What do women in engineering need to be successful? If I ask this question of college students, the most common response I receive is: “She has to be really good at math.”
That echoes the feedback many of women in engineering once received from their guidance counselors, “You’re good at math and science, you should consider engineering.”
Some aptitude for math is absolutely required to succeed as an engineer. It’s necessary to have competence in these areas to graduate from college with an engineering degree.
However, once that piece of paper is in hand, intelligence in math and science is not even close to the most important thing needed if you want to be have a successful career. It’s a lesson many young professionals learn the hard way: What made you successful in school often doesn’t result in success in your field.
In other words, the skills that got you to your first job – and maybe even your first promotion, depending on how technically focused you are in your early career – are not the skills that you’ll need for success in the long term.
If you are a woman in engineering, the skills you’ll need – due to societal stereotypes and deeply rooted unconscious biases – are not precisely the same as your male counterparts either. Sure, there’s some overlap, but you generally don’t see the lone ranger genius-type female engineer staying in her field for long (Quick! Without a Google search, can you name a female equivalent to Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates? The long-standing competence and likeability gender double-bind accounts for that.)
In 2019, I interviewed dozens of successful technical women, looking for trends, and especially what successful women do differently when compared to their male counterparts. I asked them questions like, “What one trait contributes most to your success?” or “Tell us about a career obstacle and how you overcame it?”
After conducting all those interviews, I noticed some trends among them, particularly when it came to things the women perceived helped them become successful. Here are the top four traits most often cited as being critical to success as a woman in STEM, including the research we did after noting these trends to validate these findings:
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1. They have a soul-deep “why.”
Call it a passion, a vision, a calling, or a (mostly healthy) obsession. Whatever it is, you can feel the energy and passion they have for their chosen field when you talk to them. The air vibrates - even across a remote video connection - with their drive and excitement for the future in conversation. That energy is contagious, and it causes others to follow them. It’s the reason many successful STEM women - particularly those who have reached executive levels - are referred to as “a force of nature.”
That energy morphs into a transformational leadership style that motivates and inspires their teams. In my interview with oil and gas industry titan Susan Morrice, she commented that she could feel it during our discussion. The best way I can describe this energy is as a “runner’s high” (for my fellow runners out there) or that feeling you get when you are in a deep conversation with someone who “gets” you.
That “why” stops them from giving up when they hit roadblocks. It is strong enough to result in a type of resilience and determination that transcends one individual’s confidence. Often, that “why” is mission or impact-based. Amber Freund, CEO at Risa Tech Inc., told me during the interview:
“There was never a goal of, ‘I want to be a leader. I want to be a manager.’…Leadership isn't necessarily about doing tasks well. It's about working well with people... I think when you're passionate about something, you bring people around you that have that same passion.”
Put another way, these women have a deep-seated desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Their success has come about in part because that focus on something larger than themselves has resulted in taking action despite fear of failure, self-doubt, criticism, and circumstances in which many others would have given up. That attitude is succinctly summed up in the words of one of the women I interviewed, Robin Kemper, who is the 2019 American Society of Civil Engineer’s President:
“Don't be afraid to change… or go down another path for a while and then come back. Don’t let anyone ever tell you can't do something.”
That’s not to say that successful technical men aren’t ever driven by having an impact on the world. It’s simply that from a statistical standpoint, we are much more likely to meet a senior man who is driven by things like financial gain or wanting to provide for his own family (absolutely nothing is wrong with that!) than it is to meet a woman who has stayed in the industry for 10 years or more without having aligned her technical expertise with her personal values.
Statistics show what we found in our interviews is not an anomaly. For example, this Pew Research Center study found that when choosing a job, men in STEM were more likely to value a high-paying job and promotion opportunities, whereas women in STEM valued jobs where they could make a difference to society and others.
2. They view setbacks as learning experiences, not failures.
Every successful woman I interviewed had a unique take on mindset, especially when it came to career setbacks and career risk-taking. Several of the questions I asked were related to how they overcame obstacles and specific advice for other women encountering similar obstacles. One of the strongest trends I noted among every single woman interviewed was their language around failures and obstacles. For example, challenges and failures were usually referred to as “learning experiences.” Devonne Jackson, an engineering project manager, sums up this viewpoint:
“Those transitions where you feel uncomfortable…. because you're going into something new and uncharted, they are pivotal because it gives you the opportunity to experience and learn new things.”
