In Ireland, just one engineer in ten is female and as little as 13% of the engineering workforce in the US is female. Despite these global statistics, LotusWorks has seen a slight increase in the number of female engineers joining the company over the last 5 years. LotusWorker Udo, who joined the company as Operations Engineer working on a client site in the Biologics industry just over 10 months ago, advises young women to “just go for it, there is no point letting your gender limit you”.
Udo began her career as a technologist making medicine, but she wanted to pursue something more challenging and always had an interest in becoming an engineer. “I loved the problem-solving aspect of the science industry but there isn’t much of an option to get into process support, so I decided to complete a master’s degree part-time in Biopharma Engineering after which, I began my role as Operations Engineer with LotusWorks”. Udo’s role as Operations Engineer is to ensure that operations are going as smooth as possible, and complete documentation such as training docs, SOPs, data analytics, risk assessments, and management training. “My favorite thing is the fact that the work here is varied, and I have gained so much experience in the last 10 months. Keith is an amazing manager and so approachable”.
Working within a male-dominated industry and being one of two females working on-site with the LotusWorks team doesn’t faze Udo, “I work with a team of 20 guys and the hardest thing for me is not having someone to have those silly girly chats with. The morning after the Met Gala I was dying to talk about the outfits but the guys on my team hadn’t a clue!”. In a previous role, Udo was also the only female on her team and states “I am used to working in a male-dominated environment, the biggest advantage is the guys on your team will always look out for you”.
When asked what else she loves about her day-to-day role with LotusWorks Udo responded “I am part of the Diversity and Inclusion committee on-site. I am really passionate about this, in particular connecting with people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Our goal is to create an inclusive space for people, hear their stories and struggles and learn from each other’s experiences. You also pick up different skills that you can bring to your day-to-day role”.
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