All right. So on today's episode we had Stephanie Reichman and she is a well, do you want to explain what she does? Well, she's an engineer who currently works for a a major technology company called Bluebeam. And one of the interesting things about the episode really is her journey as an engineer and and how she's quote unquote pivoted to other aspects. So not just design engineer, but really working for a technology company. i still in the technical field, but not doing design work per se. So the story really today is is how you can pivot out of your your normal engineering job. So and and it really expands to anybody, even yourself. Like you're you're now starting your career, right? That's scary. Well you're you're just graduated high school. So congratulations by the way. Thank you. And ~ and so you're you're eighteen years old, you're deciding on your career. Well what deciding which career I want to pigeon my whole self into. Pigeon pigeonhole, yeah. So do you know what a pigeonhole is? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Isn't it like you get stuck in one spot? Exactly. Can't really change. That's exactly what a pigeonhole is. So you might feel it has something to do with a pigeon. Yeah. Kind kind of I mean it's a it's a like a What's the word? A phrase that we say right.~ a a literary device, if you will. But ~ anyway, so the point is really, yeah, I don't know where it comes from, actually. Do you know where it comes from? I don't. This is something to Google at Chat GPT. You're still on Chat GPT? So that's a little bit about what the episode's about. If you're interested in ~ learning more about that. Then we want you to check check out the episode, of course, but there's so much more in this episode, and Stephanie was just a joy to listen to. It was a lot of fun. And ~ yeah, check it out. Here we go. My name's Andy Richardson, and this is the Enhance AEC podcast, and this is our producer, Madeline. I've been doing this for twenty eight years almost, and the podcast for almost two years. Really? For ye for real. And so we want you to check out our podcast, the Enhanced AEC podcast. Let's get started. Welcome to Enhance, an AEC podcast, where we learn the why behind AEC professionals so that you can learn your Hey Stephanie, welcome to the Enhanced Podcast. Thank you so much Andy. I'm so excited to be here and get a chance to have this conversation with you We've exchanged so many LinkedIn messages that I maybe we already know each other but excited for this opportunity. feel like. So thank you for having me Yeah, definitely. And and really the first time we've met each other,~ albeit virtually in this case, but we've never really talked. So good to finally connect with you.~ so Stephanie, I have a a curveball opener for you, which ~ s since this is our second take, not much of a curveball anymore.~ But anyway Yeah, yeah. So as when you were a kid you talk a lot about career advice and you you give a ton of advice. I love your platform. But one of the things that got me thinking about ~ is what did you wanna be when when you were a kid, what did you wanna be when you grew up? Yeah, I always kind of wish I had like a great answer. Bye! like I wanted to be a doctor or something, you know, an engineer or something. But I think I always wanted to be a boss.~ And for me, was the ~ what that meant was flexibility, being in control of my own destiny. think that control has always, in my career, always been really important to me. So I wouldn't say that I had like a specific idea or job, So, ~ but I had concept of what I wanted out of a job. like this. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Well, how has that do you feel like that's that you've met that in some way with your career or are you still looking feel like that could be a thing that maybe won't show me in the best light. a very interesting clip. I think it's that that definition has changed a lot. think growing up I saw lot of really powerful decision-making around on me and I think I always wondered what would it feel like if I didn't have Was like to respond to people in that way? Like I wasn't, I was my own boss. I can make my own decisions. could, and I think as I I think I have. grown and matured and explored entrepreneurship, I'm doing now, I realize that everyone has a boss. doing. so that thought of respond to anybody, like feeling and that like I don't like I don't, I am the ultimate decision maker, like that is incorrect. Like that perspective has changed a lot and~ And so I think it's brought in a lot of the, what are my values and what is important to me? of like what And I feel like I'm still, On that journey of like figuring out what those things are especially like as I've matured in my own in my own career as a mother and a wife and what do all those different titles to me and how those definitions have also shifted as the seasons of my life have shifted. Definitely an ever evolving, shifted. So it is I will never reach what I thought was the boss when You I was younger but I'm also okay with it being a journey that I'm~ constantly on. So Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I definitely agree with that. I as a entrepreneur myself and owner of the business, you know, that was similar. I mean, I don't know that I felt felt that way you know as a child, but ~ you know, you think, okay, I'm gonna be the boss, but then you realize now I have fifteen bosses you mu because really in some ways we are, you know in in in a positive way, because we're really servant to like servant leadership to our employees and even our clients are our bosses. So you have a hundred cli a hundred bosses too. So you don't have just one anymore. Now you have a hundred and fifteen. But yeah, so that that's good. And it seems like this idea of a journey is something that you probably share with your I I g so I guess ~ Maybe we should get into you're more than an engineer, we'll jump straight into that, right? And because I think you have like clients that you work with and you advise you're you're a mentor to people that are that are working on their engineering career. So ~ do you share do you share that concept with them about this journey with I guess do you call them clients or I don't know, the people that you work with? layers to it so I'll try to back a couple of it at a time. So I started creating content on LinkedIn about two and a half years ago. of that stemmed from this really strong desire to help other people that people. had been in similar career situations than maybe I had. I And just wanting to do something positive now that I found myself in a really happy place in my career, which I had never been before, which is important. A professional civil engineer and worked in construction, worked in an engineering company, and then kind of found myself in tech in a role where I was genuinely happy, which was so different and new as a concept for me. Spending all this time frustrated at home now, and I figured I'm not let's do something positive with this extra time I have now found myself with. And that kind of pointed to let's start creating content. Glossing over obviously so many different parts of like what was my journey of you know overcoming fear and like cringey and and have really taken all that stuff. on this persona and this concept of like it is a journey and there is no destination it's just a journey and that's okay for me. and now being that I've done that I can instantly got the same question of like, did a civil engineer go work in tech? Consistently question, And so as I personally got that, I didn't. I was like, I realize I was special and that this is interesting, but if it's interesting, let's dive into. Now that kind of took me all different kinds of ways. Should I be doing resume reviews? Should I do coaching? Like what is the best way to help people in their careers? Now, But I... still work full time. So doing coaching has always been like a very challenging thing for me to do, but that drive and motivation of like wanting to help people has always been So now it's been finding out like, can I do this on a more scalable approach? One of the ways that we've done that is through AEC tech jobs, which I'm a co-founder of, ~ which is essentially a job board specifically for roles in the AEC tech world. So many amazing companies