Engineers are stuck behind their desks day in, day out. They’re sticklers for rules, and they spend their time solving complex mathematical puzzles.
Not.
What is true, however, is that there are a fair few stereotypes when it comes
to what an engineer is really like, and what it is they really do.
So, we called on the help of engineer Saina Babaee to cut through the misconceptions and draw on her professional experiences to describe what her chosen career is really like.
Engineers get to explore the world
Saina has collected many stamps in her passport within her role as Engineering Solution Director. “If it wasn’t for my job, I wouldn’t have been
to Oman, visited factories in the US or explored small sites and cities in Germany,” she says.
And, as many of these destinations are off the beaten track, her working day constantly throws up new international experiences. “I spent a week in Pakistan with owners of the site, their employees and their employees’ families and was invited into their houses,” she says.
Engineers are free to make the job their own
Saina’s job gives her the opportunity to think outside the box and use her initiative. Within her role, she leads a group of application engineers and project development managers to identify and fix any problems within Siemens’ gas and steam turbines and compressors.
Instead of having a rigid position description, Saina says she has the freedom to make the job her own. She takes a proactive approach by looking for problems to solve and anticipating pain points, starting every project by asking: “What are the customer’s needs and wants? How can I serve them? How can I shape the communities around me with my engineering work? I talk to the accounts managers and the technical support guys. I identify customers who have faced failures and major shutdowns. I use my knowledge to come up with new ideas.”
Engineering roles are for everyone
We recently asked five female Future Makers who are pursuing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers to share the lessons they have learnt when it comes to making a mark in a male-dominated industry, and Saina says her main piece of advice is to never take no for an answer.
“I was the only girl out of 138 guys in my major, and one of the five girls studying mechanical engineering. You had to gain respect. It was not given to you at the beginning, people say: ‘You can’t, you don’t, you shouldn’t.’ But once you show them that you can, they respect you even more,” she says.
Engineers can see the ‘real-world’ impact of their work
At the start of her career, Saina designed heat exchangers and pressure vessels, but she struggled with the fact that she wouldn’t see her designs come to life. “This somehow contradicted my life purpose,” she says. “I wouldn’t see any results. I wasn’t happy as I didn’t see where my work was having an input.”
When she moved into an engineering solutions role, she started to see the impact her work was having. This tangibility is one of Saina’s favorite aspects of being an engineer. “Everyday I’m fixing technical issues that affect people’s lives and the planet. I measure my success with the lives I have touched,” she says. Motivated by a desire to bring people together for a shared goal, she says: “Something we all have in common is creating a future for children, making the world a better place. With this in mind, you can bring project stakeholders around one table.”
Engineers have strong people skills
Being able to communicate with others is essential for Saina’s role, as a huge part of her job involves liaising with her colleagues and her customers. “A lot of my work involves reviewing designs that the product engineers have done, strategizing with the account managers, and planning how to sell solutions with my peers,” she says.
In April, Saina graduated from Potentials@MENA, which is a program for high-performing employees. As part of the program, she attended quarterly management meetings and took part in additional projects to help shape the future of the company.
“I don’t sit behind my desk and interact with the same group of people every day,” she says. “Being part of this group brought me this amazing chance to see how other business units are working, and how they’re approaching different challenges within the industry.”
Saina Babaee is an Engineering Solution Director based in Dubai. She leads the technical and commercial effort for engineering solutions of oil, gas, and distributed generation services across the Middle East. This includes offering ways to revamp, modernize or digitalize products including gas turbines. She has worked with Siemens since 2009, when she joined as a Service Manager. Find out more about working at Siemens.
