hi guys greg here and welcome back to SITENG today i'm very exciting as this is the first
video about women in construction and my guest here today is EDI hi hi how are you EDI i'm good
very well excited to be here yeah thank you very much for coming here guys Edi is currently working
as a project manager assistant but we both work together on the job on the Batersea power station
job where she was my assistant she was engineer assistant then and i was doing site engineering
mostly doing setting out thank you very much again for coming here for being with us today and my
first question gonna be how you actually started in construction how actually started your career
in the industry i started my first job around four to five years ago and um i had enough of
my previous job it was in completely different sector and i wanted to change something and
i got the opportunity to apply for position of document controller without the experience
which in my case was really good because i had no experience at that time and also i have no
university like in the construction sector so i was like brand new and and i applied for this
position i got this job and this is how i uh started to work in construction um but very
quick i changed to junior engineer position and this is actually a funny story i like to tell and
because the first day i started the contract manager came in on site and he actually said
he's got different plan for me and he more see me on site working as a junior engineer and he said
that i might learn more and also after the time i can do setting out by myself and get more money
and what i'm thinking about that and and i really wanted to get that job i really wanted to start
working in construction so i said why not let's try and this is how i become a junior engineer
and started to do the setting out so this is how it all started in my case okay yeah great
to hear that uh that's actually yeah that's what happens sometimes on site so they try to
push you into something else but i think this is great actually that eddie took the
opportunity and as she said uh she worked actually on site and remember guys working
on site is always the best especially when you're starting that's the big eye-opener
for you so uh i think that contract manager did a big favour to Edi actually before she
jumps in the office yeah so you can hear now uh i always uh advise people to go to site if they can
obviously my another question would be what you actually do like and what you don't like about
construction about working uh yeah working on site really so the best thing about being on site
working in construction for me is how you can see the progress of the job so in a matter of weeks
there are a lot of changes and it's very exciting when you know that you are a part of it when you
go outside you see how the building is going up that part i like the most that i can see
all the time what i am doing and how the job is going and this is something i really like and
something i don't like is the weather conditions this so this is the reason why actually i changed
my job so i was a junior engineer and i meant to do something out but for me weather conditions uh
were too difficult and on the summer time was fine one but when the winter comes it was a very very
hard one was raining when was cold and being 10 hours a day sometimes even more outside that was
too much for me so then i decided to go back to my previous plan and being a document controller
because like being outside so many hours uh five six days um a week it was just too much so
that is the biggest minus uh working outside okay yeah yeah i i think it also when we just
talked before uh about working on site uh this is why i also recommend you to work on site guys
i know lots of people uh are aiming for the project manager position it's always the best
when you're gonna put your hands you're going to work with people you see like Edi said
the weather conditions were too harsh for her and she actually moved back to the office again
like originally she wanted to do and as she said the construction is really satisfying job guys
it's it's changing on the daily basis you can see the progress you know week by week you see
the floors by floor so this is very satisfying and uh i think that's one of the most important
thing in construction so you can see actually like you took a part in these projects and the projects
going on and there you you put like a small brick to all that to a big wall and my another question
would be actually as a steel construction is male dominated world and i want you to tell us
actually how do you feel about it and how the work in construction on site is looking from a
woman's perspective from your perspective so in my case i almost never had any bad experience
i never felt any different than a woman on site everything was same everyone was always very nice
and helpful and to be honest sometimes i could even took the advantage to them women especially
when some heavy stuff have to be moved around in office i could always ask guys if they can
help me they never say no and i believe if i was a guy they might say no so sometimes it is a plus
to being a woman and the only one on site and there is also maybe one two percent uh
situations when someone is not and it should be might be rude and not treating you as as he should
because you are a woman but i never had this kind of situation with the management team with the
project managers engineers more likely with the workforce and in this case you always have to
speak with the project manager and in most of the cases there is no place for such people on site
who are not treating women as they should be and if they're treating the woman different
only because she's a woman and but it's like a one percent of the situation so don't worry about that
in most of the cases it's really great and i like to work with guys and also what i like is um that
i think they are more straightforward so if they like something they tell you straight
away if they don't like they tell you as well and also i think it's maybe less gossips than
when you work with the ladies only great to hear that yeah i think about the gossip gossips
you would be probably surprised how men can uh gossip in between themselves it might be crazy
but uh yeah the good thing you mentioned actually that some people on site and
guys everywhere i work myself on big projects small projects medium companies big companies
they'll always gonna be someone who's actually not fit there and if it's management i think the some
management stuff the under the stress and they they might act in rude or arrogant way that means
