We are proud to spotlight Julia Drummond, CAE Software Engineering Manager in Arlington, TX who holds the honor of being the first woman to graduate with a Software Engineering degree from the Computer Science Engineering (CSE) department at The University of Texas at Arlington, (Alum BS of Software Engineering - 2003).
CAE is privileged to have a highly skilled workforce and we love sharing their successes. In this spotlight, Julia, who has 18 years of service at CAE, answers our questions about CAE’s work life and culture and about her most memorable accomplishments and advice for our future engineers.
What aspects of your job at CAE are the most fulfilling?
The best part of my job is the people that I'm able to work with and my ability to make an impact. Whether it is working with a Customer or with a CAE Coworker, it is so important that we work with the mantra of "What we do matters!". Opening yourself up to be impacted and choosing to work to impact others on a positive basis, makes it all worthwhile. If we are building a trainer to help a Warfighter to get home safely or if we are running a program effectively and efficiently to make sure our employees can have a strong work/life balance … we can choose to make an impact every day. The range of that impact can be endless!
How would you describe CAE’s work life and culture?
One word FAMILY! Our culture has a long and proud history in the flight simulation business. We invented the flight simulator! And with that comes a long history of tenure of employees and sometimes that tenure has been generational. It has evolved into a place where we have one of the strongest team environments I've ever come upon. We are a team, and we support each other, so much so that we have become a family. The people at the company aren't just my coworkers, they are my chosen work family!
Could you share an accomplishment in your career at CAE?
There came a time in my career when I knew that I was going to have to rebrand my own personal identity at work. People were calling me to do a lot of soft skills, but they weren't calling me to do the hard execution of programs that I wanted to be known for. So, I sat myself down and made a list of what I wanted to be known for when my name came up. And then, I asked my manager to put me on a program that was on fire and was critical to the company. I went about diagnosing all the problems, came up with solutions, and used my weekly interface with engineering leadership as a mentorship moment. Sometimes you have to be willing to walk through a fire to grow in leaps in your career, and that was my moment. I turned that program around in a very short amount of time and was able to take us into final testing with a solid stable product. That first big success gave me the solid set of tools to keep taking on bigger and harder challenges, which in turn helped me grow in my career but also into a more confident person.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career in engineering?
Julia has been able to develop and grow the skills needed to continuously grow in her field. As she explains, “Some of these skills have been learned through experience and some I have modeled by emulating others. Skills such as building networks of friends and colleagues, the organizational skills that I've used to execute programs, and the opportunities to grow a team and therefore also build my leadership skills in the process. Not all have been successes but it’s most important that you make everything you learn a lesson learned and adapt as needed.”
Julia’s advice…
The biggest skills you will need to grow in your career are networking and controlling your personal brand. Networking is just being able to create relationships and help people in a positive way. In terms of personal branding, you control the perception that others have of you, and it will be your job and no one else's job to make sure that people understand what your skills are and what type of person you are. Someone very wise once said to me, "No one is going to think of you for a position if they don't know who you are and what you do." And that is very true, those two things drive more than 70% of the success you will have in your career. The rest is all hard work and the ability to adapt.
Julia recently returned to The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to speak to the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) about her career experience and share information about CAE’s engineering capabilities and career opportunities.
Are you interested in joining CAE’s team in Arlington, TX? Contact Amanda Haddadin - [email protected]
