Isaac Oakeson: Hey, what's up everybody? Isaac here with Civil Engineering Academy. Excited to be with you on another podcast episode. I'm excited today. I bring on a fun guest, Yara Hammad, who actually is from Egypt that came to the United States, but she's awesome. She's got a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and is a bridge engineer. Earned her PE license and really has just taken off by networking through the ASCE, using tools like Toastmasters. But we kind of detail her own journey and her career to becoming a civil engineer. And she has lots of good advice for people going through this journey themselves.

Isaac Oakeson: I do have to apologize if you hear any sort of music in the background with kids playing the piano. It's because, well, I have four kids and someone's always doing something and, hey, I record this in my house. So, you just gotta deal with it. Roll with the punches, right?

Isaac Oakeson: So anyway, I'm excited to talk to Yara. I think you're gonna enjoy this interview. We do talk about courses and how they can help you on your PE journey. If you have a need to get your PE license, come check us out at civilengineeringacademy.com. We have an FE course, we have a PE course, and all those will help you to become a professional engineer as well. So check that out.

Isaac Oakeson: Anyway, without further ado, let's bring Yara on and we'll get right to it. See you in a minute.

Isaac Oakeson: All right. We are live and going. Yara, how's it going? Thank you for being on the Civil Engineering Academy podcast.

Yara Hammad: Thank you, Isaac. It's my pleasure to being here with you.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, we're excited to have you on the show and talk about your experience in this world of civil engineering, and I'm sure there's some wisdom that will come out of our interview.

Isaac Oakeson: I always like to ask when I start these things, maybe a little bit more about your own background, where you're from, and really how you found yourself into this world of civil engineering.

Yara Hammad: I'm from Egypt. I came here to the US for school. I had my bachelor's degree in civil engineering and my master's degree in structural engineering. As though I got into engineering, well, it's kind of a typical. Like, when I was a kid, I loved geometry, I loved solving problems, but I also loved solving real-life problems. And by real life, I mean, you know, sneaking into my dad toolbox, stealing his screwdriver, and going around, you know, the house taking things out. Like, I recall I once took out, you know, those electric plugs just to see how things work. And I got shocked. I mean, thankfully I'm alive.

Isaac Oakeson: Most parents would be slapping that outta your hand real quick. So I don't know what was going on there.

Yara Hammad: Well, I'm thankful I'm there.

Isaac Oakeson: Glad you're alive.

Yara Hammad: True, right? But you know, at that sense, you think, "Okay, I wanna pursue civil engineering because it combines both aspects." You know, the theoretical one and the practical one as well.

Isaac Oakeson: That's very true. So, I mean, it sounds like you went far with that though. You got a master's degree. What was the motivation to get a master's? And you earned all of your degrees in Egypt, is that correct?

Yara Hammad: You mean, as a I earned up to high school degree?

Isaac Oakeson: Well, I guess take me through your education. Like, where were you, what did you earn, and what was that like for you?

Yara Hammad: I mean, actually, in Egypt, I was in American high school. So I got to have the American curriculum. I took the SAT. So for me, when I came here to school, it's pretty easy for me. Easily to transition.

Isaac Oakeson: I did not know that. So they have American high schools in Egypt?

Yara Hammad: Yes. We have actually different ones. We have even British. I'm not sure -- Even, like, in universities, there will be Canadian University, British, you know.

Isaac Oakeson: Wow, that's very interesting. Well, that's cool. So you took an American high school, then you went to college there?

Yara Hammad: No, I came here for school.

Isaac Oakeson: Ah, came here for school. Okay. Where did we go to school here?

Yara Hammad: For my undergrad, I went to Cal State Northridge. And for my grad school I went to Cal Poly Pomona.

Isaac Oakeson: Wow, that's awesome. And then you took the FE while you were still in school?

Yara Hammad: Yes, I did.

Isaac Oakeson: Okay. And then the PE after you had some experience, or was that really close?

Yara Hammad: So, yes. After I finished my master's degree, I started working and I took my PE.