doing so many amazing things. So many people from the industry or from tech that want to be in this industry, how do we connect the two pieces together? And so AC Tech jobs is really a piece of that. more than an engineer kind of stems out of everything. My own journey, my own definition of success. I wanted a new hat for myself and I felt like brand needed didn't feel like an athletic more of my business. I went online and was like, want to create a What is a hat that speaks? What's a slogan that speaks to me? Me in this journey, this growth that I'm in and of It... kind of morphed into this more than engineer. went and made the hat myself. Other people saw it were like, wait, that's pretty cool. How do I get that? I ordered a bunch of hats to my house and sold them for six-ish months, which was really cool. I'll never do it again. And we'll And then recently launched a partnership with RFI Outfitters where they actually took the more than engineer concept and put like a graphic to it, which is now on. Yeah, there it is with It's little beaver, which the beaver is actually your little egg. ~ my alma mater's mascot is actually a beaver. mean, beavers are also like builders or whatever, but it was ~ my college mascot. so ~ fun to be able to do that. And the sweaters are so you can go grab one if you get a dark green one, then we can match. And yeah, I think I it's. That all has come together in this really crazy journey for myself. It's trademarked. I have a trademark. like. How crazy is that? Yeah, I think it's, I can't even remember your question to be honest. has of many different answers. This is perfect because I mean I w we wanted to get into all of this and ~ no, that's awesome. I mean you have a lot of things happening. It's exciting. but the main point of it was, you know, talking about your quote unquote clients or people that you advise and h and do you tell them about your journey and or d is that a big part of your how how you train them and teach them because I think they have a lot of questions about like you mentioned, the resume and What should I do? I want to get into AEC tech. I'm you know, the it seems like there's a lot of challenges in people's careers, especially ~ and by the way, this is the AEC pod this is an AEC podcast enhanced. So we we talk to architects, engineers, contractors, and people that are looking over the fence at at us, you know. But the point of that is ~ there may be other people that are going through those same struggles. So I guess that's really what the question is getting into is what are the things that you talk to about with your the people that you advise that that you've discovered through LinkedIn and and other places. I think there's a lot of different pieces that I are skipped. I mean often gets think very often engineers especially will find themselves in a place of immense burnout and then it's that feeling of like I'm just gonna throw my hands up and you know go back to school and be a veterinarian or something. and those types of conversations and I think oftentimes it's like a bit of a realignment in terms of that are missing. the value. So what is it about your current role or your current company or both that is just not aligning with you anymore? Why are you burned out? Is it a specific task? Is it your manager? Is it the company? you Is it the type of work? Are you not challenged? So I think of often. It's the conversations around that and really making sure that the person is like in true alignment and understanding of what is not working. So I very often go back to my own experience for a general contractor. I was working I was really burnt out. I really know what I wanted to do next, but I did know that it had to be remote and I was not willing to budge on that because I was a new mom and that was the stage of life that I was in. It had to be a fully remote job. and ~ It had to be a company that I was excited about. for. ~ And excited about and a manager that I was... to so with all. those things kind of directly tied to past experiences that were unfortunately in my case where I was like ~ in the past I've worked for companies that didn't offer me this flexibility that was problematic for me and my lifestyle level. so now I'm going to prioritize that I am okay now with giving something up I'm okay with taking a pay cut if that's what it needs to be or I'm okay with taking you know a drop somewhere else, it is always a give and take, but I think having that strong alignment of being, is what I must have, like and if that means that my job search is gonna be extended, I am okay with that because these are the decisions that I'm making for my own life, for my own values. I often see that it's almost like the decision paralysis or like the over analyzing of what's going on really stops someone from getting to that place where they can say, this is what I need and this is what I'm not willing to budge on and this is why it's important to me. And I think when a person gets to that place where they're just so confident in what they're looking for, that's when they can kind of start actually figuring out how to, Like, it. But if you want you don't really know what you want. them. And how can you realistically go out and get that job? Yeah. And it's interesting because I mean the people that you work with are engineers. So they should apply that same logic probably to their to their career. But I think oftentimes we don't, right? We don't apply that logic and look at it as a problem solving thing. But it sounds like that's exactly what you're doing is you're saying, Okay, what is let's take a step back, let's look at the facts and let's deal with that, right? Yeah, and I think a lot of being so exposed to so much information now more than ever, you are able to go on TikTok, you for example, and see what this finance person is making. And I certainly had this, well like when I graduated, I thought that I was gonna be offered six figure offers and I didn't. salary offers that really and I think now you see people that are making six figures right socks out of school and you're wondering like why am I not why is that not happening to me did I pick the wrong career should I go to tech because there's more money there or And there's just like this constant stream of all this information that has to get adjusted and then the person's also feeling maybe not 100 % in their role. Getting this kind of background information of like you picked the wrong and now you're you picked the wrong career, you made all these mistakes and then suddenly like you kind of, it's very easy I think to spiral in like what did I do? like so. Yeah, those are the modern age that we're in and social media is that's an interesting take on it, the the impact that's having 'cause we didn't ha I mean, I didn't have that information when I got out of school. It's just like you got you just you know, you didn't really know what everybody was doing. You Yeah. You just did your you did your thing. So we have more we have more data out there and it does impact us how we think. And in some ways it's good. I mean you can use that information to your strength too, I would think. Right. No, for sure. mean, I think everything is a positive and a negative. It's two sides of the same coin, But it... for sure. It's the world we live in now. And that's a beautiful and amazing thing.~ Like, the barriers for so many decisions and so many things have come way down. There's so many jobs that I didn't know about, that I've learned about from social media. Like, wow, that's a really cool job. Could I do that? Is that interesting? interesting for me. And I've recommended roles to people. based off of things that I've learned on social media. So. I do think there's some really wonderful things about it. think it's always getting us back and realizing that not everything I think it's just like taking. you see on social media is always the truth.~ We both post on LinkedIn, so I'm sure that there's posts that we post where we share a win one day and that day we're not feeling the biggest winner. Maybe like. ~ But these are kind of some of the things that we do on social media. highlight~ I certainly don't believe every 20 year old that says they're multiple six They're making.~ but that is the world we live in. out. