattering. But that bit of imposter syndrome is still there. How the hell can this many people trust my work? Even worse: will it somehow fall apart and I'll be blamed.

Does anyone have any recommendations on purses or ways I could keep my stuff safe in my purse in my office? Particularly if I'm not always at my desk.

Some men in the office creep me out and I don't want them sneaking through my stuff. Thanks in advance for any help you might could provide!

I am a mechanical engineer. I am being asked to make a manual of the user interface and I need to be sure to include all of the software changes that was made. You may ask why isn’t the software engineer who made these changes isn’t updating the manual … and it’s because I am “better at it and will do a good job”. But I don’t need to worry about not having the information, because the software engineer who made the changes will be working with me to ensure I have all the accurate information. All the other engineers are men by the way. So now there will be two engineers working on one manual… one who has nothing to contribute besides formatting. The software engineer is also a guy, and started roughly at the same time I did and is roughly the same age as me. But I don’t need to worry, I was reassured in the email that this is not a punishment, and simply because I will be better [at formatting] than the software engineer.

I’m deleting this later to reduce the risk of someone seeing it; I just needed to vent.

Accepted an offer for a location ~25 minutes from my house with very good pay as an entry level controls engineer! I start the first week of June. The first 2-3 months will be heavy in travel (4-5 hours of travel by car away from the primary office) with likely 3/4 weeks of the month spent in those cities.

Super excited, unfortunately my used car I bought back in November has severe mechanical issues and I don't have the credit to buy or finance a car. I could reasonably commute to the main office after repairs, but driving to the out of state locations is out of the question for the car I currently have. I figure there will be a per diem as they mentioned an apartment in the city the work is located in, but I'm curious about who I should reach out to regarding travel benefits / accommodations? Is it normal for a company to provide a rental car or transportation for travel like that? Will it come off as I'm expecting too much or that I'm unprepared to do travel work?

I feel dumb for not asking about this during the offer phase or before accepting it, but I was very excited to secure a job so close to graduation and got ahead of myself.

Apologies if this is an obvious or long winded question, I'm worried about bothering the supervisor I've been assigned to! Very nervous as this is my first job out of college. If you guys also have any tips for your first role after graduating, they'd be very appreciated. 💗

So I've got an interview for a summer internship but right now I'm enrolled in courses for the summer semester b/c up until last week I didn't have any interview offers for the summer. Problem is my semester deadline to drop courses + get 100% refund is next Monday and the interview is tommorow. My interview is with the manager and I was thinking of asking them if its possible to get an update on the hiring decision by this friday bc of my tution refund situation.

Is that okay to ask or am I rushing them? I would've asked during my 1st round interview last week but I completly forgot. They had said they are planning on being quick with the hiring process so I'm thinking its fine but thought I'd ask here to be sure.

TIA!

Hi everyone, I would really appreciate some advice. I began working for the DOT about a year ago. Recently, an opportunity began to present itself to go back to consulting. There is no formal offer; however, I think if I say yes I’m absolutely interested in going back to consulting I think there would be a job offer.

I’m not sure if I’m jumping ship too early from working at the DOT or if working for only a year somewhere would look bad in the future. I’m not sure I want to be in transportation and only do transportation work the rest of my career. It’s still a good job here and I only work 40 hours a week versus the 45-50 hours a week at my last job. The company I’m speaking to sounds like they have good work life balance and let people work 40 hours if they want (but probably won’t move up like other people) to care for their children and have more life outside of work.