they they they not fit for purpose really they they cannot cope with the stress and if it's about
workforce like eddie said she she had some one person maybe of situation with the workforce
the people like this shouldn't be working there uh they need to learn to work with people so if
it's my side for instance you're gonna if you come to me you're gonna tell me the problem i'm gonna
be getting rid of these people so it's simple as simple as guys it might be one chance given but
people like this have no place in construction and people like me and other management staff we
making sure the atmosphere is better and better on construction site and believe me this is changing
within time it's changing on a daily basis people are learning how to work with other people
and bad people are actually out so yeah i think people would like to hear what your main duties
now as a project manager assistant and what do you do on a daily basis and what your work is
all about so at the moment i have quite long list of my duties so at first i am doing the induction
and welcoming new people on site making sure all of the documents paperwork is on place as you know
uk is now out of the eu so we need to make sure visa and paperwork is on place so the people can
be paid and then we are coming to the payroll uh i am controlling the hours so also making sure
everyone is paid correctly how many hours they worked over times and always paid on times and
you might be surprised how big problem can be if you miss few hours by mistake this kind
situation may make people leaving the job so you always need to make sure everyone is paid on time
and the proper money this is very very important and the next things i was um dealing with health
and safety so um we had health and safety advisor on the side and she was a lady as well
um and i was in contact with her making sure everything is correct on site all of the
documents checklist paperwork and of course the site itself everything is in a good condition
and it's safe for work and the next things i was doing the small orderings ordering um
small materials and small tools maintenance the big plans and this is something i was
dealing with and so i was a contact between the site and the management like the project manager
and the buyers and the guys were coming telling me what they need i had to order that stuff and
making sure we have that on time on site because that's another problem if something is missing
you are making a delay so you need to always make sure everything is on site and on the time i was
also ordering the precast elements i'm getting something i was in contact with project manager so
he was telling me the dates based on the program and my role was to order everything on time
and the basic documents uh controlling so um making sure everything is where it should be and
maintained all of the documents paperwork and trust me it's like a plenty of them a lot of
folders so yeah that was something i was doing as well and of course assisting the project manager
so if he needs anything and then i was doing that perfect thank you for this yeah i think because
of many people watching my channel they're actually aiming to be the project managers
so this is great to know what they're going to be dealing with if they're going to go through
the project manager assistant way because you can always go by the engineering senior engineer then
you can jump into project management as you're gonna be working closely with the project manager
but the way Edi is doing now she actually paved her way towards the project management as well
and as you can see she's doing like inductions she dealing with uh health and safety she's doing the
orders as well she's like main link now between the site and the office and the ordering materials
so this is uh this is stressful job as well guys don't think it's easy
if you're gonna miss some order if you're gonna if you want to make sure something's gonna be on time
this goes in the delays and uh i think the delays are the biggest problems on site and obviously
health and safety have to be spot on and as you heard Edi was dealing with it as well
so Edi one more question would be actually what would you advise to all the women now
who are thinking about starting construction and actually to all people the young students
and everyone really who want to change maybe the industry and who want to start in construction
as i said so i would say don't be afraid and try make this first step as you heard i had no
background no experience and i decided i want to change something in my life and i am very happy i
did what i did and i'm also very happy that i was working on site directly so if you have a
chance go to the side position first and then to the office based position because you can learn
much more when you're working on site before you go into the office and this kind of experience
is uh great because even for me when i was doing um different positions after
so i was a junior engineer and then i jumped to the document controller pm assistant after
i could better understand what is going on especially when i was ordering some materials
you might be surprised but there is completely different language on site they call this stuff
completely different and then you know what they're talking about and so if you can go inside
just to eat and don't be afraid you can always go back to your previous job but if you don't try
you never know if you like it so make this first step apply for a different position different
companies and just just do it definitely yeah thank you very much eddie uh thank you again for
being here with us and for your great story uh and guys if you liked it please don't forget to leave
the thumbs up and subscribe to this channel turn the bell on as gonna be more videos they're gonna
be more great stories like this coming and they're going to be people like Edi who actually changed
their career from completely different stuff into construction she jumped into construction
and as you can see she's working now as a project manager assistant paving her way to p.m a role and
there will be people here who actually wanted to be in construction from the very beginning
then they went to a civil engineering studies or some schools colleges and they were going step by
step up the ladder to the project manager role to the senior engineering positions so guys uh
if you got any questions eddie promised me is she going to be answering to them if you want to ask
her something she's going to be still down there in the comments for you and obviously you're going
to get some answers from me as well if you need anything so thank you again and see you next time