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Workforce Diversity For Engineering And IT Professionals Magazine, established in 1994, is the first magazine published for the professional, diversified high-tech workforce, which encompasses everyone, including women, members of minority groups, people with disabilities, and non-disabled white males. to advance in the diversified working community.

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 Full Of Energy

Katie Mcky
 
THE DROP IN GAS AND OIL PRICES NOTWITHSTANDING, OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND IN THE ENERGY, GAS & UTILITIES SECTOR
 
Deloitte is bullish about energy—even with bearish oil prices. The leading business consultancy believes the energy sector will weather the drop in oil prices and when it comes to utilities, the industry transformation is no longer pending; it’s underway. Further good news is that this is no longer a static sector, with renewables playing an ever greater role as their costs drop and their efficiencies rise.
 
Hands On At Consolidated Edison Company
 
KaitlinGreen is chief construction inspector in steam operations at Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (Con Edison), one of the nation’s largest investorowned energy companies.
 
“I oversee the construction of capital projects and maintenance on the steam system,” she explains.
 
It’s a role that requires an array of skills from problem solving to educating the public. “Con Edison has given me the opportunity to be in a problem-solving position,” Green says. “For example, when we excavate a street for maintenance or leak repairs, we sometimes find interferences underground that we didn’t anticipate. We have to move quickly to make the area safe and fix the issue. It’s a hands-on engineering role and I’m able to coordinate with both internal and external customers. I like the challenge and collaboration.”
 
Her role is complex, but so is Con Edison, which Green also likes.
 
“Utilities are so interesting,” she explains. “They combine a business with a critical service that our customers need and demand, while adhering to state regulations. We have to safely deliver commodities (electric, gas, and steam service) and we still have to operate 24 hours a day.”
 
To get the job done, Green often has to collaborate with several entities.
 
“We were installing a steam service for a new building under construction in midtown Manhattan in a very tight underground space where gas, electric, and steam lines all converged; there wasn’t much room,” she recalls. “Our team coordinated with city agencies, as well as with our own operational groups to safely and efficiently position the lines.”
 
There are plenty of opportunities for professional growth at Con Edison.
 
“I’ve gained valuable supervisory skills in the construction field in my current job,” Green says. “Within the company, now I can move into higher level positions in planning, construction, or the corporate environmental group. There are several supervisory, specialist, and technical positions available in this environment. The company encourages all of its employees to advance into greater positions of increased responsibility.”
 
If hired into a supervisory role, Green suggests tapping into the experience of veterans. “If you’re just starting out in a challenging position, be flexible, learn as much as you can from more senior employees, and try to gain as many transferrable skills as possible.”
 
She also suggests being open to challenges beyond your training.
 
“A lot of young engineers think they can only work in one type of engineering field,” she says. “Be flexible and embrace various technical problem-solving projects that an engineering education prepares you to work on.”
 
Green points to her own career track. “I studied environmental engineering and worked on a rural water treatment system at my previous job,” she says. “When I joined Con Edison in an environmental role, I was able to use my experience for the utility by working in a power plant insuring that the water treatment processes there were in compliance with government regulations. From there, I moved into construction supervising to gain additional knowledge of the company and also to gain experience in supervising employees. I like it. It’s a challenging environment and we’re doing important work that impacts Manhattan. It’s a job I never thought I’d have. It has given me an incredible amount of transferrable skills, and provided an incredible stepping stone to the next place in my career.”
 
Finding A Home At Duke Energy
 
Julio Gonzalez, engineering technologist, works for Duke Energy, a giant in the utilities sector. Even though Duke Energy employs 29,000 people, Gonzalez still thinks of it as a fine family, one that nurtures growth.
 
“The people and culture at Duke Energy are what I enjoy the most,” he says. “There is a sense of family that I have developed with my coworkers. Also, I have been able to achieve a good work/life balance while continuing to have the ability to learn and grow.”
 
Gonzalez had been proactive in his growth, accepting responsibilities beyond his assigned tasks.
 
“I was asked by a close friend here to take a leadership role with an employee resource group,” he explains. “It was an unexpected request and not something I had on my radar. I was unsure how this new responsibility would affect my already busy schedule, but the pros outweighed the cons and I accepted the challenge. I’ve learned a lot. The experience and exposure to others internally have been invaluable.”
 
His leadership role has also exposed him to Duke’s diversity.
 
“I was most surprised by the different ethnicities and cultures within the company,” Gonzalez says. “I have especially enjoyed connecting with the various Latin American cultures, such as Peruvian and Colombian.”
 
Duke is also at the forefront of diverse energy generation.
 
“Our industry is going through significant changes, including increased use of renewable energy sources and researching and testing battery storage capabilities,” he says. “My job allows me to be part of the next generation of energy.”
 