I can give more information if anyone needs. TYIA

Hello. 1) I am not an engineer... but need engineering help. My hubby is a retired astronomer. We recently moved to a dark site and built an observatory. Bought a DIY kit from an observatory firm in FL. Got it built. But the shutter lifting system doesn't work. (double winch system... ) After two years of recabling, rewinding, recabling and all, we actually took the winch motors off the wall with all the cabling. We would like help in designing a sprocket and chain system to hoist the shutters up and over the apex of the Dome & managing the drop when the shutters pass that point (opening the shutter), then reversing the same motion, but closing the shutter. We have electricity at the dome. Here's the rub... I'd like to get this done FAST as my very smart hubby has been diagnosed with what we think is Vascular Dementia (diagnosed 2 years ago) and he simply cannot do this type of thinking/work anymore. I would love to have the observatory working so that he can enjoy the night sky before it's too late. Sorry for the sob story. We have many, many photos if that will help. (this photo shows the back of the dome, the shutters are sitting on the shutter catchers at the base of it. We opened it and closed it via our cars and carefully pulling...)

https://preview.redd.it/vsc42a91vq1h1.jpg?width=6048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=356d8a734034b560e9f2b2386cef1740bcd2c11b

Hi,

First off, I am glad I found a space that is for women ❤️👸!!!
I just graduated from college about a week ago with civil degree (yayyy!).
In school, I felt like the odd one out because my peers were mostly younger men. I am also a young mom, so I was in a different stage of life and didn’t really connect with them because I was busy being a mom to a baby and figuring out how to navigate that so I didn’t have free time to meet up and study. There was definitely just a disconnect in general lol.
When I got my degree I was so elated that I could get on with life. It felt like I was in that place for at least 25 years 😵😵. It was only 5, but so much had happened!!

Anyway, now I’m on the search for a job and it’s been a couple weeks so far, but I’m not making a ton of progress and don’t have that many connections. I have no idea how to even begin asking someone for a referral. Could any of you all be so kind to give me some advice on how to start networking 😅?

I didn’t think I’d ever be the one coming on Reddit making a post because I’m usually a lurker ,but here I am.

If you got this far thanks for listening to my mini rant

So my girlfriend who is truly amazing and smart landed a position recently in Italy at a company - but they suck.

After 9 months of soul-sucking searching for a job after her masters, (sending hundreds of applications, barely getting any interest) she finally landed this one a few months back. She does microsystems & mechanical engineering.

Recently a male colleague of hers got fired because he made an unwanted approach - I'll explain that more later.

So this firm, basically they're paying barely 3k eur/month. Pre-tax. And she clocks ridiculous hours (working to 10pm, waking at 7am, etc) and the 'overtime' pay is only 1.15*... which apparently is aligned with the labour laws there, but f*king absurd.

Anyways they spontaneously sent her to Ukraine to work on repairing military equipment on a military base. Only lady there, working hard, and the only 'bonus' she's getting is that meagre 1.15* pay. No danger pay. No other compensation. Absolutely ridiculous. Also the employee turnover rate is insane

She's saying yes to all the extra overtime work and such because she wants to make a positive impression and get references and boost the CV and such. Even though the owner of the firm is a complete asswipe (cheats on his partner, misogynist, etc). They don't even provide proper ventilation in the workshop when doing mass soldering - toxic fumes galore. She just sucks it up and accepts it, being very nice and working super hard. I could go on endlessly about how awful the company is.

Her whole life she has been a very, very hard worker; late shifts, multiple jobs, ultra self-sufficient. The thing I worry about is the big ol' Burnout. We're approaching our 30s and I fear that one day she's going to crash by 'going with the flow'.

Of course she also deals with the other BS of creepy and misogynist peers, guys trying to hit on her all the time, etc. As we're long distance it takes a toll on me because I want to 'protect' her and take care of her and prevent these people from taking advantage of her, which, they do (salary, work hours, unwanted physical approaches, date requests) - I'm trying to key her into the idea that the salary:work:respect ratio is way out of whack, and additionally stand up for herself and be assertive (she's literally an angel super sweetheart), which is very hard for her. As an outsider - she's a perfect candidate for 'taking advantage of'.

Recently a male colleague (with a gf) offered her a hand massage, then kissed her arm. She stopped it right there and left it at that. She eventually told in confidence some of her male colleagues, who (against her desire) brought it up with the employer and he got fired. Rightfully so. But she feels guilty and feels betrayed by the colleagues who told because she didn't want any backlash from the issue/guy getting fired (which, there has been no backlash, he's gone). She did tell me she wouldn't have done anything about it for a few reasons (she feels like how she managed it is okay, but IMO the guy needed repercussions).

