This International Women’s Day, we sat down to have a conversation with one of our engineers at Novarc, Sholeh Madani. She discusses what excites her the most about technology and engineering, and what her proudest moments have been throughout her 10 year career as an Electrical Engineer. Below are her responses.
How long have you been in the industry and what is your favorite part of being an engineer?
I have been in the industry for more than 10 years in the United States and Canada. I’ve had many great experiences in this industry throughout my career. My favorite part of being an engineer and working in the tech industry is the design, creation and the challenges.
What first sparked your interest to work in tech/engineering?
My brother in law was the Chief Electrical Engineer at one of the largest manufacturing organizations in my hometown. I was only about 4 or 5 years old when my sister got married to him, and he would explain everything about building and assembly to me in his home-lab in his spare time. I got to build things and learn about engineering from a young age, and fix electrical devices at home!
For university, I knew exactly what I wanted to study very early in my life. I was also interested in NASA and read the information that they had published at the time, and would also watch documentaries about space. The most important thing that I realized from learning about space was how small we are. For example, the Milky Way is such a small part of the whole Universe, and when we look at this fact, we are such a small piece of all that exists. Everything in the world is managed so nicely. The more research that scientists do, the more they realize how little they actually know.
So anytime I travel. In addition to discovering new culture, nature and history of the new place, I am very interested in visiting tech places. For example, Kennedy Space Center in Florida was an amazing place to visit. I had a chance to have lunch with an astronaut and talk about the design details.
Why do you think it’s important for women to join the tech industry?
Women are detail oriented and have patience, which are good factors to have, especially in design. It doesn’t really affect me when I’m around fewer women or more men. When everyone is professional and has work discipline, you are respected whether or not you’re a man or a woman. I always felt that I had enough support.
What would you tell yourself when you were just starting out in your career?
I have passion for what I am doing in engineering. That’s a great feeling to have, when you wake up every morning and you do something you enjoy, which I’ve been able to do for the last 10 years.
We are so lucky to have Sholeh on our team here at Novarc as both a role model and to share her expertise and inspiration. Thank you Sholeh!
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