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And and you gotta take that for what it's worth. so you mentioned a few words there,~ the stress, the cringe, the fear. what what happened with your engineering job that was was all those things? I would say the cringe came more from like the posting content~ idea. Okay. There's more the content side, yeah. is more on the content side. think on the engineering side I had a bit of a mismatch in terms of like expectations that I what like the x. I thought I would do and then being able to be trained correctly. would do just like I I. I also didn't work as an engineer I worked as an APM and assistant project manager for an engineering company. you~ Which is a really interesting place for a new grad to go because you are managing hours of a senior engineer who does not always manage while they're hours. ~ So I do think that that a lot of like really That's relationship building a lot of communication that I had to learn on the floor. fly. Of like, how do I connect with someone who's 20, 30, 40 years my senior and really respect me because I haven't really given them and they don't a reason to because I Literally just graduate from school And my manager then quit very shortly after I started not because of me. And so yeah, I think it was for not success. It was a bit of a perfect storm. A recipe for not success. There was a lot of stress. I mean that was one of the words in fear. So ~ I guess the the stress and fear, I mean, did you get did were you able to overcome that? Did you eventually did that push you out of that job and and into your current job? Yeah, mean, think burnout fear around careers is really interesting for me. and general like f***ing has always been really f***ing for me. I think something when I joined the workforce that I really had to very held on to is is we are at-will employees, ~ meaning that you can leave whenever you want and the company can part ways with you whenever they want.~ That that has given me a lot of confidence over the years in I think we all need to open just the way that things run and the way that things operate and how I need I I to play within the playing fields because is in any role that it is important ~ I always find it's critical you have to essentially like when you these stages of burnout have these You feel. conversations with either your manager or probably start with your manager and whoever else is right and makes sense and can assist because you you feel like is. owe it to yourself to first figure it out within the company. So in Are we? kind of role that I've had where I've experienced any type of layers of burnout of confusion over my role or frustrations. I've always made it a point to be very vocal about it. points. Just have the conversations like this is what I'm missing and this is what I need. However that's received is Can you hear me? almost irrelevant to the fact that like I went and had those conversations and then if the company says like they can't meet me where I need to be or where I need the company to be then it's the onus is on me to decide what I want to do. Very often for myself or an experience like that has often meant that in my own it's time for a new job because why would you stay in a role that's stressing you out? But I very often talk to engineers~ I don't know people in construction that have been at their roles for like 10, 15 years. ~ I just met with someone last week who said they didn't have bad days,~ Last they had bad years. really hard. I've personally never, people are able to come into work every single and people who are day for months on ends when things are so challenging to them.~ Personally for me I find that really hard. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Not been able to stick it out for that long when I'm unhappy. and I've... But I've always made it a point to have those conversations with people. to say like this is first having that internal conversation with myself, what's not working, what do I need, and then being able to relay that back to the company and kind of try to see if there is a solution here. Yeah. And then so so what happened next in terms of y how did you get to point A to point B? You had a conversation and did it work or did it not work and so forth. Yeah, I think it'll work. And I think it always works with certain... There's always that point in people's careers where in your gut, I think you feel it. you know it's time. I left the construction company, I was pregnant. I had my son and then didn't go back I to work thereafter. And it essentially was a shift that Just like this huge. at some point you just start looking for something new. to just open up. overcome that. Yeah. So you've you've d gotten to this point,~ you felt like you wanted to change and you've changed. So y ~ and that's that's really what you teach that's what you teach other to do, right? I think it's so important for engineers. it's and then would lead to realize that like your life in your career and by extension your career your life is really in your own hands that entire I wish was pieces of advice as simple as it sounds was shouted from rooftops more~ I very often in my school because often in schooling in my early career heard like you. need to put the company above all else and you have to put your projects above all else and you need to, you know, you if that means that you need to work 80 hours a week for months on end, then that's what you'll have to do. And in some cases, part of that advice is fair and And while I think that... Gallad. I think it's been taken way context way too many times. And. To the detriment of so many young engineers that think that this is just and it will get better and I just need to stick it out and fact of the matter is by sticking around we're enabling companies with this type of bad behavior and saying that it's okay and I will put up with it when the companies don't deserve I think the last six-ish years have proved to us that companies don't really have as much... loyalty to us as employees have to their employers. I haven't heard of engineering companies giving out gold watches in a while.~ I don't Maybe someone listening here can get a picture of the gold watch they got. But that doesn't really seem to be the case anymore. so I really wish in general, And I would call anyone that listen to this and anyone who kind of interacts with my content, that they have all the power. ~ they really realize that you if you want to wake up and do something else, you can do it. Do it. It'll take time, it'll take effort, it'll take dedication, but you can do a message that just isn't shared enough. And I think that's... Yeah. And as an employer, what would you tell the employers they need to do? Because if if the employees all figure this out, what you just said, then they're the employers are gonna have a hard time employees, right? So how how should we what what advice do you give to employers to really retain employees and help them succeed in in this market? It's such a great question and I think it's first the understanding that we've having a retaining problem. like it hasn't been a labor shortage issue for a while. has been to retain talent. And coming that mirror up and realizing that. I think is really important. I've seen situations and conversations where say, it's a very natural or a very normal number of turnover that we have here. Well, of course, turnover is always normal. And yeah. and healthy. And I totally understand that. I think there's very often just a complete lack of understanding of why the turnover has happened. I think that there's always signs when someone departs a company and employers to not skirt past that. it is on the Leaving because they're getting paid better elsewhere. Why are people leaving? they? there, you know, if pay, you're not able to be competitive on pay, what are you able to be competitive for? What is the reason why someone wants to work at company and don't say a pizza And I'll, ~ I. But those don't work. We all know that. Love a pizza party as much as the next person. But I think that the problem is that a lot of those pizza party......are often ones that are a little bit too late. type endeavors. I think when you do have top performers at companies that come to you with concerns, take them seriously. It's as simple as that. sleep. The first thing I said