‘There’s no shame in having ambition’

Although not a professional qualification, Fellowship is the highest grade of membership at ICE.

At a certain point in your career, it becomes pretty much a prerequisite for future progression.

Even if you don’t make it the first time, I think the process helps you to identify any gaps in your CV and allows you to focus on the right areas of your professional development.

Fellowship vouched for me

Working for Tier 1 contractors at the time, I was the only senior female civil engineer.

Although I knew I was just as capable as my peers, I sometimes felt that I lacked technical credibility among some of my counterparts.

Becoming an ICE Fellow would leave no doubt that I had the right experience, knowledge and capabilities.

Pushing past barriers

For the last 15 years, I’ve been one of only a small group of women doing similar roles to me, so I’ve always pushed any perceived barriers and boundaries.

Some of the barriers were definitely in my own head. But there are also real challenges still such as when you take maternity leave or have ongoing childcare responsibilities, for example.

The culture in the industry of early breakfast meetings or evening networking events – which can be difficult to attend when you’re also trying to manage a family – makes it hard not to think that people aren’t concerned by your absence.

Overall, though, I’d say that things are a million times better than they were.

Now, people don’t question you coming back to the same job after maternity leave and understand the need for some of us to have more flexibility.

It’s not regarded as ‘too disruptive’ for other team members and many men are now taking a bigger role in childcare too.

Why more people should go for ICE Fellowship

It’s an urban myth that ICE Fellowship is difficult to apply for. I actually found the process straightforward.

If you’ve got the right experience – and I challenge most people at a certain level in their careers not to be able to find at least one Fellowship attribute to go for – you just need to take the time to write a quality application.

To find suitable sponsors, I used my network at work and through the ICE.

I recognise that it’s not like that for everyone, especially those who work in smaller companies or who haven’t worked on bigger projects.

That’s why initiatives such as ICE Connects: Women in Fellowship are so important.

Why I’ve loved being part of ICE Connects

ICE Connects feels like direct action to me. I’ve loved being part of it.

Not only do I get to meet and work with a cohort of inspirational engineers – I’ve also been able to give back by encouraging others to go for Fellowship, mentoring and sponsoring them.

Yes, people need to take responsibility for their own professional development as civil engineers and members of the ICE.

But we also have a separate duty to reach out and encourage the right people to think about applying for Fellowship.

The ICE is a very friendly institution and, frankly, people don’t use it enough.

My experience is that if you need help, whatever level of your career you are at, the staff and the members are always willing.

What being a Fellow says about yourself

In my current role, it’s important that I’m an ICE Fellow.

In senior engineering positions, you need to recognise that you yourself are important and your professional credentials should’ve moved on from when you were chartered.

For example, becoming an ICE Fellow says something about how serious you take yourself as a civil engineer. There’s no shame in having ambition.

At a certain level, if I were recruiting senior civil engineers and they weren’t Fellows, I’d be asking why.

It reaches a stage where not being a Fellow becomes an obstacle to progression.

Connecting with the ICE

Also, being an ICE Fellow provides lots of additional opportunities to get involved with the institution.

If you haven’t been especially connected with the ICE, it’s a great way to reconnect with it and all the forward-thinking work it’s doing.

Just becoming an ICE Fellow helps you to understand yourself better. It helps you to benchmark yourself and build those networks.

I think that there are lots of people out there who’ve got the right levels of experience to become one.

By not, I think that they’re really missing out.

Find out more about becoming an ICE Fellow