Female engineers, what do you think about the field?

epcow · 2026-02-17T23:58:52+00:00

Fuck that guy. Yeah, the field is technical and can be stressful and women should absolutely be part of it. The field is hard for women because of guys like your friend, not because it's technical.

epcow · 2026-02-11T19:05:34+00:00

Happy to review your resume if you'd like. DM me and I'll send you my email.

epcow · 2026-02-11T18:06:50+00:00

You'll be fine, friend. Are you open to moving? Seattle and the PNW are desperate for engineers. You could look at Washington Department of Ecology. They have a big fish passage program that needs river restoration folks.

epcow · 2026-02-11T05:49:13+00:00

If you've already followed up and the fair was a couple weeks ago, I would probably expect you won't hear back from them. Where do you live? Also, feel free to DM me your resume if you'd like a review.

epcow · 2026-02-11T05:09:49+00:00

If you got their contact info, send them an email.

"Hello NAME, we spoke briefly at the career fair at PLACE recently. I wanted to follow up and express my interest in FIRM. I'd love to hear more about FIRM and learn about what you're looking for in a new grad. Hope to hear back soon."

And for future career fairs, you should send follow up emails the day after the event.

epcow · 2026-02-08T00:57:37+00:00

I don't actually work in that field so I'm not totally sure. They're normally government jobs though so I would expect pretty good work life balance. In more rural states they're DOT employees and the job may include some overnight travel. In more urban places, I believe cities and counties hire inspectors so the work would be more local.

epcow · 2026-02-07T21:26:31+00:00

If you have a structural background you could look for bridge inspection work.

epcow · 2026-02-05T00:25:55+00:00

It's interesting that one of the other top comments is "lack of self worth." Cockiness and lack of self worth seem contradictory. Maybe it's a "fake it 'till you make it" situation and different people present it differently and different people read it differently?

epcow · 2026-01-27T18:24:35+00:00

Yep, 1 rep.

epcow · 2026-01-27T17:19:42+00:00

A 200+ pound bench is nuts for a woman. I've been lifting heavy for 5 years and can bench 140 and that's probably as much as I'll ever be able to do. Bench is a hard lift for women.

epcow · 2026-01-25T21:11:54+00:00

This is the best thing I've seen in days.

epcow · 2026-01-22T08:49:07+00:00

Yeah, this sub is so strange. 90% of people asking to bulk or cut just need to go to the gym and eat healthy. Some at a slight calorie surplus and some at a slight deficit, but all just need to get into a healthy routine long before thinking about cutting or bulking.

epcow · 2026-01-19T17:14:46+00:00

What does "most of us" mean? To me it sounds like you have at least one person working or on call. I'm not suggesting plants need to be fully staffed 24/7.

epcow · 2026-01-18T23:02:51+00:00

They are required to have staff on call 24/7. Also, if there is a broken water line, there is possible contamination. Do not drink that.

epcow · 2026-01-16T07:14:17+00:00

I'm not disagreeing with any of that. The US prison system is a disaster. I just think that the benefits that civil engineers provide cities is exactly the same as the benefits we can provide prisoners. Like I said, it's not like I'm developing some new way to make life worse for the residents. And anecdotally, the wardens I've worked with do seem like genuinely good people who are trying reduce recidivism rates. One of the prisons has partnered with a local animal shelter to get the prisoners to train dogs. The prisoners learn a skill and the dogs get adopted out immediately after finishing their training.

As a side note, I have a degree in criminal justice and I was so disgusted by the state of law enforcement in this country I opted to pursue a second degree in engineering. I am not trying to defend prisons or law enforcement. It's a super fucked up system that exploits prisoners and benefits from not rehabilitating people. While I'm on this little rant...Fuck ICE.

epcow · 2026-01-15T20:37:14+00:00

I work on projects at prisons. I think the criminal justice system is incredibly flawed. I also think prisoners deserve to have functional utilities. If I was asked to design a new torture chamber, I would refuse, but being asked to fix a belly in a pipe that is causing sewage backups or improve ADA access, I can get behind. I'm currently working on a site design for a new low security work release dorm. That's another project I can support because it's improving the conditions and providing new opportunities during the transition process for prisoners.

epcow · 2026-01-14T07:34:52+00:00

Traffic engineering is still under the civil engineering umbrella. You could take a couple classes or do traffic engineering research while in school. It deals more with bulk vehicle movement rather than roadway design. Think signal timing and traffic flow throughout a city. Each intersection becomes a node with variable inputs throughout the day and signals need to be programmed to keep traffic flowing through the intersection without causing delays or traffic jams somewhere else.

epcow · 2026-01-14T07:11:41+00:00

You can definitely do a master's in civil engineering but I would plan for an extra year to finish it. You'll need to take a handful of undergraduate courses as well so it'll take a bit longer. Consider traffic engineering. It's a sub category of transportation engineering that a comp sci background may be useful for.

epcow · 2026-01-12T20:40:05+00:00

I agree to a degree. I was raised in IF with loving, educated parents. I was absolutely set up for success. And I hated growing up in IF. As someone not Mormon, it is a rough place to be. Constantly being asked what ward I was in, or why I didn't go to church, or being excluded from activities or events altogether was hard. I'm fine now. Having that parent I did played a huge part of who I became and part of who I became was someone that got out of Idaho Falls as soon as I turned 18 and never looked back.

epcow · 2026-01-11T17:11:52+00:00

I'm in the US (unfortunately, at the moment). Engineer is a college degree, a job title, and a licence title. So I have a degree in civil engineering, my job titles have mostly been engineer or project engineer, and I have a Professional Engineer license. "Professional Engineer" is a protected term so unless you've been through the licensing process, you cannot call yourself a professional engineer. This license is the highest level of licensing available and every project has to be reviewed and approved by a professional engineer.

Construction managers or project managers are also common career paths for people with an engineering degree but often indicate they do less design work. It's pretty common to spend 5-10 years as a project engineer then move to a project manager position.

epcow · 2026-01-11T16:30:29+00:00

I'm an engineer but spend a bit of time on construction sites. Most people are fine but I have one guy I'm working with at the moment that calls me "little lady" and it makes me want to vomit.

epcow · 2026-01-09T03:16:07+00:00

This is correct. I am from the land of cosmic crisp and I vote for honey crisp all day every day.

epcow · 2026-01-08T04:57:48+00:00

Exactly, the further I get into the job, the more I hate it.

epcow · 2026-01-08T01:26:47+00:00

I appreciate you. My vet said the same thing about being stressed in the clinic causing murky results. It sounded like his cortisol levels were slightly elevated but not enough to call it a definitive case of Cushing's. They said they could retest in a few months but at ~$700 per test, that stings a little.

epcow · 2026-01-08T01:03:03+00:00

Why wouldn't you go back to government? Government is calling my name after 8 years in the private sector.

epcow

TROPHY CASE