was, if you're unhappy, I didn't say you should... write up. book about your unhappiness and your grievances, I said you should talk to your manager. about it and I think it has always been I that that has been true. It has always been something that I'm so strongly in because and and like thing that I believe so I always think that people can't read your mind. I wish they could, but they can't yet. And so if there's something specific that you want, want you to you have to go and have put on the big girl pants as I tell myself when I have to do something hard and have that difficult conversation because without it, you're not even giving the employer a chance to journey with you. to be on that. And so if that's a And you make kind of social contract with them, like go in and tell them what you need. And then the employer said, yeah, as. ~ I hear that you want more money because you've been taking on some bigger projects and whatever the situation might be, if it's valid, of course. I hear you, And they say, yeah, but they care. but don't really. That kind of. What does that tell an employee? so why should the employee stay there, take on more work, spend 20 to 20 extra hours a week? It's a 10. They think they're. and when they're gonna get rewarded for it, they're met with, here, I'll take you to lunch and let's table this for six months. I think it's at that point that the conversation comes up, So. like, how do you retain that engineer? It's in that moment right there where you've completely lost them moment right and completely disregarded whatever ask that they've made of you. Yeah, the the goal is to I mean you gotta listen to the ~ employee and then you know, we need to communicate, but engineers we don't like to communicate that t sometimes, right? I mean what do you think about that? Do you think that's a valid statement or is that a is that a caricature of of engineers? I don't think it's sculpture. I think it's a mold that we've placed into It's a character. ourselves engineers able to step out of and I think the edges that are in there that I'm a bad communicator more are the ones that are crushing it and will continue to crush it I think in each going this age of AI and everything else that's currently on it's your ability to be smart or to execute ability on work is table stakes now like means student. who needs the A plus who can regurgitate a textbook when Claude or ChatGPT can do that for you now, but the personable those tools can't be. and ultimately or be communicative and those are the types of things that the clients will want someone who's gonna pick up the phone when they call. I really done that yet. AI is doing that. ~ It's still very different experience and so I do set up a lot think that we've said and like. of young engineers for failure when we tell them we are bad communicators. We're not. We just need to learn just like no one else. anything else is like. born knowing how to ride a bike ~ in the same regard. No one's born, maybe some people are born being excellent communicators. I don't know. I met every baby in the world. I haven't been world, but... I know that for myself, I've been honing in on this You the whole thing for 15 years. I think now I'm an excellent communicator, but I still have so many things to learn. My path to being an even better communicator. on communicated. Yeah, and I'm on a journey too, you know, just like you are and just like your mentees are on a journey to communicate better. I mean I'm an engineer as well and I'm still trying to get better at it because and I'm a leader of a team, so I have to communicate to them and listen to their needs when they bring to me and ~ and that's that's part of communication too, is just listening. But ~ I wish I had that advice to twenty seven years ago to really learn how to talk to my boss and say, you know, I really am not happy with this situation and I I didn't I actually didn't give a chance to fix some things, you know? And so that's not fair to to them, if you think about it. ~ you say, I'm I'm burned out, but yet well you didn't talk to anybody about it, you just quit. ~ so I mean that's great advice. And ~ but sometimes you do get get truly burned out. How do you know when you're really burned out or really stuck and it just isn't gonna work? it probably starts with that conversation, but let's say, you know, that conversation just didn't work. How do you know that you're stuck or you're burned out? Yeah, I think the term burnt out can look different for different people. For example, I know for myself what out looks like. what~ Or I don't really call it burnt out anymore. I'll say like when I have too many things on my plate, I get very overwhelmed, which is something I do have a lot of things going on. and They're all I do take on a lot of work in different capacities. good things but And so That can feel look and feel in different ways, but I think in general when someone you feel you've done when you like, you could. everything you And the situation isn't changing that's when you know it's time for a change Always felt so good. I've always felt. I feel so good now looking back at my whole career And I did every and say. I could at every step of the way to push this as far as I could have. I'm leaving with no regrets. That's an incredible feeling for me to have. Looking back, now if someone looks back and they do have regrets,~ consider buying and take that experience forward. But I think that that's just so important. To also see these markers in the sky. and like create these for yourself like I'm in this moment, this is my fourth week working Fucking. 80 hour weeks. How does that f*** to me? Am I giving a What am I Am I okay with that? ~ I'm okay with this concept of working, I'm picking on this 80 hour week person, I don't know, they're probably working. Maybe you're listening. Am I okay with working 80 hours? a week for a potential payoff. in an off. in the future that's you know these are all conversations that we need to be having with ourselves and having these check-ins and conversations have it doesn't need to be something crazy I think it it could be as simple as like having a notes app on your phone and just doing a three-question check-in with your is this okay am I getting what I want because like questions yourself, like. if you're not then you again have all the power to start making the changes to get to the life that you do Yeah, great great advice. So and I wanna go to one thing that I see you talk about a lot is piv pivoting in your career, which is really right in what we're talking about now, but at some point you realize I need to pivot. So what does that mean and how do you do that? Yeah, I love I think I've had such a And I think it kind of this because I a different perspective over it. It goes back to your first question, which was like, what did I want to be when I grew up? And I never really knew. I didn't know what I wanted. I never. I I was really ambitious, but I didn't know what ambition even I knew that. meant or what I wanted. or what it could look like, or what it's to look like. So fortunately, And so I've been fortunate to have different experiences that I've different experiences throughout my life. I've always just said like ~ let's let's I was doing So I was and. my undergrad and somebody I knew was in this concrete canoe weird club called it's like that's and sounds ridiculous let's Let's do it. ~ And so I got super involved in that in my undergrad. and then that taught me So many different skills that were just crazy of like while I was school, and things that I still use to the ability to motivate somebody is the school year was a day like the school was day like like the the the the learn entirely from concrete canoe was like how I can I lock arm can I make someone with me towards a goal That is cool. ~ Then you build a concrete canoe Yeah, and so I being able to just take these interests that I've had Following them. and just like So one step to the next step to the next step to the next step Pointing And while I'm, it almost like an upward ladder In a ladder, it hasn't really been it's been more Outward circles like creating different skill sets for myself. So I never actually thought about And Out. my career as career pivots. just took him as like, this is the next stage in my evolution of who is Stephanie in the corporate world and who is Stephanie making money in the world like you do. like money out in world. Who is she? What does she do? And she's collecting that interests her. skills and so was working being That, you know, as an APM and like okay I don't like the PM role because of these different reasons, let's go into virtual design and construction. that look like? What is starting a scratch look like? team from school. Does it look like How like go to an owner and explaining these services and having them agree to pay for these services and then executing on those services? Like what does that whole workflow look like? When I decided to take a step away from construction, Now again, it was entirely driven by becoming a new model. and that really made me rethink what my career would be. look like. I'd say construction and engineering I thought were my two options. smart kids went to engineering, and school kids. the rebels went to construction. This is the AEC podcast, so I I know, know, you guys are all smart and wonderful.