Finglas engineer inspires women

AN IRISH Water engineer from Finglas helped promote engineering as a career choice for girls on International Women’s Day last week.

Angela Ryan was one of several engineers who volunteered to help inspire girls and young women on the day, which fell during Engineers Week this year.

A recent Engineers Ireland report highlighted that only 13 percent of engineering graduates in 2017/18 in Ireland were women.

Angela is a Water Supply and Resources Strategy Specialist with Irish Water and has been working as an engineer for over 20 years.

“Irish Water is committed to gender equality – 50 percent of our senior management team is female – which is why we want to inspire girls and young women to explore engineering career paths particularly within the water sector,” she said.

Throughout the week, Irish Water showcased female engineers, like Angela, who are at various stages of their careers and working in different engineering roles within the sector.

Angela says the perception of engineering is often different to the reality.

“And as a result girls might gravitate more towards more science based subjects as opposed to engineering,” she added.

“One of the key skillsets required to be a good engineer, particularly as you advance through your career, is the ability to make clear and well-informed decisions.

“Women tend to have excellent decision making skills and perhaps a tendency to question more.”

Angela also had sound advice for girls leaving school and thinking of checking out a career in engineering.

“Absolutely give it a go,” she said.

“You get to be involved in some really interesting projects and plans.

“I have worked in three different countries and on projects being delivered across the globe.

“I have designed everything from roads, to buildings, to water treatment plants, even a nuclear power plant.

“In recent years, I have moved more towards a planning role, which hopefully will allow me to play a small part in shaping the future of the country.

“Every day brings a new challenge, every day is busy and I haven’t had a ‘boring’ day in the last 20 years.

“I think you would struggle to find any other career where you could say that.”

Irish Water staff across the country spent last week visiting schools, hosting site tours and speaking about their careers in the water industry, as well as highlighting the size and scale of the work in safeguarding Ireland’s water for the future.