My aim for my blog is the following:
- Give a true and honest account of being a female in construction based on my experiences
- My views on topics within the industry
- Encourage more females to join the construction industry at all levels
- Encourage dialogue about gender and diversity issues within the industry
For my first post I want to just give you a little insight and introduction to me. I have used an alias for this blog and associated accounts just to give me peace of mind. I am a Site Engineer in my early 20s working for just under 2 years on site. I was born in England and am a second generation immigrant. My family originate from Africa/South Asia. I studied Civil Engineering at University with a sandwich year so 4 years in total. For my placement year I worked in South-East Asia as an Engineer.
At school I loved Maths and wanted a career which would use this skill. At first I thought I wanted to be an accountant and I am now very thankful I did not pursue this option. A family friend of ours started his career as a Civil Engineer and mentioned to me that I should check it out and I never looked back. I organised a month of work experience to ensure that it was what I wanted to do and even tried out Quantity Surveying but that was not for me. I knew I wanted to be an Engineer.
It did not always run smoothly and there were times during my degree that I really questioned whether it was for me. It really is true what they say though, that what you learn in your degree is very different to the every day job. I do have days, especially rain soaked cold days, where I wonder what I was thinking choosing this career. But for the most part I am one of those annoying people that loves what I do and lives to work rather than works to live. Life work balance can be an issue in this industry and I am sure I will post about it at some point.
Just another bit of information for those that may not know they difference between a Contractor and a Consultant Engineer. A Consultant Engineer does all the initial design of the structure and a Contractor Engineer is the one that is on site during the construction ensuring it is being done as per the design and flagging and helping to solve any issues that may occur. In the industry there has been a gap between the two types of Engineers and there is sometimes a lack of understanding of what each other do. However the industry is working to improve this. I love being a Contractor Engineer and could not see myself going into Consulting although the mainly 9-5 hours would be great.
I hope you enjoy my future posts and please leave your comments and thoughts I will reply.
Jasmine Ardedo
P.S sorry for the cringy title couldn't think of another one this is why I am an Engineer and not an Architect ;)