Isaac Oakeson: Okay, that makes sense. Well, that's awesome. Wow, Egypt to here. Was it work that brought you here or, I guess, what brought you over here to do civil engineering?

Yara Hammad: I came with my family.

Isaac Oakeson: Got you. Okay, awesome.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, what have you enjoyed the most so far about being a civil engineer?

Yara Hammad: Well, I enjoy that my profession makes an impact, and you don't make an impact on only one person, but you make an impact on a whole community. While, you know, you're continuously being challenged solving engineering problems.

Isaac Oakeson: Yeah, that's very true. You know, civil engineers are vital to society. They affect everything from the water we drink to the buildings we're in. So, you know, that's where we're at.

Isaac Oakeson: So you have dived into a specialty though. You're a bridge engineer. And so how did you find yourself to become a bridge engineer?

Yara Hammad: It is interesting. All I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do infrastructures. I was kind of focused mainly into buildings, but then I got into work where you -- kind of they do, not residential buildings, but some of that plus bridges. So I got exposed to bridges and I find it more fascinating and more complicated, and I enjoy complex stuff. So I got there.

Isaac Oakeson: So tell me about, I guess, you know, civil engineering as a whole is typically dominated by male engineers. You're a female bridge engineer. What challenges have you experienced in that arena?

Yara Hammad: Well, it's not challenges from that aspect. But actually, I was reflecting back on my career and realized that throughout my career, I never had female leadership at work up until now. Like, currently, my supervisor, she's a woman. We have also other female leaders at work. And this got me into thinking, because, like, the impact that it does for us.

Yara Hammad: You know, I'm not sure if you -- There's this article that says that men apply when they meet 60% of the qualifications while women apply when they meet 100%. This is just a challenge, right? An example of the challenges that women face. So I feel like having a female leadership, they will be able to detect those blind spots in us women as we think, and they will be able to coach us, they'll be able to support us.

Isaac Oakeson: That's fantastic advice. So, you know, going back to that a little bit, do, I guess, women in general feel like they need to be a hundred percent before they apply for a position, then? Is that how -- I mean, it sounds like that article resonated. So is that --

Yara Hammad: It resonated with me because -- Okay. I guess the way I was thinking about it that the reason could possibly be is how parents maybe raised their kids. Like, if you have a boy, you pretty much will ask him to take more initiation, and it's okay to be more risk, right? Like, take a risk. But a woman might have some restraints. "Oh, you are a woman. Maybe you're a lady. You cannot do that."

Yara Hammad: So naturally when they grow men to be risk-free, but women be more reserved. So if you think about it when you apply, "Okay, it can be still risky because if you do not meet the full qualifications, you'll be worried. "What can I do? What if I did not do a good job?" But maybe a man would not think the same way.

Isaac Oakeson: Yeah. We just kind of wing it, you know? Just Kidding.

Isaac Oakeson: Maybe there's some truth to that. But, you know. I think men just read a position and, you know, there's more pay, they meet some of the qualifications. Let's toss our name in there and see. Roll the dice, you know? Yeah. You know, I totally agree with you. There's definitely a difference there. And I can see that women, you know, they're great and they want to be really good at what they're doing, and maybe that's holding them back from applying for stuff that they could totally get. So, I really like your idea that seeing women in management positions can really help others underneath them and tutor them in a way that is helpful. So that's really good advice.

Isaac Oakeson: Are there any other obstacles that maybe you have faced and how you overcame them, personally?

Yara Hammad: I mean, not obstacles in a sense that I'm a female. I would say the obstacles as an engineer.

Isaac Oakeson: Like, tackling problems? What are some issues you've seen as a bridge engineer?

Yara Hammad: Not as -- OKay. Actually, the greatest obstacle I would say was actually me starting the career.

Isaac Oakeson: Ah!

Yara Hammad: This was one of the hardest ones, especially getting into structures.

Isaac Oakeson: It's a challenging field.

Yara Hammad: It is.

