This is a departure from the crafting, the cooking, the child-rearing, the housekeeping… and maybe I’ve mentioned it only a few times. My background is in civil engineering (some may not believe this) and after college, I worked for only one company for eleven years (rarity nowadays) but was fortunate to wear many hats. I’ve been a field/project  engineer, assistant project manager, and at the time I opted out, I was an estimator. Actually, my business card read: Senior Cost Analyst.

Reviewing blueprints, meeting with developers, trying to figure out how to get their projects within a reasonable budget, meeting with manufacturer representatives, architects and contractors to orchestrate a project – I loved it, loved the people I worked with (most of them, hehe) and for. What I loved most was walking through a building as it was being built and seeing the 3-D version of what I’d been studying and budgeting. Sounds idealistic, doesn’t it? The stress, I could leave behind, and I did – just traded it for other stress. Seems like many years ago, but it’s only been a little over 3 years. My notes from a project meeting looks so foreign to me right now…

Every once in a blue moon, I make a night out by attending a dinner meeting with a professional organization I used to belong to, National Assocation of Women in Construction, NAWIC (pronounced NAY-WICK). There are chapters all over the nation – two in the Chicago area and two in the far north and northwest regions of llinois. I coordinate meetings for one of the chapters and seemingly, it’s working out well. I’m a bit removed from the construction industry but have been pretty successful with keeping in touch with colleagues from my other life and some of them have become good friends.

The beauty of dining with these women and sitting in on the meetings is inspiration for me. Most evenings there is a guest speaker, someone from the industry, who might talk about a current project, hot topic in construction, or sometimes new construction materials. Recently, the dinner topic was to showcase your company, your role in the company and how it relates to NAWIC. These women meet every month and people know what firms they work for, but sometimes, you forget what people do on a daily basis.

It was completely refreshing to hear stories from the trenches. There were fun ones: I met a woman who managed projects at O’Hare Airport and whose voice is used in a few public announcements (think: Thank you for not smoking)! And, some stories not so fun… in 2010, there is still a sense of “the old boys club”. I recall going to a few meetings myself where there might have been 50-75 people and 2 women. Personally, I almost always used those circumstances as my opportunity to be memorable, but you have to be able to roll with the punches and maintain a sense of decorum amidst alcoholic-influenced people.

In NAWIC you see the encouragement and support for those struggling with difficult personalities or just the rough economy, and yes, people are trying to get work anywhere. People are losing jobs or getting hours cut and there’s little building to go around right now. Interestingly enough, there’s been some buzz in the insurance world regarding project inquiry in Chicago and apparently the same thing happened in Texas when George W. took office back in early 00’s. Perhaps there’s hope for the 10’s.

Sure, listening to these women showcasing their employers or their own companies made me miss the “ol’ days”, but really, I appreciate my former employers and the opportunities I had even more and I have a great deal of admiration for my talented, goal-oriented, multi-tasking, feisty, business-savvy “construction sisters”.