{"id":3164,"date":"2020-02-19T08:18:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T13:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/thought-leadership\/?p=3164"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:03:12","slug":"one-womans-journey-to-engineering-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/thought-leadership\/one-womans-journey-to-engineering-success\/","title":{"rendered":"One woman\u2019s journey to engineering success"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ensuring girls have a voice while building the bridge of where today meets tomorrow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been graced with the gift of curiosity. As a child, I\nwas fascinated by how things worked, and I would take things apart, like a\nsandbox crane or Matchbox car tracks, and put them back together just to see\ntheir inner workings. I didn\u2019t know it at the time, but mechanics, physics,\nfriction, and other aspects of engineering were taking hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were two pivotal factors during my school years that\nset me on a path to becoming a mechanical engineer. The first was an\nencouraging ninth-grade math teacher who sparked my love for mathematics. I was\ngood at it but, for fear of being stigmatized a \u201cmath geek,\u201d I kept it a\nsecret. That changed when my teacher asked, \u201cWhy do you see it as a bad thing\nto be unique and smart?\u201d I didn\u2019t have a good answer\u2014and from then on, I\nembraced my love of math and got over the fear of being labeled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second factor was that my parents owned an automotive\ntool and die shop. I regularly went there in the afternoons and spent most of\nmy time hanging out with the manufacturing engineer. It was by this curiosity\nthat my fascination with STEM developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After high school, I attended Eastern Michigan University\nand received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical\/industrial engineering and a\nMaster of Business Administration in international marketing and finance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon graduating, I was offered a position at Schlumberger,\nwhere I had interned, in their CAD\/CAM software training and technical\ndocumentation department. After six years I moved on to Autodesk where I spent\nthe next 23 years until joining Siemens in April 2018 as their senior vice president\nof business strategy and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facing Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I was 18 years old and a freshman at college, my father\ntold me it was a bad idea as a female to get a mechanical engineering degree,\nsince I also planned on being a wife and a mother. His exact words: \u201cGetting a\ndegree will be useless.\u201d Then, after I received my degree and was offered a\njob, he wondered why I even needed a boyfriend, especially since I had a great\njob offer. He couldn\u2019t see the point of a female needing a career if she wanted\na family life, and conversely why she would need a husband if she wanted a\ncareer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At EMU, I had a welding professor who was blatantly unfair\non the few women who took his course and who clearly did not support the notion\nof women in the plant\/factory. I was determined to get through the class, so I\ndidn\u2019t speak up \u2014 a decision I regret and, if one were to encounter this\nhostility today, I recommend they speak up and talk to counselors and others\nabout the unfair treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even today in my personal life, when asked what I do, the\nreaction is almost always uniformly the same: they\u2019re surprised I have a\nbackground in engineering and that I\u2019m using STEM skills in a male-dominated\nindustry. They say things like, \u201cWow, you don\u2019t look like an engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, stereotypes and situations still exist. Women\nwant to be treated fairly and respectfully so it\u2019s important to recognize this\ntype of thinking as challenges we face, things we must power through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting STEM<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a big supporter and I encourage both girls and boys to get involved in FIRST Robotics, Lego Leagues and \u201cmaker\u201d movement teams.\u00a0 Girls can collaborate, problem-solve and use STEM skills in real-world applicable conditions, even if they don\u2019t want to pursue engineering, or it\u2019s not one of their \u201cskills.\u201d These teams are all about people coming together for a common cause for something that has meaning, so additional skills like marketing and fundraising support is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brenda with the FIRST Robotics State Championship all-girl team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, we need to build a better support system for our\nyoungest kids to help them overcome the initial shock when introducing the\nearly traditional math\/science programs. It\u2019s critical to understand how math\nand science works around us so the more we cater to young kids and connect the\nreal world to the learning, the more their interest will hold in the important\nSTEM disciplines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
First Lego League Team, Howell Viking BOTS. Brenda Discher sponsored and founded this team in 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Critical career\nlearnings.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Have a great\nmentor and advocate<\/strong>. I was honored to have great mentors advocating on my\nbehalf when I wasn\u2019t in the room. It\u2019s important that women engineers actively\nengage with younger women, encourage them, mentor them, and advocate for them.\nYou can make a major impact if you mentor just one or two women who could\neventually become an engineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Build a personal\nnetwork<\/strong>. Every position and job opportunity I had, including my current\none, would not have happened if I didn\u2019t tap into my network. It\u2019s not about\npopularity; it\u2019s about having people you trust and stay in regular contact with.\nYou also must give back to them. I\u2019m a big proponent of giving more than you\ntake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Timing<\/strong>. We live in a world where things are unpredictable. Carefully think about yourself and your goals. By self-managing goals, you can take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Siemens team at the Women of Color STEM Conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brenda Discher is the Senior Vice President of Business Strategy & Marketing at Siemens Digital Industry Software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n