~ Yeah. Yeah, no, I I think it's think it's valid. though as a conversation topic like It is the AC. ~ podcast however there is more to to aid to There's a lot of to C like... ~ There's a lot more to those letters and when you go to school. I think that's what they tell you. You can either do engineering, whatever engineering is, which now I know is a hundred different options, It's like. but at the time was engineering was, was what was. was in my head was I would be designing bathroom stalls. was what I had, like that was in my mind what engineers did. wow, okay. I don't know was either that or designing one beam for the rest of my life. I couldn't look past two options. like those and Maybe that was me, maybe that was the way it was presented to me in school. Construction was kind of rebels. places like ~ That's where the rebels. I know a lot of really great students that went into construction, so please nobody take offense. I found myself only a couple years into my career. But I I have and I didn't had done both. See a path for myself in either. And then suddenly it was like, well, I'm too young to retire. Why do and so that kind of caused this whole new like kind of ripple So what do in my own journey, which was was like, what would it look like if I It's something totally different, but that still averaged all the experience. that I did have because I did want to to school to be a vet. So what can I do as a professional civil engineer, leveraging that, but in a way that makes sense with what I'm currently looking that currently values for in my life that aligns with my values. That ultimately was. and that is what my biggest pivot was which because I think it's And now name it as such because I it's easier for people to grasp say made a career pivot Being I went when you say like, I'm as opposed to like, and on a journey. It's now I work in tech so Kind of helps describe Um, yeah, hopefully that. Oh, a little bit more about The pivot has been like for me what. Yeah, it does. And ~ yeah, I mean no no offense. I I obviously it was a a funny thing, but ~ you know, obviously the caricature of the engineer and the contractor we we've built on that. But thanks for sharing about your your career pivot and then I so you've pivoted into your current role. What is it about this current role that you just cause I I did see that huge pivot that you described at the very beginning of this episode, which is The stress and then the stress free and and it seems like it's just awesome. So like tell me about that. what was it about that that's so great for you? Sure. ~ So I currently work as a customer success manager for I a little company called Bluebeam. Maybe some people have heard of maybe.~ which not and And if you want to see me live in an action, do tips and tricks sessions every other month. Those are fun. think people are always kind of surprised when it's me and it's So there I am.~ So I think for it was For me, it's the ability to take everything I loved about previous roles, in the was working with people and helping solve problems and being able to like do that in way that also aligned with what I needed in my life. specifically The ability to work remote was really, important to me. I still work remote. Okay. I still really love it. I also understand the importance and the value of being in person. So I think that's been kind of interesting for me to grapple with. I've been working remote almost for four years now. As I It's really good to get together and meet and have those in-person great when we connections. It does make also easier working~ but also life. remote. So that's going to been. my own experience, I think there was just a lot less stress. less. ~ times or generally I would say. Especially having super tight timelines.~ especially like how you guys ~ Different things that I had to deal with in both engineering and construction that kind of don't exist in my my current role.~ exists at least. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Well, ~ so you mentioned Bluebeam. I mean, since we brought that up, you know, what is this Bluebeam for people that don't know? And can you share little bit about that? I mean, like what what is what is this program? Yeah, sure. ~ Well,~ Love the opening There's a user before I'll say that I was. ~ I was employed for me it kind of feels like I work at Your favorite brands that's kind of any of ~ how I feel every day at work ~ Ruby is PDF software solutions But it is a. so For me to mark up a drawing if you're doing it with highlighter If you ever or pencil whatever those things are instead of doing~ and then Having to give someone your hieroglyphics ~~ Andy held up a pencil. So if you're not watching the video, if you ever have to mark up anything, you can do it. You can collaborate with other people on it. There's a bunch of different tips and tricks really giving a very high level. It was made for AEC. So that's the really cool AEC. So yeah, that's Blue Pink. You should definitely go check it out. And like I said, if you're interested, those tips and tricks sessions are five of the things I get to do on the job. You should come check it out. ~ Yeah, maybe they can sponsor this podcast episode.~ But ~ no, I'm just kidding. But ~ anyway, no, it's a great tool. I mean I use it all the time and and fo speaking of four years ago is about about when I first started using Blue Beam maybe four four or five years ago. And I think I did a lot of markups with red lines and you know, I write you know, I would write this stuff out and then scan it in and we're a remote company even then. And I would just scan it in on an eleven by seventeen scanner. I mean, so ~ that's old school, but that's how we did it you know, four or five years ago even. And ~ then my team said, you know, Andy, your handwriting's not that great. So we need that we need help, you know. And so that really has made and I found that I'm pretty a lot more efficient with it now.~ maybe I need to come to those tips and tricks sessions and learn because it's than just a red line tool. I mean, you can do so much with it. I mean, in terms of like we have one guy, he's using ~ you can take some of the information of a beam and export that into an Excel spreadsheet. I know a lot of people use it for takeoffs and so forth. And then he can put it into an Excel spreadsheet and he's got this like beam So it's basically taking that data and designing beams from it. I mean it's like you said, more than it's more than that, but ~ it's it's actually pretty neat ~ to see the technology and and ~ how it can help you get ahead. But I just thought it might be good to introduce that because I I think a lot of people here may may not know what it is and w you know architects, engineers or contractors that that might benefit from that. So ~ yeah check out Stephanie on her tips and tricks too. Yeah, yeah, that's a lot of fun. It's cool. It's a super cool role. Like I said, I was I'm user myself, and I remember when I joined, was like, yeah, I'm a power user. It's like, And I still learn new things every single day. So it's really, really humbling, is and it's really exciting. I hear, and we like, I'm just scratching the surface. And I think it's good ability to help people scratch just a little bit more. the ability or