Gonzalez uses technology to meet and beat expectations.
 
“I have always loved working to meet our customers’ needs and my work with Duke Energy has allowed me to do that with both external and internal customers. I work with advanced metering infrastructure, which is an integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that enable two-way communication between utilities and customers,” he remarks.
 
For career advancement, networking serves the same purpose, increasing one’s efficacy.
 
“Continually work to maintain a strong network in your field,” says Gonzalez. “Consider whether to limit your social media presence unless it’s something that will help your career, such as LinkedIn.”
 
Connecting Colleagues At Encana
 
Tina Maglio Johnson, senior infrastructure engineer, finds that Encana is a place where her brain can breathe.
 
“Encana is a place where you are given the freedom to solve business and engineering problems through whatever approach works best for you,” she explains. “Diversity of thought is valued.”
 
Johnson also values her colleagues’ experience.
 
“Being in an operations engineering role right out of school was very intimidating,” she recalls. “Field experience simply cannot be learned in school. Even though I was new to the role and trying to find my way, I was still accountable to provide a recommendation. I found the best way to handle this was to dive right in, ask a lot of questions. I spent most of my time working with the operations personnel on their home turf. I made it a priority to get onsite when they got there in the morning and stay until they left at night. Spending this much time with them, I could listen to their concerns and see firsthand what they were experiencing. Over time, we built strong, trusting relationships, and developed a mutual respect of each other’s abilities, responsibilities, and challenges. To this day, I still rely on those same people to bounce ideas off of.”
 
Her current role is to connect her colleagues, acting as planning coordinator between Encana’s facilities and development planning teams. “People outside the energy industry are often surprised at how much innovation and technology goes into bringing a well from concept to execution,” she says.
 
Both within her role and her career, she strives to be catalytic.
 
“The biggest leaps forward in my career have happened from taking on projects that aren’t very glamorous,” Johnson says. “These are projects that are important to the bottom line of the company, but for various reasons, they don’t have an advocate. I consider myself a catalyst to the process, not the person with the solution. Instead, I see my role as getting everyone’s head in the same place so we can solve the problem as a team.”
 
For engineers, the energy industry offers opportunities for the complete spectrum of disciplines. “Every kind of engineer has a place, from mechanical to environmental to chemical to industrial,” she says.
 
“I loved rocks as a kid; so naturally, I started as a geological engineer,” adds Johnson. “I originally thought I would end up with a career in civil design. As I progressed through the degree, I came to understand what a diverse spectrum of opportunities existed in the energy industry. There is room to either be a specialist or a generalist, and each day there is something different and interesting to challenge you.” 
 
Want to be engaged at Encana and become one of its 3,000 employees?
 
“Innovation and initiative are priorities,” says Johnson. “Strong interpersonal and organization skills are critical as well.”
 
Providing Essential Work At American Water
 
Leslie M. B. Steves, project engineer at American Water, plans the construction of water infrastructure projects and manages engineering firms and other contractors in building several million dollars of capital projects.
 
Her work is essential, even if some take it for granted.
 
“I like the work we do,” Steves says. “We deliver safe reliable water service to our customers, and convey waste water to treatment plants. Most people take these critical parts of our infrastructure for granted, and I’m glad that I’m part of a team making sure that our customers have these services. I especially like how the company is willing to give you opportunities to work on complex projects. I also like that we have a woman CEO and women in many leadership roles. It reminds me that I could achieve those positions in the future.”
 
Aspiring to major leadership roles is girded by Steves’ work ethic and flexibility.
 
“Work hard,” she urges. “Treat every day like it is your first day. Remember that you don't have to know exactly what you want to do when you graduate. I wanted to design water treatment plants. I found a job designing smaller infrastructure projects and now I manage the construction of water treatment plants. Not what I thought I would like to do, but it is.”
 
Grace under pressure also helps. “In the spring of this year, I received a phone call letting me know that someone had been injured on my job site,” Steves recalls. “Safety is one of our core values as a company. This moment was very scary for me. My first thoughts were for the injured person. Once I found out he was okay, I was relieved. But that was only the beginning of the process a project manager goes through. I had to find out what happened and what caused the incident. I confirmed that the operation was shut down, and called my safety representative at the company. I then called my manager and we went through every person I needed to call or email and how to document the issue. While I was initially afraid that I might, as the project manager, get in trouble for the incident, the company was more focused on understanding what had happened and how we could prevent it from happening in the future.”
 
Steves relies on her colleagues expertise to help her do her best work. “I was surprised by my coworkers’ breadth and depth of knowledge,” she admits. “People know how to install main lines differently and make repairs differently. It’s not like engineering school where there was one answer. And they are willing to share their experiences with me, helping point me in the right direction.”
 
