Alex Harris

Alex is a successful Project Director in a large Engineering Consultancy in Valencia

Job title

Project Manager, Project Director in a large (2500 employees) Engineering Consultancy in Spain (based in Valencia)

What does your job involve?

I project manage large building projects. My last project finished in June. I was the Project Manager for a hospital in Elche, South East Spain. Please find attached the web link to the article I wrote in ICE European Newsletter

http://communicate.ice.org.uk/ve/ZZjj308482l31FP9171b

Did you ever imagine you’d be doing this job early on in your school years?

Absolutely. Well, perhaps not exactly this but something like this. I wanted a job that would never bore me. I NEVER get bored.

Did you always want to be in the profession you are in?

Not necessarily. My priority now (I am 35 with 2 children) is finding the right job to combine family and working life. It won't be too different from what I am doing though. Love it.

What subjects did you study at school?

A-Levels: Physics, Maths and Spanish. I have been coming to Spain since I was a little girl, so I did Spanish because it was my passion. I did Maths and Physics because it was what I was good at. I liked it. I am quite practical.

Do you have any specific role models/ mentors that influenced you into what you are doing now?

Absolutely, when I was 15 a civil engineer came to my school and told us about his job. It was him that said that every day was different and he never gets bored. I said to myself that it was the job for me. When I was in the sixth form and ex-pupil from my school came to talk about her profession. She was 32 and president of Coca-Cola UK. I said to myself that I wanted to be as successful as this lady by 32.

What difficulties have you encountered along the way that you had to overcome?

I moved to Spain 6 months after graduating (I met my husband during my 3rd year studying abroad). I was working and being sponsored by Arup. I left everything in the UK. I found a job straight away in Valencia in a consultancy engineering firm similar to Arups in Spain. For a start the engineering degree in Spain is 6 years, I did a 4 year Masters and was not as prepared as the graduates here, so I was "useless" to them. I had to learn fast, in another language, in another culture. Secondly, Spain continues to be a "macho" society, especially in jobs like engineering, so as a young female foreign engineer learning on site, I was pretty much devoured in the first 2 years. I survived, I fought back, I became hard and I still work in the same company 10 years later. I see it as a challenge. Women havedifferent qualities to men, and we can use them to our advantage.

Do you find it difficult being mainly in a ‘male dominated’ job environment?

I did. Not anymore. The years of experience have shown me that men and women complement each other at work as they have different ways of analysing situations. If one maintains a professional approach and is competent in ones work, it takes longer to be recognised but eventually you can gain the respect deserved.

Who do you admire?

Every working woman that manages to find the balance between working and family life. The really hard work is at home. Going to work is easy.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of following your footsteps in your career choice?

Be sure of yourself. I am sure I don't have to say to any girl in this day and age that "men are not better than women" as we know that, but we are different. That doesn't make one better than the other. We must take advantage of this and learn from each other. There are things that women find easier to do and vice versa.

We would also like to know what a typical day is like for you at work.

Uff, I don’t have typical days. It depends on the project and if I am on site or in the office.
Typical day on site:
• 8:30am arrive
• Check emails. Respond to urgent ones
• Team meeting. Find out what each team member is doing and what is planned for that day. Divide out tasks. Discuss problems, issues etc. update planning and cost overrun
• 10am coffee break
• Site visit
• Visit local authorities, ensure all tramitations are correct and undergoing
• Site meeting with agents - contractor, site engineering supervisors.
• 2 - 4pm Lunch with client, update of site progress
• Write and send minutes of meeting
• Check emails and respond to all
• Leave site 8pm
Typical day in Office:
• 9am arrive
• Check emails. Respond to urgent ones
• Meeting with bosses, inform on:
Invoices to be submitted that month
Client satisfaction
Modifications to any contracted project (time or fees)
Provisions of engineers
Future projects
• 11am Coffee break
• Write reports, make calls, calculations,
• 2-4pm Lunch
• draught offers for future clients/projects
• Leave 7pm