Isaac Oakeson: You know, and I always tell people, you know, when you start this journey, it's not an easy journey. And you end up having to jump through a lot of hoops that professors want you to do, and you gotta do it their way. But you're gonna learn a lot along the way. And if you stick through, you know, through the end, at least for me personally, I've noticed that, you know, I don't use everything that I learned in school, but it helps set kind of a baseline knowledge that you know there's a lot of other disciplines that do dive into these areas. And you know enough to know what's important and all the background information to it. If you needed to solve some problems, you probably could, too.

Isaac Oakeson: But I guess, you know, when you started the journey into structural engineering, how did you push through those? That challenge of knowing it was gonna be a challenge?

Yara Hammad: I graduated in 2014, and at that time it was very hard. I think the economy was still recovering. And you know, when -- I'm not sure if people, like, in the same position when you graduate and you apply for a job, if you don't have a master's degree, it can be tough. But also if you don't have experience.

Isaac Oakeson: Yes.

Yara Hammad: Yeah. So it's really tough. So, the way I see what happened to me, it was accumulative in a sense that, "Okay. Well, you already don't have a master's degree." So I needed to apply for a master's. I wanted to actually learn from new professors, meet new people. And one of the things also that helped me was working on myself. I know that, initially, I needed to work on how I present myself, the communication skills. And that's why I joined Toastmasters.

Yara Hammad: It helped me to grow those soft skills. So, you know, when you go in an interview, you simply know how to communicate what you have, what are your thoughts, but also, you know, how to think on your foot. This was very, very rewarding. And definitely, I joined professional organizations like ASCE. I tried to get out of my comfort zone, join the board, meet new people, grow my network. It is like little steps, but those actually helped me through the way to get to where I am today.

Isaac Oakeson: Yeah, it's hard to see that, you know, when you're first starting. But the more you go, like, those things really help out. And, you know, I applaud you for pushing through difficult things. I mean, even a tool like Toastmasters, where you're having to give speeches or things on the fly, is definitely a challenge.

Isaac Oakeson: We'll make sure we link Toastmasters as a resource for engineers because it's one of those things where it's like, engineers need to learn people skills. How do you do that? And Toastmasters, I think, is a great option to do that. So I think even you jumping on this podcast with us, maybe, you know, a leap as well. So thank you for doing this with us too.

Yara Hammad: Thank you.

Isaac Oakeson: See, Toastmasters is paying off.

Yara Hammad: Sure it is. It is.

Isaac Oakeson: Do you feel like -- Most engineers, do you feel like they could learn better people skills, better speaking skills as a whole? Do you feel like that's taught in school very well?

Yara Hammad: Actually, no. I don't think in a school there's much emphasis on that. Yes, you go up and do presentation, but unless you actually take the effort and go out and join even debate teams, you'll not grow as much if you just stick into your own zone. And I feel engineers, yes, need to do that more.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, that's good advice. Well, Toastmasters is a great organization, so we'll make sure we link that.

Isaac Oakeson: You told me earlier that your husband's also a civil engineer. So, how do you help each other in this field? What's that like?

Yara Hammad: I feel like it develops this understanding. Our job can sometimes become demanding. When you have, you know, those tight deadlines, so there will be understanding, "Okay, I need to work this a little bit late." But, although he is not into structures, he's into project management and I'm structures and sometimes I do wish he were. But the good thing is, I feel we compliment each other in a sense that we learn from each other. Like, I learn some of his skills. If he discuss something like an obstacle or a challenge, I feel like I'm learning that.

Isaac Oakeson: That's great! Yeah. Did you guys meet in school? Was it structures class?

Yara Hammad: It's a funny story because although we met once at Cal Poly, we actually met at ASCE.

Isaac Oakeson: Wow! So you did a lot of networking over there. Okay.

Yara Hammad: That was unintentional.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, that's great. I think that's just really cool to have two people that are civil engineers, you know, married and working together.

Yara Hammad: Absolutely. Yes.