like... Being able to show someone something cool in a quick tips and tricks session and then being so mind blown is the coolest feeling. Yeah. Awesome. Well you're in the you're in the tech field and so what is your take on some of the trends going on in tech right now and what's the next big thing that's coming up? Alright, these are some big questions. Not sure I'm fully answering all that, but I mean I'd be remiss to not throw everyone's favorite letters around. to find AI. ~ making such a big splash and such a big impact in the industry and I think no one really knows how it will all shake out as an AI bubble, more than anything. as this What will the the next 10 years look like. ~ What I will say is I was at a conference recently is and people are still using paper pen workflows. So I So I am curious to see whether the paper pen folks will over digitalization skip and go right to AI or will it be an intermediary step and in 30 years we'll or all still be talking about how construction or mostly construction is Interesting for anyone who's listening who is just generally worried about their career I would say like the time is now to get on one of these apps whether that be chat to be t or something else and just start key or cloth. to explore and see what's possible~ I think it's a really exciting film. Signing time, think very often interns for example are very afraid that they're able of what to contribute to companies and I think now more than ever like interns have such a cool place to be. You can come in, see a problem, you can get on chat to BT or Claude or whatever, create this whole new workflow and like what an impact you can make to companies. So I hope that that actually happens and like. like the younger generations really able to and run with it. to take that and like for other. I know that for myself, for myself, AC Tech jobs, for the work that I do, such a massive, massive impact in my ability AI has played to execute work faster, more accurately. And so I do think that's really, really cool. The barrier to entry is low or $20 a month. Love So I definitely think it's one of those. tools that are definitely worthwhile putting together. Anecdotally, a ~ challenge six months, I six-ish months ago on helping people pivot their careers. on The goal was, can we get? one person to have an interview within two weeks. And it was a couple of weeks that we were able to get two people. group of about seven folks and people two interviews so one person one interview each toying around with that challenge and I've been kind of for months thinking like that was but I don't have the capacity to just really cool run these the time I actually was able to vibe code a good an and vibe code app that did it and it's live right right now and people are kind of beta testing it and it's really really cool what we're It's really like what people do. able to do now as civil engineers. Took a C++ class in college and did terrible Like I... I have a whole app set up that And here I that is like up and running. it's time and personally try to focus Really exciting time. I really. on the excitement of all of it as opposed to the doom and gloom, which I think enough other people are focusing on. So. Yeah, I think it's ~ yeah, I think certainly there who knows what's gonna in that regard. I mean and it could be bad, I don't know. But ~ in the meantime I'm I'm like you, I'm gonna experiment, I'm gonna try things out and you know, like we have I've got one engineer that he's really into the AI and really into the stuff and so we have these little sessions.~ we try to have like Fridays usually and we just spend about a hour or maybe two hours and we just have fun. And he's like, Hey, do this, like, you know, let me show you this, you know. ~ and he'll say, like, connect this to your ~ connect Claude to your email. And it's scary to do that, right? Because you're like, Wow, Cloud has my email now, but or you know, that's just an example. And so you can, you know, check your email from Claude and it's like my EA. I mean I have an E an executive assistant, but it's just showing you ideas that you can do and then It's kind of like what you talked about earlier because these little talents I've heard it called talent stacking, it's like these little talents that you learn and you might be able to it may connect the dots in some weird way that you don't you don't realize. Like doing the concrete canoe helped you somehow what you're doing now, right? And these little and so in a s in a unique way that only Stephanie has that that talent stack. Right. Yeah. ~ and so just AI is just another part of that talent stack and what can you do to really build into that and ~ you know, like this. I like doing this is something I like to do. I like to sketch and I don't know how that would help me ~ with my career, but maybe it will one day. I don't know. It kinda like was fun to just draw that up for you. So this is a reason why you need to watch the YouTube. You can see the sketch that I did and you can see Stephanie and I talking. on YouTube. Of course we do we do any your favorite player of course, whatever you're listening to, but we also have a YouTube component. But ~ so speaking of this sketch, this is your ~ beaver and we talked about it a little bit before, but what so like this this merchandise that you've created,~ what does it mean to you and like how does that How what's the next thing for more than an engineer? I love it. ~ does merchandise mean to me? I think I've always appreciated having some appreciate type of community in different aspects of life.~ And I think that when I kind of considered what am I really doing on LinkedIn and like what does that look like? Like, I really love the... I always kind of go back to this myself. I want to be able to walk through the airport and know That person is also more than an engineer.~ And so I think it comes Kind of, it's always been fun. This is... like not like. My main income stream, hats was really a fun, If you will, then. fun side project. that when you get a little bit of money in your business. It's fun to reinvest it and do something fun with it. To a certain degree, I think there's been kind of idea of wouldn't it And so I was always that I like be really cool if I was walking around and someone was like also wearing their more than an engineer stuff. ~ I'll give a shout out to AJ Walter. who showed up to ConX and we were planning on I have a floor and and caught him walking the expo and he was wearing his more than engineer shirt. Which was like first time I to have that experience That's what you call, yeah. I feel like I really got that sense of child. just like seeing it in the wild. think whenever you put something out there it's obviously~ So I think it's really cool. scary~ and cringy and everything. Any feeling that you feel like it has felt very definitely cringy at times to be like why would anyone wear that? But people do. ~ And so I think it's just partially people who would like It's always been partially fun. We just want to support. To for that. see themselves in the message, I think that has been really obvious. More than an engineer meant a lot to me and kind of a lot. ~ my own evolution of my own career and just journey on life itself. I But then to see others take that and make it their and see other people. ~ own has been super, super cool. And so just having, for me the more than engineer has been almost permission, permission to be more than what your degree has been put up, what you saw. was the barriers of your career. And so for me it stems, foundation of everything else I do is~ really? It is like the do you want? you can do whatever you want because you're more than an engineer. Don't argue with me on~ Dora, you are. And he's obviously ~ And so that has always just been really important. Personally, I have a toddler. been along for the ride on me getting the hats made and the sweaters made and A couple last week couple weeks ago in the car, was dropping him off at school and we saw some construction happening on the side of the road and he said something, piqued my interest in terms of the work they were doing and I was like, that do you know that? And he's like, because I'm an engineer. And I was like, okay, okay, cool. And then he stopped himself and said, no, I'm more than an engineer. And