Older Women in Engineering?
Exploring our company, and the idea of women in the civil engineering field.
Will I be a good fit?
Some of you may know our company, Triggs Technologies, and know our back story as well. Others may be newer customers/WILDCAT DCP operators, and only know that when they call, they always reach Meg or Sally. Where did Meg and Sally come from?
The truth is, we (Meg and Sally) are not civil/geotechnical engineers, although we are both college grads of STEM programs. Our father, J. Fred Triggs, started Triggs Technologies as a post-retirement endeavor; he was a civil engineer, specializing in geotechnical engineering, and he ran a full-scale civil engineering company outside of Cleveland, Ohio for about 20 years (Triggs and Associates) pre-retirement. After he sold Triggs and Associates in the early 1980s, he consulted for a bit, and eventually set about to independently create the WILDCAT DCP, a DCP with expanded capabilities, that he said he always wished for in the field days of his career. The Wildcat DCP was ready to be marketed and sold after it was presented to AEG in 1990.
By 1990, we (Sally and Meg) were both independent college graduates, developing careers in STEM fields. But, with the creation of the WILDCAT, we both saw a new enthusiasm in our father, Fred, and we both talked engineering with him, learned from him, and even worked with him in his post-retirement, “WILDCAT” years more than we ever had in years prior. We were getting our WILDCAT toes wet, and finally understanding a bit about our father’s career in the field he was so passionate about.
Jump forward 25 years to the mid-2010’s, and Fred was still working full time into his early 80’s. One bad day when he suffered a stroke took him out of his field and his business in a flash. No preparations had been made for him to leave Triggs Technologies, Inc. He had only daughters and not a one of us had studied or were even interested in engineering…well, at least not initially.
As family’s do, we rallied to care for him and to keep Triggs Technologies going, at least until we decided how best to deal with its future. Fred died in 2019. Meg and Sally kept running Triggs Technologies, no longer out of family obligation, but out of a respect for the WILDCAT DCP instrument and its capabilities, an appreciation for the great people who had become users of the DCP and depended on Triggs for replacements and refills, and for, incredibly, an honest interest in the field!
From the moment Fred fell ill, we had a consulting geotechnical engineer (Paul Simpson, P.E.) working with us to answer technical questions out of our reach. We knew this company needed an engineer. Could either of us pursue an education in civil engineering? Realistically, we are past the right age to do that. Sadly, so far, none of our children have studied engineering, either. But we hold out hope for our kids (second careers!) and our grandkids, as well.
All this thinking made me (Meg) want to better understand the reality of women in civil/geotechnical engineering in current times. Had I known what I know now, I probably would have studied civil engineering in the 1980s and followed my dad into the field. What would my career have been like? Could a female be happy in the field in those years? How about now? What is the reality of a career in civil engineering for women in the 2020s and onward?
Stay tuned! My findings will be presented in my next few blogs.