Isaac Oakeson: I love that you said there's an understanding there, because sometimes people don't understand the stress that may be coming with a submittal or something that's due and what's involved with that. So, you know, that's very helpful.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, diving, I guess back into your own career, would there be any advice that you would share with women or men that are just starting out their careers in general?

Yara Hammad: Absolutely. I would advise that people to get out of their comfort zone. Join professional organization, grow your network, and most importantly, never say "no" to an opportunity that comes to your way.

Isaac Oakeson: Always say "yes."

Yara Hammad: Exactly.

Isaac Oakeson: Just don't burn out. Just kidding. No, that's a great idea. You know, it opens doors, right? And people get to know who you are and they know you're a competent engineer and all of a sudden you're applying for some work. So, that's great advice.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, I wanted to dive a little bit into your PE exam preparation, and if you had any tips for anybody preparing either for the FE or the PE exam that may be going into this, you know, this world. The structural engineering world.

Yara Hammad: For me personally, I took courses. They helped me become organized and prepared. For the PE, personally, I think, like, to wait a little bit after master's degree, because I know that having a master's degree usually allow you to maybe get your PE like after one year of work experience. But I feel maybe this is not enough. Maybe we actually need more work experience. Maybe this is in the structures [inaudible], not sure about the other disciplines.

Isaac Oakeson: Yeah. In California you can get it a little earlier than most states. So there's that. And I also know in California you've gotta take your survey and your seismic as well. So there's actually more fun stuff you get to do to beget that license. I mean, that's a lot of test prep. So, do you feel like there was anything you learned when you were preparing for that?

Isaac Oakeson: I think courses are fantastic. We're a huge advocate of them, whether it's with us, we have our own courses and you can check them out at civilengineeringacademy.com, or even with others. We just know that they can provide accountability. It provides you with structure, with homework, with exams, and things of that nature. And it's always good to have support. So we're also a big advocate of the courses. But any other tips that you would have? Because it sounds like you've taken a lot of exams.

Yara Hammad: Well, the only thing that helped me, especially when I was taking the Survey and Seismic, was having cheat sheets. Because the time is very limited. I think it was about two and a half hours, if I recall correctly. And, oh gosh, you cannot, you know, go through pages. If I have only those few pages, few cheat sheets, they were very helpful. Those enough for me to go through instead of going through a whole book.

Isaac Oakeson: That makes sense. And the Survey and the Seismic is open-book still.

Yara Hammad: Yes. I mean, when I took it, it was open-book.

Isaac Oakeson: I think it still is. So, keep that in mind too. So that's very helpful.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, awesome. Is there any other -- I mean, we've talked about Toastmasters as a really good resource for people, but is there any other good resources, a book, a blog post, or anything that has helped you in your own career?

Yara Hammad: It was actually meeting the people that helped me. I find that, through every stage of my life, there was the people who I connected with and that were able to support me to the next step. For example, like, in my first job I recall it was my professor who referred me. And so eventually you meet others along the way and with their support, you can grow to become, you know, the most successful person you think you can be.

Isaac Oakeson: Fantastic! Well, thank you for jumping on. Is there any other tips of advice you'd like to share with anyone else out there?

Yara Hammad: No there isn't. But I just wanna emphasize never say "no" to an opportunity.

Isaac Oakeson: Excellent.

Isaac Oakeson: Well, Yara, what's the -- You know, if people have questions, whether it's about your own journey coming here from Egypt or school or struggling with their exams, is there a way they can reach out to you?

Yara Hammad: Absolutely. They can reach out to me through LinkedIn. I'm a very good -- I respond quickly.

Isaac Oakeson: Okay. We'll make sure to link your LinkedIn profile in our show notes as well so people can reach out to you.

Isaac Oakeson: I appreciate you jumping on and doing this podcast with me.

Yara Hammad: Thank you so much, Isaac. I appreciate it too.

Isaac Oakeson: All right. We'll talk to you later.

Yara Hammad: Talk To you later. Bye.

Isaac Oakeson: Bye.