I was like, cool, be okay. Yeah. The nutshell is really where the importance of it is for me is really limited in ~ what I thought was a successful career. and what an employee should be and I've always struggled with these definitions that were really imposed on me and so for me more than an engineer has always been kind of my ability to break free of whatever society has tried to push on me. Yeah, that's awesome. what's the most interesting thing somebody said to you about like your hat or your shirt that you the more than an engineer merchandise? the most interesting? I don't know if it's the most interesting~ But I was I Make a joke that I'm contractually obligated to wear my sweaters at the for. ~ But I like ~ I Which I'm not. I to think I am. And I'm just a stranger. had like someone TSA~~ make a comment and ask how he could, he's also an engineer and he thought super buy it because it was cool and yeah, it was, I hope whoever you are out there, you found the sweater. Yeah, no, I think that that's, It's really cool to see. like, be able to see like the in-person reaction to it because it is posting a lot ~ I have purchased it and sometimes I get a picture which is love. Someone took the hat. I believe it was Jimmy Kimmel. Other people went hiking, they've been given as gifts, they've been given as corporate. gifts like I feel like they've all just like every hat it's a life~ has had life of its own, which is super exciting. But I think they always like the in-person stuff is always kind of the coolest. Yeah. So it means i I'm I'm glad that you shared that. I ~ it seemed like it was about it was tied to the idea of pivoting, but it's not it's it's it's more than that. It's more it's about any anybody that's an engineer, we're all more than an engineer, right? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I don't think it's it's tied to the pivot at all. think it's the permission to be more and whether whatever your definition of more is, whether that's a different career or career pivot, maybe you know just being more in your current role, being a better communicator maybe after this this episode because you're more~ than an engineer you don't just have to engineer if that's not all you want to do, you can just also can do more. You Yeah. Well and also I'm looking at your the image of it's got you with, you know, all the different roles of your life too, you know. ~ I forgot what they're called, the pacifier and a computer and I don't know, it looks like some maybe some sweet tea or something. It's my ~ okay. I guess you're from you're from the north, so you're probably not you're probably more unsweet tea, but so sour you do sour. Yeah was a sourdough starter. I think when we were trying to figure out what the image should be, the it felt like it needed to be a true representation of the things that like I personally was or kind of working with. Obviously, there's only four arm with six was a little creepy looking. I did have a mock-up of this. And so I. A lot of. ~ I kind of wanted to toy around with like Obviously I'm a mom. My identity and the things that I'm are revolving around. that are part of my life are not.~ And so while he's He doesn't use a pacifier anymore that is good weights. to symbolize a civilized that but I I think it's my sourdough starter and then computer and maybe a hard hat or... I think we're the four we went with but... Yeah, I love that. I mean it shows your I mean, you're more than an engineer, you have multiple personal not personalities, but ~ multiple dimensions to your life. And so that's that's really cool. And I mean, since we're an a you know, architects, contractors, ~ may maybe you could make a one that says, you know, more than a architect or more than a contractor. I mean, have you thought about how these concepts apply to other other aspects of the AEC industry? Yeah, I definitely have. I've... It's funny because when I... first when I made the hat for just myself~ that was the first thing everyone said to me was like all the different options of like what you go and then I can't with. The ideas that I actually liked best was more than one of them one of more and then just a blank line. ~ So that way it's... It's inclusive to everyone. I know. I don't know. I don't have the trademark on, So maybe someone else wants to go and scoop those. so... But ~ yeah, think it's hard. There's of course like...~ probably start a whole apparel line here, but that's not really... what I think there's lots of other. What I'm trying to do or build, there's lots of other cool things that where my talents lie better. think it's to be able to have partnered with Really exciting. RFI Outfitters on, they actually take care of all the fulfillment. on that because they ~ all All the work is. is really on them and we just partner on the slogan, which is super, super cool. They're just cool stuff,~ And all kinds of. definitely worthwhile checking them out. Yeah, I think it's it would be. A bit of a departure for me to do a bit of a...~ More than an architect. But everyone's more than whatever they... think. Yeah. Well the concept though of of everything that we've talked about with and being more than just, you know, your what your degree is or whatever,~ would you say those things apply as well? 100 % absolutely. I mean, I think that that's often messed I struggle with because and engineer then When I say and maybe that maybe the sea feel left out and then if I say contractors or construction then maybe the architects left out across~ But I think it's definitely true. the whole industry and probably across other industries as as think it's a very very easy to feel very boxed in by whatever your title is. And for me, this has always given me the permission to step outside of that.~ If one day I want to put on my marketing hat, So if I can't, and I'm more than just an engineer, I can't I don't to be I have to stay in. in the lane if I can't. I don't want to. The advice that Like I said, I wish that we had been given to me when I was starting out in my career when I was in school because certainly because that was what I was told. not when I was told engineering is great and just engineer that beam it. all day long. Yeah, awesome. yeah, I I think that that's a good summary of how it how it really applies to everybody. And so this is the enhanced podcast. I really I think we've really talked a lot about this already, which is I like to ask people what their why is, you know, in other words, how are you enhancing the world around you? And I mean, I hear it throughout the whole episode already, but is there anything else you want to add to what we've talked about today in terms of how are you because I like to think that we're doing something more than just stacking bricks, right? And we're building something important, you know, yeah, albeit maybe through Bluebeam or through your more than or your s you're mentoring, but~ why do you do all this is really what the question is. Such a great question that I... struggle with often. ~ I think a lot of it, really stems from the fact that pieces of advice that I never heard, it's piece ~ whether that was growing up, whether that was in school, whether that was in my early career, I feel like I've had to learn a lot of things on my own that I sometimes wish. Why wasn't there an opportunity for someone to share that with me so that lessons would be be easier? I also think representation really matters. I think it's important. important for women to see a woman this kind of thing. other way than doing this. And I'd like to I think that in that regard I'm making a difference. I know I was exposed to,~ because I was in need of, whether it was mentorship or inspiration or whatever the case was, I never saw myself in them. in I was never the community. inspired by the people that I can touch with.~ that I'm the epitome of inspiration. certainly not and I'm certainly still trying to figure it out. But I do think it's important about being think that there is something in being a human and being an engineer and being a mother and showing people you can figure it out. that you And sometimes when a stranger tells you you're doing great, you like. just keep keep going, like you can do this. I that's really important and I think I think it's really beautiful. If with the platform that I've really blessed with, if I need I'm able to be that person to somebody who's having a really hard time in their career or their life or whatever the situation might be and I'm able to say, and it's like, you've know, you've got it. just. Like you can do it. Keep doing it. Let's have a conversation. Let's figure it out. Like. That is such a blessing and such an honor for me to be part of people's journeys in that regard.