Today marks International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The theme for 2019 is around “Balance for Better”, with a focus on creating a more gender-balanced world and celebrating women’s achievements. As summed up by the official campaign:
“Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage …”
In the spirit of the day, we spoke with three of our female members of staff, in two traditionally male dominated fields that lack this balance; engineering and finance. We asked them how they got started and what advice they have for those looking to get into the same careers.
Michela Mascherin, Senior Control Systems Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- My decision to get into engineering was really easy. I always wanted to be an engineer and I remember being at primary school and doing this easy equation: “I really like maths, so I will be an engineer!” And I’ve stuck to that idea ever since
- Growing up, I decided that I wanted to work with renewable energy for a cleaner world and this is what I like regarding Bowman, as we work for a less polluted world!
- What I really like about my job is that it’s a kind of magic. You have to leave your mind, go free, find the interconnections between things, and once you get an idea you have to find a way to do it, and at the end everything goes into a black box that reacts as you wanted
- Engineering is a fun job and never boring. I wake up in the morning and am happy to go to work!
Oriana Pickwell, Financial Controller
Advice for those looking to get into finance or accounting:
- Finance was a good fit for me, as I enjoyed maths and working with numbers as a child
- It’s an interesting field to get in to, with lots of variety and where no day is the same
- To get into the field, work hard to get through your schooling and gain a qualification in either:
Nadia Frerichs, Test Development Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- I like the problem-solving aspect of engineering, especially working in an environment where there is lots of development work happening
- Don’t be afraid of smaller companies. At Bowman, we’re a relatively small company so you get good visibility of all the things going on
- It’s also good to work on products that are still at an early enough stage so you can change things and have a real impact
We’re incredibly proud of the entire Bowman team, and it’s fair to say that without the women on our team and the companies we work with we wouldn’t have the products and support network we have in place today. Thank you to Michela, Oriana and Nadia for sharing their thoughts.
For more resources on International Women’s Day, visit the official website.
Today marks International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The theme for 2019 is around “Balance for Better”, with a focus on creating a more gender-balanced world and celebrating women’s achievements. As summed up by the official campaign:
“Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage …”
In the spirit of the day, we spoke with three of our female members of staff, in two traditionally male dominated fields that lack this balance; engineering and finance. We asked them how they got started and what advice they have for those looking to get into the same careers.
Michela Mascherin, Senior Control Systems Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- My decision to get into engineering was really easy. I always wanted to be an engineer and I remember being at primary school and doing this easy equation: “I really like maths, so I will be an engineer!” And I’ve stuck to that idea ever since
- Growing up, I decided that I wanted to work with renewable energy for a cleaner world and this is what I like regarding Bowman, as we work for a less polluted world!
- What I really like about my job is that it’s a kind of magic. You have to leave your mind, go free, find the interconnections between things, and once you get an idea you have to find a way to do it, and at the end everything goes into a black box that reacts as you wanted
- Engineering is a fun job and never boring. I wake up in the morning and am happy to go to work!
Oriana Pickwell, Financial Controller
Advice for those looking to get into finance or accounting:
- Finance was a good fit for me, as I enjoyed maths and working with numbers as a child
- It’s an interesting field to get in to, with lots of variety and where no day is the same
- To get into the field, work hard to get through your schooling and gain a qualification in either:
Nadia Frerichs, Test Development Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- I like the problem-solving aspect of engineering, especially working in an environment where there is lots of development work happening
- Don’t be afraid of smaller companies. At Bowman, we’re a relatively small company so you get good visibility of all the things going on
- It’s also good to work on products that are still at an early enough stage so you can change things and have a real impact
We’re incredibly proud of the entire Bowman team, and it’s fair to say that without the women on our team and the companies we work with we wouldn’t have the products and support network we have in place today. Thank you to Michela, Oriana and Nadia for sharing their thoughts.
For more resources on International Women’s Day, visit the official website.
Today marks International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The theme for 2019 is around “Balance for Better”, with a focus on creating a more gender-balanced world and celebrating women’s achievements. As summed up by the official campaign:
“Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage …”
In the spirit of the day, we spoke with three of our female members of staff, in two traditionally male dominated fields that lack this balance; engineering and finance. We asked them how they got started and what advice they have for those looking to get into the same careers.
Michela Mascherin, Senior Control Systems Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- My decision to get into engineering was really easy. I always wanted to be an engineer and I remember being at primary school and doing this easy equation: “I really like maths, so I will be an engineer!” And I’ve stuck to that idea ever since
- Growing up, I decided that I wanted to work with renewable energy for a cleaner world and this is what I like regarding Bowman, as we work for a less polluted world!
- What I really like about my job is that it’s a kind of magic. You have to leave your mind, go free, find the interconnections between things, and once you get an idea you have to find a way to do it, and at the end everything goes into a black box that reacts as you wanted
- Engineering is a fun job and never boring. I wake up in the morning and am happy to go to work!
Oriana Pickwell, Financial Controller
Advice for those looking to get into finance or accounting:
- Finance was a good fit for me, as I enjoyed maths and working with numbers as a child
- It’s an interesting field to get in to, with lots of variety and where no day is the same
- To get into the field, work hard to get through your schooling and gain a qualification in either:
Nadia Frerichs, Test Development Engineer
Advice for those looking to get into engineering:
- I like the problem-solving aspect of engineering, especially working in an environment where there is lots of development work happening
- Don’t be afraid of smaller companies. At Bowman, we’re a relatively small company so you get good visibility of all the things going on
- It’s also good to work on products that are still at an early enough stage so you can change things and have a real impact
We’re incredibly proud of the entire Bowman team, and it’s fair to say that without the women on our team and the companies we work with we wouldn’t have the products and support network we have in place today. Thank you to Michela, Oriana and Nadia for sharing their thoughts.
For more resources on International Women’s Day, visit the official website.