Anyways - are these common things you've had to deal with? How did you approach it?

How do you 'assert' yourselves more and reclaim your true value?

And how did you obtain the respect you deserve in the workplace? She is worried about being a 'bitch', but on the other hand she's really being pushed around badly.

Thanks very much for your input! I love her very much but worry about the long-term toll

I loved the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) magazine, which came to my mailbox every other month. But they’ve switched to digital, and I simply don’t read it anymore. I want to stay up to date on cool mech e things (also open to other engineering disciplines) and get physical copies in the mail. Any recommendations?

Separately, I’m on the lookout for similar stuff (latest news/research/innovations) in podcast form. I recently started listening to the Nature Podcast (the scientific journal Nature), which is awesome, and I’d love something similar just with engineering instead of science.

Edit: other interests of mine are sustainability, energy, and the built environment

I was updating my resume today in preparation to start applying for my next position. After adding my present job’s work experience and reviewing my resume, I realized that I am no longer entry level. I have 4 years of full time experience, plus 2 years of part time experience while in college, and my current duties are definitely mid-level. My duties were also mid-level in the last year of my previous role.

I’ve been thinking of myself as entry level for so long, it was a nice realization. I’ll celebrate tonight with some takeout and cocktails in the cozy privacy of my home.

It’s a good feeling to have solid experience and skills and be regularly contacted by recruiters, especially in the current market for my field (I’m a software engineer). I remember when I got out of college and it took eight months to get a job; the market was in a horrible slump. I remember questioning my degree decision and facing an existential crisis while bartending to get by. And now here I am!

(ignore the username. I havent figured out how to change it yet.)

Disabled Industrial engineer with multiple lifelong chronic health conditions (hEDS, POTS, MCAS, cancer, etc). I am looking for a 100% work from home position and can barley find any jobs to apply to. most are remote due to constant travel, which I cannot do anymore. I did mostly PFMEA, design for manufacture and assembly, process improvement, lean, kaizen, 5s, process documentation, writing instructions for the plant floor, etc.

Which I realize puts me in a weird place, now needing to be 100% remote. Most I could do is a rare in person day but I'd pay for it for days afterwards.

The other issue is I haven't worked a regular engineering job since 2017. I got through half a masters in lean engineering before I lost funding. Did a brief stint running a small business from 2019 to 2023, then my health collapsed and I got cancer. Spent 2023 thru early 2025 recovering. I am still very immunocompromised, so I wouldn't be able to work in office even if I have the energy to.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-mcguire-289b63a7/

My linkedin attached above if that helps.

-I have applied before to be a patent reviewer with the US patent office, but that went nowhere (because the US gov is a mess rn).

-No i don't qualify for disability. I'm like 4 credits short. its annoying.

Reasons for still wanting an engineering job

-I still have student loans from undergrad and the half a masters degree

-better pay obviously

-working on my feet in retail or similar public facing positions isn't an option due to my health issues.

-i miss actually using my engineering skills

My big question here: Is there a job board for work from home engineering positions that isnt filled with scams and not only for software/computer engineers?

Edit: tutoring is not really a good option for me. I tried being a TA before and I am a poor teacher. Probably because of my adhd and autism. Plus I am not the biggest fan of kids in general.

I’m at a senior management level right before becoming a shareholder. My senior leadership promised me that my name is being under consideration for partnership currently with a close but undisclosed timeline. But i understand to not count for the eggs not in the basket. I had some recent frustration with the local senior leadership in terms of work load and turn over rates from my team. Basically, I don’t believe in fixing poor management with overworking the team, but the leadership disagrees. I also feel outnumbered being the only woman in her 30s in the team of 6 leadership call. I made it very clear to the leadership team that the current workload they put me in is not setting me up for success. An outside recruiter reached out to me for a similar role at another firm. I haven’t got the offer yet, but the interview outcome was positive. I’m contemplating whether to stay or to consider a change. I’m also considering of reaching out to other branch’s female partners about my career outlook, since they told me that I need to call them before I consider leaving the company. I would be the first female to lead this local branch in 50 years, so they are very supportive of my growth. Hope I’ve given enough information for some thoughts.

