Fiona Wark
Bio
Woman in science and engineering. Single dog parent. Climber. Lover of the outdoors. Opinionated introvert.
Stories (5/0)
My Dog Wears a Muzzle for His Own Protection... Not Yours
On the long list of things that I have discovered since becoming a dog owner, perhaps the one which irritates me the most is that people will actually actively cross the street to avoid a muzzled dog. I know that because I have watched people do it. Every single time I see it happen, I want to scream.
By Fiona Wark6 years ago in Petlife
Notes from a Site Engineer 4
Some site roles are, as mine was, primarily observational in nature. This means that you will spend very little time doing actual physical work of any kind, and an awful lot of time standing around watching other people work. Yes, I was that kind of site engineer. I supervised other people doing the 'hard graft.' I know that, in general, that does not make me the most popular person on site. I came to terms with that a long time ago. I made up for this lack of popularity with my sparkling wit and personality (definitely a joke, I made up for it mostly by being the clumsy goofball).
By Fiona Wark7 years ago in Journal
Notes from a Site Engineer 3
Before you all scoff and tell me I'm ridiculous - 'what are you on about - dirt! Stupid woman!' - let me tell you one thing. Apparently, not everyone walks onto an earthworks project or a construction site expecting them to be dirty. I had one graduate in particular who actually expressed it as 'it's so dirty' about the site that we were both on. I will admit, my eye roll at this observation was hard enough to give me a headache. Admittedly, because it was a remedial project and an old landfill as well as an earthworks site, that site was more probably more dirty than some. Sites are not hospital wards or microbiology laboratories. Dirt is, let's be honest, very much the nature of the beast.
By Fiona Wark7 years ago in Journal
Notes From a Site Engineer 2
I'm clumsy. I'm not clownishly clumsy to the point no one trusts me to carry things. I'm not cute clumsy either. I'm big, blundering, blunt instrument clumsy. I have always blamed it on being tall, it often feels like my brain doesn't really know what my feet are doing. So, I have a tendency to blunder into things, and this blundering is both metaphorical and literal. I feel, however, I cannot be alone in this. There must be others who venture on site who are the same way inclined.
By Fiona Wark7 years ago in Journal
Notes from a Site Engineer
Here's a little secret: as a graduate engineer, I hated site work. I had to be pushed and poked and prodded until I left the office. I resisted all attempts to send me to site. I preferred the office ivory tower, sitting behind a desk writing reports and sending emails. I did not grab life on site with both hands. I must have been an absolute nightmare for my seniors to manage. Looking back, I know the reasons why I was the way I was, and I can understand anyone else entering the industry who feels the same way as I did. I want to tell them—it's OK. Nobody expects you to be perfect and nobody expects you to know everything and nobody expects you to exude confidence from every pore from the second you are sent on site. Confidence, or the ability to fake being confident, comes naturally to some people and less so to others. It does not come naturally to me, and if you're in the same boat as I am, then you're not alone. Never let this industry of big characters and machismo make you think everyone knows exactly what they're doing all of the time. They don't. Some of the time, just like you will be, they're winging it.
By Fiona Wark7 years ago in Journal