Influential Woman · Industrial Construction

Angela Allen

Engineering Document Control, Johnson & Johnson

Eden, NC

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Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Degree in Global Logistics

Her Story

About Angela

I've been in engineering document control for 15 years, and everything I've ever done in the construction industry has been supporting engineering. I originally got a degree in global logistics, but there was a construction project in my town where I started as an admin. Within three months, they rolled me into engineering, and when the job left my hometown, I left with them. I've traveled the country for the last 15 years, going from project to project. When one project ends, you go on somewhere else. I'm currently a private contractor working for Johnson & Johnson on a greenfield pharmaceutical project, which means it's a new project from the ground up. My job is to oversee the documentation for engineering and make sure that all of the documentation needed to turn the plan over at the end of construction is compliant and in place. I work 12-hour days, normally five days a week, and I live in an RV that I drag all over the country. After 15 years of traveling, I'm kind of ready to settle down and do something a little more permanent. I run a laser and do woodwork with wood and metal, and I'm wanting to slide over and start getting a business going in arts and crafts.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Angela

01What do you attribute your success to?

I think that would be the strength in the way that I was raised. I started working at a young age, and I was raised with the motto that if you can't do it right, don't do it at all. That's what I was brought up with from my father - if you're not gonna do it right, don't even bother. So I think I just have the drive to figure it out. My father's famous words to me were, 'off your butt and on your feet. If you don't do it, nobody's gonna do it for you.' That's kind of what drives me. I've always said I'll go to the grave with a worn out body - I'm gonna use it while I'm here.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say it's a tough industry for women, but it's getting better as some of the older generation retires out. When I started 15 years ago, there were still men in the industry that didn't believe women belonged in the industry, but it's not the same now. It's very lucrative. I would say get your education and do any internship that you can get with any company while you're in school, because it's a job that will take you anywhere in the world you want to go. It will take you overseas, it'll take you anywhere.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The challenges are always getting the process down on greenfield projects, which are new projects from the ground up. Every project is different. You do engineering document management for one project, and you go to another, and it's completely different systems, completely different programs. No construction company runs the same - a lot of them have their own programs built that are solely theirs. So I think a lot of it is always just the ever-changing systems that we use, and learning to get a system that's constantly ever-changing. It's constant learning, ever-changing systems, ever-changing processes, and then a lot of times, ever-changing people, because people come and go in this industry, they travel, so you stay a year or two and they're ready to roll.

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