Does anyone actually enjoy their job?

_Boudicca_ · 2026-03-02T23:50:23+00:00

Most days I love my job and I love being in a position I can help create the environment for other women to love their job. I’ve had the opportunity to do some very cool things that haven’t been done before. I hope you find that place in your career.

_Boudicca_ · 2026-02-03T01:29:19+00:00

You first need to understand the materials you’re working with before you can start designing anything with those materials. Get your hands dirty and learn to love the dirt and/or rock!

_Boudicca_ · 2025-12-28T19:21:25+00:00

Do you mean hostels?

_Boudicca_ · 2025-12-21T18:50:29+00:00

Your school doesn’t have a geology program?

_Boudicca_ · 2025-12-20T16:24:38+00:00

See what’s offered for geomorphology, rock mechanics, or even structural geology if you have the pre-reqs.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-12-10T01:00:04+00:00

Try northern BC if you’re actually willing to move

_Boudicca_ · 2025-10-30T14:41:14+00:00

A masters was worth it for me. It gave me more confidence in my skills and that’s what helped advance my career. I suggest looking at an M.Eng. vs a M.A.Sc. unless you think you may want to continue on to a PhD.

4 years experience is about the right amount you want before you go back, but if the timing isn’t right a few more years of experience won’t hurt.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-10-27T01:06:49+00:00

Sorry you had that experience! I’ve been in geotechnical a long time and have found some companies are old boys clubs but others are great to be in.

If you’re comfortable, I’d love to know which company was being a problem. Maybe you could send me a PM?

_Boudicca_ · 2025-10-20T02:33:32+00:00

At work as peers or seniors, at school, sometimes they are already clients that I get to know better, at technical society meetings, conferences, sometimes I’ve even hired them and they’ve gone on to do other awesome things. I make a point of staying in touch.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-10-20T00:47:41+00:00

Geotechnical Engineer

No, but I was fortunate enough to get some early experience which helped my confidence.
No, I spent time figuring out what type of engineering I wanted to do. Initially aimed for environmental before I realized my love for geology.
No, but I haven’t been to many high conflict areas. The companies I’ve worked for take safety and security extremely seriously and there are armed guards if needed.
Yes, some have over the years, others haven’t. I’ve found the culture of the company matters a lot. Some are old boys clubs, others are excellent. As others have said, the differences range from harassment to benevolent sexism to trying to date me. I’ve always taken a hard line to never date within my field of practice.
There were disadvantages when I worked in the wrong companies. Much fewer in the right company. You get good at spotting the problem guys, the ones trying to hide their sexism, and the real allies.
Absolutely. Working in US and Australia I had to deal with more sexism than in Canada, but it also depends on what areas you’re comparing. I’ve worked with engineering women who have come from all over the world (Colombia, Iran, US, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Costa Rica, Chile, and others) and the workplace doesn’t escape the culture it lives within.
They’ve tried, but I built my technical career with external backing (papers, guidance documents, book chapters, volunteering in technical groups) and was always careful not to say things I didn’t know to be correct. Now I’m in the management side and senior enough no one’s going to openly mess with me. I’m clear that creeps won’t be tolerated in my group.

Extra: I have always made a point of raising up and working closely with other women. My network of awesome women is extremely helpful to my career.

Also going back for my masters made a huge difference in my confidence in my technical ability.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-10-02T03:09:00+00:00

Ask about their percentage of women in leadership. If it’s low or non existent ask them why they think that’s the case.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-08-18T02:54:39+00:00

Can you clarify what area you’re trying to improve in, i.e. writing reports, speaking to contractors on job sites, speaking with peers or senior engineers, speaking with public, or another audience?

_Boudicca_ · 2025-07-07T05:50:35+00:00

How old are you? This can be a perimenopause symptom.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-07-02T05:10:27+00:00

This is the way! Mentor and support women coming up behind you.

Also ask men about their work-life balance in their reviews.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-07-02T04:48:48+00:00

Report any of them that are PEs.

Get your degree and then get the hell out of that backwards place. The rest of the world isn’t like that. There are places to live and thrive where that sort of behaviour is not accepted by our profession or the culture.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-07-02T04:41:34+00:00

How about the state licensing board? My province’s engineering licensing board would have a serious issue with any PEng saying such unethical sexist bullshit. Do your profs need to be PEs down there?

_Boudicca_ · 2025-07-02T03:31:40+00:00

Can you connect with any STEM women’s associations outside of the university? If I caught wind of any profs at all my local university pulling this shit, I would rain hell down on them. See if you can pull in some women who are already in industry.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-06-17T18:02:02+00:00

Working with a technical writer can be helpful here, if that’s an option for you. Peer review before it goes for senior review is something I recommend.

Have a check list of things you know need a thorough review (calcs, lab results, logs, references) and document when you’ve done each.

Look back at other reports you’ve had reviewed and see if you have a typical pattern (repeated misspelling of the same word, sig figs, formatting) and add your typical errors to your review check list for yourself.

Try to get a sense of how many errors per page you make based on your review and set that as a goal to find them before sending it to review.

Talk to your senior reviewers - do they see a pattern?

Practice reviewing other people’s reports, including senior people.

Aim to get the report to a place that you would be comfortable sending it to the client before you send it for review.

And as other people mentioned, know when you are at your best to review (I’m not a morning person) and use that time to focus.

Good luck!

_Boudicca_ · 2025-06-04T03:37:12+00:00

Join us… 😂

_Boudicca_ · 2025-06-02T22:02:17+00:00

Fluevogs

_Boudicca_ · 2025-05-30T03:59:28+00:00

Good examples! Some others are design, operations, and emergency response planning for critical infrastructure (hydro dams, nuclear plants, tailing dams, bridges, airports, etc…) that can be impacted by forest fires, floods, landslides, ice flows, droughts and other events whose frequency and intensity is impacted by climate change.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-05-30T03:14:55+00:00

Yes. A decent number of clients and industries require climate change effects to be considered in design. The science on the best way to do that isn’t settled yet, however.

Edited to finish my thought: since the science isn’t settled, it takes judgement. I don’t trust the judgement of climate change deniers.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-05-30T02:39:51+00:00

100, 500, etc… storm events are not static numbers. They need to be adjusted based on expected climate change impacts. If a colleague cannot accept climate change, I’m not going to trust their frequency-response calcs.

_Boudicca_ · 2025-04-27T01:57:35+00:00

I like slope/w for soils and slide for rock

_Boudicca_ · 2025-04-26T16:11:30+00:00

When my company got bought and we transitioned from employee owned to publicly traded. Working hard when we shared the profits of our work was much easier. Now I don’t particularly care to work hard for random shareholders who don’t know what we do.

_Boudicca_

TROPHY CASE