As a student, Steves learned that her first choice wasn’t the best choice. 
 
“I started out as a mechanical engineer,” she explains. “My dad told me how he saw that career field growing, and wanted me to be successful in it. I attended Rochester Institute of Technology. We had a lot of hands on classes there - which is why I selected that school. We used a lot of machinery that I was not comfortable with, and thought that if my career required that, maybe it wasn’t the right field for me. I changed to civil engineering, where I was challenged academically. I knew nothing about building construction, but found it to be really interesting. I took a class on water treatment and I loved it. I knew that this was the field I could spend the rest of my life working in. I interviewed at New Jersey American Water where the interviewer and I conversed on multiple engineering topics and I knew it would be a good fit for me.”
 
It’s been a great fit for other reasons as well. Most importantly, her opinion is valued.
 
“One of my managers and I were discussing how a project could have gone differently,” she says. “I said that I wouldn’t have completed the project the same way he directed us because I disagreed with his approach. He asked me why I didn’t tell him. I said he was the manager. He said that if I ever disagree on an approach to a project that I should say something. At that time in my career, I wasn't confident enough in my knowledge to say something. Now I know that I could make a suggestion that may not sound the smartest, but it could start everyone in the room thinking about how to address issues before they become problems.”
 
Passionate About The Job At Halliburton
 
Kristen Lipski, assistant district manager at Halliburton, has come to love the color red.
 
“Halliburton’s reputation as one of the best service companies in the industry is not taken for granted,” says Lipski. “This company is very focused on getting the job done right and also safely. Because of this I have a sense of pride when I put on my red Halliburton coveralls.”
 
Lipski also loves the way Halliburton lets her range in her red coveralls.
 
“Working for Halliburton has also allowed me to have so many different experiences, not just in the different positions but also where I have lived,” she notes. “I have lived in five different cities and two countries in the 10 years I have been with Halliburton. I have been an ‘actress’ in an internal commercial and played Dr. Watson during a live skit at an internal company conference with over 1,000 people. I can honestly say I never imagined I would have had all of these experiences.”
 
To reach her sweet spot, Lipski had to grit her teeth for four years.
 
“I worked full time to pay for school and also went to school full time my entire four years of college,” she says. “There were many days I wished I had more time to study for a test or to meet a study group, but I needed to work. I think my entire four years was hard and scary. There were so many times I thought about quitting. Giving up on something I wanted so badly really was not an option for me, so I just took it one day at a time and eventually I graduated with a degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State University with multiple job offers to choose from. I certainly learned that hard work does pay off.”
 
As Lipski toughed it out, she urges others to do the same through their careers.
 
“Don’t be afraid to take ‘stretch’ assignments or new challenges,” she says. “You have to constantly push yourself and step outside of your comfort zone. Just because you went to school for one thing does not mean you cannot try a new role that puts you on a different path than what you thought you were going to take. I believe you should be passionate about the job you are doing and if you are not you should be strong enough to realize it and keep trying until you are.”
 
And Lipski practices what she preaches, embracing challenges and learning from them.
 
“I worked in Balikpapan, Indonesia for 2-1/2 years,” she says. “This experience was the most unforgettable experience and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity. Working overseas has so many advantages, such as experiencing different cultures that build your cultural awareness, improving communication skills, especially when you work in a country where English is not their first language, learning the art of adaptability as everything just seems more difficult or takes more time to accomplish overseas, and most importantly, building an international network.”
 
Building is Lipski’s passion and profession.
 
“I am responsible for all operations and the financial performance of multiple product service lines, as well as procurement, materials & logistics; health, safety & environment; maintenance; and the facility in my district in Pennsylvania,” she explains.
 
Luckily, she doesn’t build alone.
 
“The most surprising thing about Halliburton is how accessible and down-to-earth our executive management team is,” she says. “They really do make an effort to meet with the majority of the employees, whether it is through our yearly conference where they try to invite 50 percent first-time attendees or through town hall meetings at different districts and facilities. They are very much engaged with the employees, and that really means a lot, especially when you are just starting out.”
 
Through her tenacity and Halliburton’s culture, she has crafted a career that puts passion in her profession.
 
“When graduating from high school I knew three things; I wanted to graduate from Penn State, I wanted to be an engineer, and I also wanted to be a geologist,” she states. “I read about petroleum engineering and decided to give it a try because it sounded like geology engineering. I interned with Halliburton between my sophomore and junior years and was able to work offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. That summer I realized I had made the right decision. I was able to use my engineering skills to think through design challenges, but I was also able to use what I learned about rock mechanics to design the right treatment. I have always believed you should be passionate about your job and career because you are going to spend a lot of time doing it.”
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