Lessons I’ve Learned as a Woman in Construction
Date Posted: June 28, 2019
Posted In: Discussion, Workforce,
From DMagazine: by Carly Gallardo
Growing up, I enjoyed helping my dad change the car oil, mowing the lawn, and going to the hardware store to get supplies to fix things around the house. I enjoyed tinkering with VCR’s and other electronics to the point that I was well-known in high school for installing my friends’ car stereos.
As I got ready to start college my dad, who is an industrial engineer, persuaded me to pursue an engineering degree. After researching engineering degrees and speaking to professors in the civil engineering department, I was sold. When I joined the program, I realized that there weren’t going to be many women pursuing an engineering degree and I felt nervous about what the actual workplace would look like. I soon found out.
My first internship was for an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were women only in administrative roles. For my second summer internship I worked with a renowned general contractor building military housing in El Paso, Texas. With that, my construction career began, and I immediately noticed there weren’t many women in the field. In fact, there was only one. She was an assistant superintendent who had come up through the ranks from a laborer to leadman, then foreman, and finally, assistant superintendent. She earned her stripes, as they say, and she was my first mentor.
As a woman in the construction industry, mentorship has been extremely important for my career. It is hard to find role models who look like me, so most of my mentors and advocates are males who’ve been willing to teach, listen, and provide advice. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors from the vice-president level to the project-engineer level. Some of the most important advocates I’ve had in my career have been my peers.
After graduating, I spent six years building military housing projects in El Paso and Clovis, New Mexico. Then a position at McCarthy Building companies caught my eye. The company was looking for assistant superintendents to run field operations for healthcare and commercial projects in Houston. I got the job. This was a great move in my career not only because I was going to expand my construction resume, but because I was going to a new role. A role that is rarely held by a woman in the industry; McCarthy was willing to give me a chance.