Nia T. Reid

I think a big thing for me is that you work with a lot of different people with different backgrounds that are different ages. I'm [AGE], and I don't work with too many people my age at all. I work with a lot of older people, and their knowledge is just amazing. Just being able to work and learn from others has been incredible. Now, don't get me wrong, you have those people out there who don't like to teach other people or give advice, but just being that I've been able to kind of adapt to different people, I think that's been a really big thing to help me with my success.

The best career advice I've received is to be confident in what you're doing, because people are always going to doubt you. They're always going to doubt you when you're in that room, especially when you're the only woman in there. They look at you like you don't know what you're talking about, but you honestly just have to be confident, you have to be comfortable, and you know, just know what you're talking about. That's something that I've learned from the beginning. At first, I was just like, oh, these people just don't believe in me, but when I do my research, put my foot down, and I'm confident in what I'm doing, then they look at you and they respect you and what you're doing. This is especially important being a woman in engineering, since this is a male-dominated field.

I would definitely say to be confident in what you're doing, because people are always going to doubt you, especially when you're the only woman in the room. You have to be confident, comfortable, and know what you're talking about. When you do your research, put your foot down, and show confidence, people will respect you. Another big thing for young people is to always stop in your tracks and try to figure things out for yourself at first. But if it's something that you're really struggling with, definitely ask for help. When I was younger, I was a straight-A student in high school and did very well in college, but one thing I wasn't used to doing was asking for help. That's something I had to learn. You're able to make a lot of connections, and people really look at you when you ask questions. So that's always a good thing to do.

The biggest opportunity is definitely that we need more women in the field, for sure. As for challenges, I think it honestly depends on the industry that you're in, because a lot of industries are just kind of falling short. One of the things we're going through right now is they cut our capital down. It's just a struggle, and it's not because we're doing bad or anything like that, it's just kind of higher-ups and what they say, if it has to go towards something else. That's just kind of a challenge. Sometimes your day doesn't always look like how you want it to look. You kind of expect to go into work and have something to do 24-7, being always busy, but some of those times you just kind of have to take a step back, because it doesn't always go as planned. That's something that I kind of struggle with a lot as well, because I used to like things to go just as it is, like on task, on time. But it doesn't go like that. You just kind of have to take a step back and just kind of understand what's going on, and go from there.