~ I'm a balance all that with my own life and Obviously always still trying to balance So I'm always trying to figure out like how can we make things scalable and helpful and have resources out there for people? Because resonated with this message and so how can Because people have I keep giving back to that?~ So a very long-winded answer, but that doesn't make sense. But hopefully. No, it does. I mean that's really awesome that you're you're giving back, you're providing this mentorship, you're sharing, ~ just through right now, through this episode and also on social media, LinkedIn, I see you there a lot.~ so yeah, it and also providing that encouragement to to other ladies and other engineers, ~ you know, and men too, but just people that are struggling and ~ It's so awesome that you're doing that. So ~ I wish that I had you when I was starting out, but we didn't have LinkedIn back then. But we do now. And so I I I read your stuff and I am encouraged by it because sometimes I'm like, well maybe I should pivot You know,~ my career. So I think about it sometimes, you know. And so that's that's really good. I mean, I think keep doing it and keep sharing that information and ~ providing encouragement to everybody. Well, I appreciate it. I argue with you and say because you used to not be, I will say that you have limited you know, hosting podcasts and now you are. I'm sure a lot that came with a of fear and a lot of, lot of know, who will listen and who will this and who will want to join? Like, that there are so many pieces of that that now feel normal to you. Or, you know, even just the representation in engineering. But I think that it is important. podcast. There aren't a lot of When you see somebody else before you, I think I'll do it way later. makes it less scary. So people see me, the engineer that transitioned to tech, Hey they're like, cool. like she did it so I can do it too and just ended up And so I think that that's. itself gives so much more confidence than we sometimes really give credit to. Yeah, I mean you just have to you kinda have to just get out there and do it. It's so it it is cringe, isn't it, when you get started. It is that place where I was to hit post. And I remember that was so terrified to miss out my first piece of content. And now if. Now, I don't feel cringy, then I know I'm doing it right. I'm not do so I come love I've really lost my mind. it like I Sometimes this week, I post stuff on LinkedIn and things are not looking great. That's OK. ~ True. I mean, it it's so funny that you say that. And I have to be at like a a certain place to prepare my my work, you know. And some days what I wrote because I I usually batch my stuff, you know, and so what I wrote like three or four days ago, I'm like, I'm not I don't feel that today. And then I know that's what I need to post that day it because it's just that's real. That's and and some days I change it or whatever, but I I'm with you there. I think that a lot of times when we feel that cringe is almost like the best content, you know. So it's weird. It's and ~ some people might be like, Yeah, because it is cringey. ~ but it's I think I think the value though is what you were describing, which is it's it's not the cringe to be cringe, it's because we want to share these important things. We wanna be real and we don't want to just say, hey, we're making all this money and we're doing all these great things. Sometimes you wanna do that and pump yourself up because nobody's gonna pump Nobody's gonna pump me up. I mean, we have to do it ourself, you know? I mean I'm trying to give you a little bit of pump up today, but it's Yeah. I feel great. But I mean really we have to do it ourselves and that's the I mean, what how do you feel about that in terms of the message that you share with your the people that you work with, do you feel like they should be posting and and and and ~ highlighting themselves? I would love to see more people post content on LinkedIn. do feel really weird. realize that it feels And I think that sometimes if not following your goal and it just feels If you don't really have a- cringy and hard, I think there's other ways to be active on LinkedIn. think commenting on people's stuff is super under indexed. That's huge for visibility without you trying to come up with original content. I will say that like any anything, you just let the train rolling. That's how I think of a lot of things myself. I call it my momentum train. So I've been riding my same momentum train for like two years now. It feels great. But whenever in you not wanting to post or not wanting which I feel a lull. to do something, I remind myself that I'm on my momentum train and I can't stop it because once I stop it, I will have to like root like Restart the engines and I don't want to do Think for other people whatever that. And so I think people that I don't want momentum train looks like for you Certainly Everyone should post content to give advice of like, I do think that's and like the things will happen The case but it doesn't just happen like it takes time to figure out what people are interested in and then giving What and people want to write. they're interested in I have tried? posts about other things and people just don't want that from me and that's okay.~ But I think that If you want to do something, you can do it, of course, because you're more than an engineer. I very rarely give people the advice of like, you should start posting content.~ because it's hard. I have had a lot of people over the years be like, I want to post content and be consistent and then it kind of drops off after a week or two. or It's hard to stay consistent, so I get that. Yeah, yeah, it's it's definitely a challenge. So ~ well, Stephanie, it's been an awesome episode with you today and~ just enjoyed having you on. I I do wanna since we talked about these different social medias and different places to find you, but just wanna reiterate, if you could just share how do people find you, you know, what are your different things you have a lot of things going on, but share you know with those those things again if you don't mind. So I guess the best Sure, yeah. I have place to reach out through LinkedIn. is and if you Yeah, send me a DM, tell me what you about this episode. you want to see me live in an action at Bluebeam, I host tips and tricks every other month. The other. And the best way to find those would be look up Bluebeam live webinars~~ and you'll see tips and tricks. And there's usually a picture of my face. So you'll know that. It's one of my sessions, ~ but you can join any time. They're all fantastic. are interested maybe in a little in AEC tech, then check out aetechtechjobs.com and let me know if you have any feedback Thanks. on that website too. So, and then if you want to more than engineers because Yeah. Awesome. we talked about that so much, maybe we'll put that in the show notes. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, Yeah, so. we definitely need to do that. So ~ anything else you want to talk about or mention today? We've been here a while, you've been p very patient with your time and generous with your time, but ~ is there anything else you want leave us with today? Maybe I'll leave one I And the last piece of advice that I learned seven, eight months ago, was, their pants on one leg at a time. Everyone. So if there's something that feels scary, So someone you want to reach out to that feels scary, like everyone's a human. The worst that happens is they say no, but everyone's a human putting on their pants one leg at a time. just be you and go for it. and Yeah, awesome. Awesome advice. A lot of great, great information here today. So thanks Stephanie. Take care. Everybody like our stuff. Take care. Thank you, Wendy. Hey everybody, thanks for listening to today's episode of Enhance. And please leave a like, subscribe, or follow, and we'll see you next time.