Tanya Forester picked up some of the skills for her career in mechanical
engineering at an early age. By 13, Forester had already learned how to assemble
her parents' eight-track player.
"I was really quick to learn how to take it apart," says Forester, who
works in Wisconsin. "But the problem came when I realized my mom would be
back from the store in 20 minutes and wouldn't be too happy with the
display of eight-track bits all over the living room rug. It was sheer desperation
that got that machine back together."
While Forester doesn't advise taking apart your parents' stereo
as career prep, she says the experience got her on the right path to her career
in mechanical engineering. Of course, it helps if you've got some natural
talent for electronics as well.
"My dad was playing some music later on, and noticed the quality of sound
on the eight-track was better," she says. "Before I stopped to think about
it, I blurted out that the parts were all dusty inside and I'd cleaned
them off. Needless to say, he was shocked."
Forester's dad was impressed with this display of mechanical intuition.
He contacted a mechanical engineer he knew through his architectural office
and asked him to come home to talk to his daughter. Forester says she wasn't
impressed with what she heard.
"There was this grizzled old engineer begrudgingly telling me about mechanical
engineering -- a job I'd never even heard of," she remembers. "And he
didn't seem to think it was too savvy to be talking to a girl about engineering."
Forester says she didn't learn much from the session with her dad's
friend. But his suggestion that this was not a field for girls made her curious
about it, so she decided to do her own research. Forester went to her local
library and took out all the books she could find on mechanical engineering.
"After reading the books, I realized this was the career for me," she says.
"It had all the things I liked -- math, science, problem solving -- and for
me, nothing sounded like more fun than being paid to put together or design
mechanical things."
Forester also found some less encouraging information in her career studies.
The attitude expressed by her dad's friend about females working as mechanical
engineers was pretty typical. This was a very uncommon field for women in
the 1970s.
However, Forester wasn't about to let tradition get in the way of
her goals. She took all the math and science courses she could get her hands
on in high school, and she was at the top of her class.
"Now the road is much easier for women in engineering," she says. "There
are more women in this field than ever before. Men are still the majority,
but nobody raises an eyebrow at a female mechanical engineer anymore."
Male and female engineers alike are benefiting from co-op programs. "With
co-op programs, you may be working for IBM in one [four-month] term and a
small manufacturing company for the next. It gives you a really diverse range
of experience and allows you to put the things you learn in the classroom
to good use," says mechanical engineer Donald Webster.
Forester attributes much of her success in making it through the tough
times in those early years to her good study habits. "At that time, I had
to be twice as prepared as the men in my class to feel I had a place there,"
she says.
Now, as the chief of her own mechanical engineering firm, Forester has
traded in her good study habits for a diligent work ethic. Her efforts have
paid off.
"I have several engineers and [mechanical technicians] working for me,
and we all keep very busy," she says.
Some of Forester's recent contracts have included designing and implementing
cargo distribution mechanisms for airports, and researching and designing
the machinery and layout for a poultry plant.
While she enjoys the challenge of being her own boss and likes the idea
of working on a project from concept to completion, Forester says her favorite
project to date was her very first.
"I was 25 years old and, by a stroke of luck, I got a job assisting a mechanical
engineer working for Boeing," she says. "I was just doing the basics for him,
but it was amazing just to be able to see what he was doing. He was a very
creative fellow, and he combined this creativity with enthusiasm and an instinct
for ways to make things work."
Many years later, Forester says her mentor's enthusiasm
still hasn't worn off.
"I still love the work," she says. "I get excited about going into the
office in the morning!"