Meet Abby Fryett
To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day, we're delighted to introduce you to some of the amazing women working at GDG.
What is your current role in GDG?
I work in the multidisciplinary offshore design department with a really lovely and diverse team. We provide engineering expertise to offshore renewables projects across the globe, from the UK to Japan, Australia, or the US. I am a Geotechnical Engineer , so I specialise on the ground and foundations, and the myriad of interesting phenomenon that can be found across an offshore site.
What path led you here?
I can pinpoint it exactly: the moment I found engineering was reading through the University College London prospectus, which had a summary of related subjects in the corner of each course’s page. I finally found one that touched on all my favourite subjects: Maths, Geography, English, Science, History… and it was Civil Engineering.
Tell us about an Engineer who inspires you?
My first geotechnical manager, Helen Dingle in Arup Bristol: who is in my opinion a bit of a hero. She is beyond clever, if we encountered an interesting piece of data Helen often immediately saw three steps ahead to the implications of the data and what we would need to do to help solve the client’s problem, not to mention her various publications and general research. Helen is also so incredibly organised, working at a really high level and juggling kids and (at one point) extensive home renovations. She manages all this while essentially never seeming grumpy or even stressed. I often ask myself “What would Helen do?” at trying times!
What’s the best thing about your job?
It’s satisfying to work in a field you find interesting, in a role in which you are confident, using your favourite skills, with great people. There are also not many jobs which are generally of benefit to the environment and are both publicly and privately funded. Hopefully, I think this is what the Japanese call my “ikigai”, or “reason for being”. It won’t be the same for everyone else, but I can’t help thinking it would be at least similar for many others too.
What advice do you have for women interested in pursuing a career in engineering?
I think the biggest blocker to women entering engineering is just that it is not suggested to them and it may not occur to them to consider it – or at least that is how it was for me. So if you’re reading this I imagine you’re already halfway there.
Go for it – I look forward to meeting you.