International Women in Engineering Day 2023
International Women in Engineering Day is celebrated annually on June 23rd, to raise women’s profile in engineering and focus attention on the amazing career opportunities available to girls in this exciting industry. Shining a light on women in engineering worldwide gives us a chance to celebrate outstanding achievements across this industry.
Whilst we’re always looking to champion outstanding people in engineering, this day is an ideal opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements in engineering, raise awareness about the types of careers available, and share stories of inspiring women.
The number of women in engineering roles also increased from 562,000 in 2010 to 936,000 in 2021.
For this IWED, join us in celebrating just some of the inspirational women in our community and the empowering work they do for women everywhere.
Simone Mulder
Owner & Engineer, ConfiCreate
Simone is the owner and engineer at ConfiCreate – a company dedicated to helping customers who want to use DriveWorks but don’t have the time or resources to implement it themselves.
Here, Simone talks about her experience working in a STEM career, how she took the opportunity to start her own business, choosing which projects she works on, and how she got to where she is.
”STEM careers have never been so exciting, technology is moving on exponentially and there is no shortage of opportunities. Technology is never out of fashion and the opportunity to innovate always exists.”
Where did your initial interest in Engineering start?
“In high school, I really liked science, physics and especially maths. Solving equations was my favourite thing to do. I initially considered studying Maths, but I didn’t really know what kind of career that would lead to, so then I started looking in the direction of architecture and engineering.
I then studied mechanical engineering. I had the option to choose between 2 specializations: product design engineering and integrated product development. I chose the first one because this was targeting customer products, instead of heavy machinery”
Were you encouraged to pursue a career in STEM?
”No one especially encouraged me to pursue a career in STEM. My parents just wanted me to do what I liked, and none of my friends chose a similar career path. I just figured out what I liked most in high school and tried to find a career path that corresponded to that.”
What made you choose your selected STEM field?
“I wasn’t exactly sure what I liked, so I went to some trial study days. Mechanical engineering appealed to me the most, as I could also design customer products.”
Can you tell us about some of the exciting things you get to work on in your role?
“Right now, I’m implementing DriveWorks at several companies all over my country. I get to build nice looking configurators for their websites and make their life easier by automating multiple processes in sales and engineering.”
What advice would you give any young woman considering an education and career in STEM?
“I would say: go for it! I think that the campaigns for young girls getting involved in STEM are a good effort to make sure girls know that a career in STEM is an option for them to explore.”
How would you explain your STEM field to someone looking to pursue a similar career to you?
“What I’m doing right now (DriveWorks implementation) is a pretty far stretch from mechanical engineering, so it’s hard for me to pinpoint what STEM field I’m in exactly. When people ask me what I do, I tell them that I help companies to automate their processes through configuring their products. This can be by done by automating their engineering process, or create an online configurator, or anything in between.”
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your STEM career?
“The biggest challenge I faced was having a burn out. This was a challenging period in my career, but I learned a lot. After recovering, I had the opportunity to start my own business. This was the best thing that happened to my career, I get to choose what projects I want to work on. So ultimately I’m glad it happened!”
Thanks so much for sharing with us Simone. It was fascinating to hear from Simone that she was unsure what career path she wanted to take before being led to STEM subjects, now bringing her to where she is today. This highlights the importance of making sure children and young adults are given an environment to explore their interests and the careers available to them.
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