New engineer advice 3

[HgTX]

Mostly aimed at women, but there's a lot in there that's good advice for anyone.

http://www.webfoot.com/advice/women.in.eng.html

Hg


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[PhilBW]

You are correct. The article has good advice, even for us men.

There is no doubt female engineers have some obstacles male engineers don't. The first time I worked with a female engineer was when I was right out of college. She was a very capable engineer, and actually had more experience than I did. One day it suddenly dawned on me that I often tried to be protective of her and tended to talk to her as if she was not as technically compenent as I was, just because she was female. I had never considered myself a male chauvinist, but certain perceptions on gender roles and how boys should treat girls had been so ingrained in my young mind that the behavior just came about automatically. Ironically, it was my mother who taught me those things as I was growing up.

I have worked with other female engineers over the years, and I think I have been successful at not treating them any differently than their male counterparts. If I ever fail to treat a female engineer with the proper respect just because of her gender, I hope she will not hesitate to bring it to my attention.

Phil

 

[lewtam]

Great link Hg. Star for you.

That 'Underground Economy' is particularly valid. The ability to pick up the phone and get vital information from friends in the industry is something my wife does much better than I.

 

[whyun]

Thanks, HgTX. I have something to share with my other half after work today.

 

[pba]

I aprove of the fact that it is not a list of things men need to do to make the workplace better for women...

 

[davidinindy]

Great article... Explains why we (men of medium build) were always freezing in my old office, while our boss (older and heavy-set) was comfortable with the A/C on in the dead of winter. We jokingly all tried to work with our mittens on one day, and he got the message.
From then on, he wore short sleeves, and we wore sweaters, and the T-stat stayed at 68deg.

Here's another thing to make women more comfortable at work. In a small office with a shared bathroom, keep a small stock of air freshener.

David

 

[ziggi]

And put the seat down

 

[mshimko]

There were some points I agree with, and some I didn't agree with (these may describe me all too well)...

...but its nice to see a woman write "You may not be neutral about The Super Bowl."

 

[plasgears]

I am a flight instructor on the side, and my best student was a middle aged pert married woman with two children. I gave her a good intro by flying her to a fly-in resort with shops, nice dining room, lovely lake front, etc.

She bought an airplane before getting her license, then upgraded later on with an instrument ticket. Her husband and son both got their licenses. When she got her license, I pinned a pair of wings on her jacket with a short speech about her accomplishments, etc. She asked if it was OK to hug the instructor. Of course, I said OK!

At her son's wedding she introduced me to a table of grey haired ladies. They were WASPS from WWII! They were later featured on a PBS special about the WASPS. What an experience.

I have had generally good experience with female colleagues. They had to be good because of their abilities to surpass the stumbling blocks set in their paths.

 

[epoisses]

I dunno, I think hugging customers and coworkers of any sex is a kinda tricky, although in France one gets to kiss their female coworkers on a daily basis. Talking about qualité de vie...