Hi everyone,

I am coming to realize that I absolutely hate software engineering. I didn't mind my projects in school as much, I think, because it wasn't all I was doing. I always had other assignments and classes that were less coding-based. Stupid, I know. I just finished my junior year in college, for reference.

But now that I'm doing this day in and day out at my internship, I realized that I hate it so much. It just feels so small and like I'm fighting with small details all day. Never mind the fact that other engineers on my team are literally generating their code with AI, I don't feel good about going into this field at all. I literally come home from work and cry every day, I know that sounds stupid/dramatic, but sitting quietly at my desk for 8 hours every day writing code is genuinely affecting my quality of life, and I can't do this for the rest of my life.

I want to pivot out of this. Maybe go into technical sales or marketing. I think I would enjoy that sort of work more since it is much more people-oriented. Im not even sure because I've never worked that sort of job before. I also feel like technical sales/marketing is safer from AI taking over those jobs? IDK, I'm not sure of anything.

And how could I even pivot into that? My resume is very software engineering-oriented so it will be difficult to break into that industry. I am a rising senior, so I would be looking for full-time. Any advice is appreciated

I’m a structural engineer, and I’ve realised I have really poor attention to detail. I think partly it’s because I have a sense of urgency about things a lot of the time - particularly given my job is high stress and very fast moving. However, sometimes even when I think I’ve made a conscious effort to slow down, I’m still missing things.

I think I’ve realised also that I’m also not sceptical enough when I receive information, whether that’s internally or from external consultants - I think by default that everybody else is ‘right’ and so I don’t stop to question certain things when I maybe should.

This is absolutely eating away at me and my confidence. Has anyone had this challenge and managed to successfully improve? Would love to hear your tips if so.

Hey!! I’m genuinely so tired at this point. Every time I ask something related to career help here or on any other platform, most of the people responding are men, and I’m honestly exhausted with the creepy behavior that follows.

I spend so much energy explaining my situation seriously, and instead of actually helping, people start making weird comments. One guy literally told me my voice made him horny after we had a completely normal conversation about career stuff. Others ask for pictures. Some act professional at first, ask for my resume or LinkedIn to “help” or “review” it, and then later the whole vibe changes.

People use LinkedIn or resumes to get personal details like numbers or socials and then randomly start texting on WhatsApp or trying to make things personal instead of professional. It’s honestly so frustrating because I’m genuinely trying to start my career, not deal with this shit every single time I ask for help.

And what honestly shocks me the most is how people can know everything someone is already struggling with and still look for their own creepy benefit in the situation. Like seriously??? This level of selfishness and lack of basic humanity is insane to me.

At this point I just feel more comfortable asking women for help. So if any girlies here are hiring, can refer me, guide me, or even just connect professionally, please do.

And please don’t come at me with “not all men” or “mostly men are in higher positions.” Please, I seriously do not wanna hear that right now.

I just got my peer feedback back and I am beyond frustrated. Out of five reviews, four were great. But one person wrote that they think I’m “inaccessible at my computer” and “hard to reach.” 😡
**Here is the reality:**
• I literally always drop everything to reply to people's messages immediately. I have teams on my phone and respond within seconds. Even dropping using the bathroom to reply.
• I attend all my meetings on time.
• I keep my notifications on and stay on top of everything.
I even work late to help people.

It feels like this person is literally just sitting there "creeping" on my "Away" status. Like, am I not allowed to use the restroom? It’s so creepy to watch someone's status and assume it’s an accurate reflection of their work: especially when you can manually set your status on Teams to green or away anyway.

I feel like I’m always working, but now I’m wondering if I have to manually set my status to green ALWAYS just to deal with this person? I’ve already set my status to "Available" at all times until May 19th just to stop them from watching.
My career coach has my back, and we’re going to find out who wrote this, but has anyone else dealt with a "status-watcher" who ignores your actual output and responsiveness? Not much I can do right?