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Women in the Concrete Restoration Industry
Andrea Finlayson discovers opportunities, challenges
in the field at Davroc Consulting Engineers
Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature
Andrea Finlayson has achieved success as a project
manager with Davroc Consulting Engineers by balancing
her creativity, problem solving ability, and desire not to
be behind a desk.
“When I was in high
school I knew I was good
at math and physics, but
considered architecture for
its design and artistic
side,” she said. “Engineer-
ing kept popping up on ca-
reer testing but I really had
no idea what the field was
all about.”
Finlayson says she re-
searched and discovered
she liked the profession's
technical and problem-solving challenges. However, she
did not really fully appreciate the career until she took
her first co-op civil engineering semester. Growing up in
a rural community, she also had the opportunity to work
under the county’s civil engineer, who she says provided
invaluable insight and experience.
She learned she needed to gain confidence. “One of
my co-op reports noted I came off as timid and sug-
gested I would have a hard time working on site,” she
said. She says that confidence came with time and knowl-
edge. Some site crews still make her work for their re-
spect. “Some sites you arrive on and you just know it’s
going to be a rough start. All you can do is show up every
day, do your job, demonstrate you know what you’re talk-
ing about, and eventually they get it.”
Despite the challenges of being on site, Finlayson
knows that is exactly where she wants to be. She said
she never wanted a career behind a desk, preferring in-
stead to see things being built. The site-based insights
help with her own design process and technical under-
standing. She says the uneven distribution of men and women
within the industry begins to feel normal after awhile, but
on occasion she notices the imbalance. “This was driven
home to me at an industry event when the speaker got
up and said ‘welcome lady and gentlemen.’ I looked
around and realized I was the only woman in the room.”
She says the opportunity to work with other women
in her office and female clients is sometimes a welcome
experience. “Women often think differently, have a dif-
ferent approach, or focus on different aspects,” she said.
“Having a woman at the table can provide a balance to
the process and outcome.”
Finlayson says she would recommend an engineering
career to women and encourages them to research the
profession's opportunities.
For more information about Davroc visit davroc.com.
The Canadian Design and Construction Report — Summer 2014 – 51