It’s not that they didn’t experience internal struggles like imposter syndrome or lack of confidence. It’s not that they didn’t experience the pain of a layoff during an economic downturn, an unsuccessful salary or promotion negotiation, harassment/gender bias, or unfounded criticism. It was simply that they acknowledged that they experienced these things, in whatever form the obstacle presented itself. They found ways to move forward instead of dwelling on it.
“You don’t have to engage with bad actors,” said engineer Amanda Farr, as she shared a story of a recruiter calling her to ask if she knew any men (and men only) who might be interested in a position she wanted.
“At some of the trainings I was leading, I’d walk into a room as young, blond woman and people would ask me ‘When is the engineer going to get here?’, Amber Freund, told us. “I would just calmly write my name and engineering credentials on the whiteboard and get to work.”
This type of mindset is commonly referred to as a growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, PhD, an expert in mindsets who is widely cited as the originator this concept, a growth mindset is where you believe your “most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point.”
There are inconclusive research studies in mindset indicating that many women are socialized from childhood to have a fixed mindset, which means that they believe they are born with qualities of intelligence and talent that can’t be changed. However, the very limited research in engineering on mindsets have shown no statistical gender differences between fixed and growth mindsets for college engineering majors, and additionally found that “The ability to identify as an engineer was greater for students with growth mindsets when compared to fixed mindsets.” This article by Vicki May, Associate Professor at the Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth, further elaborates that - based on her own experiences with students - those with fixed mindsets are often “weeded out” during those first difficult engineering courses in college.
3. They are constantly – and actively – building an at-work and out-of-work support system, including mentors, sponsors, alliances, and collaborations.
This one particular trait was cited by multiple women as being “critically important” in building successful careers. While it is well-known that networking helps the careers of everyone, many of the women noted that this particular strategy is one of the most effective in countering false assumptions about your abilities when you are not in the room.
Toni Crowe, an engineer, thirty-year award-winning corporate Vice-President, and author said:
“Building alliances makes a huge difference in your ability to get promoted because when you're not in the room…one of the people in the room that knows you can speak from a position of knowledge about you… Most young female engineers don't have that person. They don't have that person that can be in the room and speak on them and their skills and their values and their life.”
Additionally, universally, EVERY woman interviewed cited an outside-of-work support system of mentors, friends, family, and peers. This support system looked different for everyone, but was especially commented on by the parents interviewed. Angie Sommer, an Associate Principal with ZFA Structural Engineers, shares her experiences as a new mother:
“We [Angie’s spouse and herself] really flexed our muscles in terms of how our dynamic works and who's doing what work to try and really keep it even. We're both tired. We both have a lot of work to do… It's definitely both of us doing full on baby, full on work.”
Angie also shared her experiences with her outside-of-work peer group: “I have a group, there's eight women, most of us engineers… We meet up about once a month or so, and we've been doing this for years now. It's not necessarily like a structured, formal, professional thing. But you know, we all get it in terms of what's happening professionally and we all allow each other to talk about that kind of stuff. And it's been super helpful I think just to have that support.”
Again, statistics back up what I’ve learned in these interviews. Mentors are correlated with career success; during the She Engineers 2019 Summit, Ashley Jacqmain shared her research in this area. Additionally, a University of Massachusetts study shows that women in engineering who have female mentors in their fields are more likely to stay in engineering; that same statistical correlation has not been found for women with male mentors.
Yet, this 2019 survey on professional mentors found that only about 37% of people have professional mentors. On the plus side, engineering is cited as one of the industries with the highest numbers of mentors, with 52% of engineers surveyed indicating that they have had mentors. Additionally, this article cites women’s’ general focus on “cooperation over competition” as a gender-specific trait cultivated by many successful women in the workplace (not just engineers).
4. They harness the power of habit
Many of our interviewees cited specific, small, daily actions they take that, over time, have created results. Morning and lunchtime routines, short breathing or movement breaks, and systems around productivity were the most commonly cited habits used by the successful women interviewed. Here are a couple of examples you can start modeling today:
Amber Sturrock, a Strategy and Planning Analyst and Petroleum engineer, cited coffee, practicing gratitude, daily planning, and time-blocking as being essential to her success.
Karen Jehanian, Founder of KMJ Consulting, Inc., shared how she starts her day in prayer (meditation/silence has a similar effect). She also uses deep breathing and movement to refocus throughout her day, especially if she’s thinking about a problem to be solved.
Amber Freund, CEO of RISA Tech Inc., discussed her commute routine and her lunchtime walk.
Toni Crowe shared how she completes her morning routine, and then immediately completes her most important work of the day before all other tasks.
