GBA Hughes Garrison

I think hard work is a big part of it. I mean, that's what got me my degree, and every day, what really gets things done in the workplace is my hard work and my coworkers and everyone around me that keeps the balls rolling, keeping us moving in the direction that we want to be going in. Taking a step back, though, I definitely think I attribute my success to my parents in general, for giving me the chance to go to college. That really set me up in a way that I never would have had without them. They were both engineers, so I guess it's in my DNA.

The best advice I've received is what my dad tells me pretty regularly. Anytime I have a problem and I bring it to him, he pretty much always tells me that there's a way to get through it, and that he knows that I can find it. So it's totally okay to complain and bring up your problems, but at the end of the day, there is a solution out there, and the only person that can solve it is you, especially career-wise. You just need to find the best path forward and then take the steps that you need to overcome those obstacles.

I would say that you really just need to find your place. Especially being in a construction field, it's very male-dominated, so it can be a challenge to feel like you belong and have a role. But things are changing, and there's more and more women in the industry every year, so I think my advice would be to just find somewhere where you love what you do and you're good at it, and keep pushing.

The biggest challenge in civil engineering right now is a really large lack of middle-range leadership. I actually read a couple studies on it that related it back to the political and socioeconomical status of the world like 20 years ago, which was really fascinating. But I think there's just a lack of 10 to 20 year experienced professional engineers to teach younger engineers, and so I think a lot of companies are really struggling, including my own, with having that mid-level engineer to guide you and provide insight to us younger engineers. On the opportunity side, I think everything's an opportunity for us, because any city that's growing is a huge opportunity. As there's more and more population, you need to expand roadways, bridges, water, all the infrastructure just to support the higher population. So I think any booming city is a huge opportunity.

I think morals and values are very important in civil engineering especially. The engineering code of ethics is a huge baseline just to know what to do. Specifically in the civil engineering world, since we are doing public work, we have to have the public's best interest in mind with everything that we do, and hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public. I think you have to carry that with you in every project. In my personal life, it's the same, it's just different. I don't build water lines in my personal life, but I definitely think the same ethics are important, like just considering all people to have value, and making sure that my actions reflect that, and making sure I treat everyone with respect.