After 16 years working as a female engineer, I'm going to share five things I wished I
knew earlier but nobody told me about them
Hi I'm Lennis, your Wellness Engineer. If you're ready to get out of the burnout cycle and make yourself a priority, then subscribe
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As the trend grows to increase interest for more girls and women to be involved in STEM,
here are five things I wish I knew that will help you make your career, not only more successful,
but also a lot more enjoyable.
Tip number one. Let's talk communications. Many times we rely on the decision makers
without questioning their thinking process when it comes to making certain decisions.
If you want to learn and you want to grow, that is one of the things that you can do
is to ask plenty of questions at your job, understanding that you are not being bothersome,
but you are actually have a lot of interest in doing as well as possible and also doing
the best for the company to grow and invest yourself in your career and the future of
the company. Remember, none of us were born knowing everything, so if you are surrounded
by great decision makers, that will also act as a mentor. So this is going to really help
you grow quickly.
Now, tip number two, ask for reviews. During my first few years as an engineer, I was getting
constant feedback and constant reviews but as I grew into more senior positions the process
seemed to fizzle out, I mean don't settle for just knowing that you're doing well because
you got a promotion, you got a better position.
It is important that whoever is your manager gives you some feedback so you know where
you are at. This is a mistake I ve made, especially my last job. I got this giant promotion. I
was in charge of the North and South American market, but during the interview process I
was just so excited on focusing job itself that I didn't ask this company or my future
bosses what was the process for reviewing for senior managers?
Turns out there was none, so after a few years of working this job without getting any feedback,
my mind started questioning: Am I really being worthy of staying here like are they valuing
my worth?
Because there was no feedback, there was also no opportunity for growth. So keep that in
mind when you're interviewing for a new position or a new promotion to ask, what is the review
process in that new position.
Okay, tip number three, whatever the situation is, whether you're starting a new job or this
is a new position, think of this new challenge and approach it with the mindset of fake it
until you become it, right?
Not fake it till you make it, but fake it till you become it.
So in this new position or this new job, if you want to be known as the go-to gal for
mentorship for junior engineers, step into the position, observe others that are mentoring
and do the work yourself as well.
Just don't wait until you feel you are actually a mentor, just start trying out mentoring
younger engineers and see how it feels or if you want to be the go to engineer for new
projects or for very complicated problems, then start getting yourself engaged in those
kinds of situations.
Even if you don't feel super secure about yourself, exposure is gonna help you grow
and this is gonna set you in a much better position. So again fake it until you become
the version of that person you want to be in that position that you want to succeed
at.
This leads me to the next step, assess and evaluate constantly so you are not stuck in
a job that you are not enjoying or feeling fulfilled for longer than you need to be there.
And this is a mistake that I made earlier in my career. I got into the comfort zone
on a job that I wasn't truly enjoying and instead of evaluating and assessing and trying
to decide what my next move was going to be, I simply stayed there and continued to do
the job just because it was comfortable.
Now what happened was the universe could sense that I was not really having a lot of fun
in this job and position. So the company, after giving me amazing reviews for five years
and being one of the highest earners when it came to bonuses and promotions, it turned
out that the company workload started to go down and I was part of the 20% of the people
that were laid off.
So I say that as the universe knew I wasn't very happy in there, so it pushed me outside
but if I had actually assessed and evaluate and realize that I was not very happy with
what I was doing anymore because my growth fell a little stuck. I could have talked to
senior decision makers and wonder, where else would they see me being a good fit so I could
grow and have a new challenge in the company.
Okay, let's move on to tip number five, which is the most important out of all of them.
Be clear with your boundaries and set them early. We all want that work life balance,
right? But right now, where do you draw the line? Things get a little blurry, especially
if you're working from home, if you have access to work email in your cell phone and you are
checking your work email, even when you are at the grocery store, just because you feel
there's an urgency, and if you are not answering emails right away or being present right away
that somehow you may be punished.
So recognizing that you need to set boundaries early on and what are those boundaries? Be
very clear with them. It's really important to help you find that balance to help you
succeed and to really set the relationship clearly on how your employment is going to
work out.
I remember the first day of my first job, my manager asked me to stay late.
And I was trained by my mother and my father, to be at work before they got there and leave
after they got there, so of course the first day I say yes, I will say late to finish something,
that was honestly, not that urgent. So an advice I would give to my younger self will
be to ask your manager: What is the urgency on this matter and doesn't need to be done
by the end of the week or doesn't need to be done by today?
And the important thing is by knowing exactly what the expectations are, you can work around
on when you're able to actually work a little extra and when you're not.
At that point, the company was actually paying overtime, so as a young engineer, I was very
happy to get the few extra hours and extra money in my pocket. But as I grew older and
had other priorities in my life, I started setting those boundaries even though there
were uncomfortable at first, I still was able to find that manage that work life balance.
If you're having trouble setting boundaries and you're feeling guilty, then I really recommend
you to take my free masterclass. You can get the link below in the description for setting
boundaries without guilt.
Here you will learn how to start setting clear boundaries without feeling that guilt, feeling
that shame of trying to create this relationship that is going to work for both of you, your
employer and yourself.
If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and make sure to share it with a fellow friend
in STEM in case they need to hear some of these tips to help them progress in their
career and really enjoy being in this field.
I'm Lennis, your wellness engineer. Helping you incorporate mindfulness practices to cultivate
more joy and freedom in your life. Be well and see you soon.