We interviewed Madaline Stone, Facilities Engineer Apprentice at Equinix on her thoughts and experience on women in tech.
My jobs involves carrying out daily site rounds. This includes visuals on all equipment on-site and taking reading off equipment. Maintenance on all equipment: This may include general regular maintenance tasks or any repairs that they may need to keep the equipment up and running. Monitoring alarms and reacting to them is a big part of my job which could be anything from UPS alarms to temperature alarms.
The main thing that made me get into engineering was the curiosity of how things worked, as well as the problem-solving side of things. Even from a young age I was always extremely intrigued how things were put together and loved to take anything and everything I possibly could apart and figure out how the parts worked together. So, a career in engineering was the only thing that made sense for me as it fits my personality perfectly as well as my interests.
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There is most definitely a lack of females in the engineering and tech sector and it would be amazing to see more females get involved in the engineering sector, but its important to remember that this industry isn’t for everyone.
There are stereotypes around this industry of course, just like there are around any industry. But it’s important to remember that it is still very much a male dominated industry. There are more and more women slowly going into not just engineering but other male dominated roles and over a course of time I believe these stereotypes will begin to disappear.
You need an interest in engineering to study it whether you are a female or male and want to peruse a career in engineering which can be developed at any stage in life. I also believe getting girls involved in engineering from a young age and showing them the different aspects of it, as most girls believe being an engineer means getting all dirty and oily when is so many different aspects to engineering and not all involve getting filthy day in, day out.
The only barriers for women getting into engineering are the ones they set for themselves by listening to stereotypes instead of just going for it and giving it a go, finding reasons why they can’t do it or shouldn’t do it. That is what I believe to be the biggest barrier for women getting into engineering.
By getting girls into engineering from a young age the same as they do with boys. Show them that it’s not a man’s job that girls can do whatever job they want the same as being a hairdresser is for boys to not just girls.
To be yourself and don’t try and be someone that you’re not to try and fit in with the guys and take everything with a pinch of salt. If your easily offended this is not a career for you as there’s a lot of banter that goes on and it’s one of the best parts about being an engineer. But definitely don’t go in with your rose-tinted glasses on as some of the guys aren’t the nicest but they are quite rare luckily.