One of the reasons I started this Engineering Emily blog is because I couldn’t find a lot of resources on the web about women engineers and how they balance career and family life. As a new mom I was interested to see how I could keep my career and be a great mom to my son. Many of the women I had worked with over the years gave up their engineering careers after having children to stay home with them. I wondered why this was happening so often and I wanted to hear from the women who kept working after children and how they made it work. I’m still working on answering these questions through my personal posts on this blog and through the Engineering Emily Interview Series, and while researching I have found a few websites and resources that I really enjoy and I wanted to share with you.

The first is the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). I was very active in SWE in college and even was vice president of my university’s SWE section for two years. I attended the national conference and got several serious job offers as a direct result. Upon graduation there wasn’t a SWE section in the small town I moved to, so I didn’t renew my membership. Later, I moved internationally, and then had a son so I never looked into re-joining. I’ve now settled in a larger city in the US and found out there is a SWE section here. I’ve recently rejoined, but have not yet attended any meetings or events. I plan to start getting involved soon, I promise! In the mean-time I get regular emails from the local and national SWE organizations with really useful and interesting articles and resources. They are also active on social media and I follow SWE on Facebook, Instagram and Pintrest.

To learn more about SWE and see if there is a section near you to get involved with, visit their website: http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org. They offer scholarships, K-12 outreach volunteer opportunities, learning courses, an annual national conference (great for networking and job search) and more. I can’t wait to get more involved with all they offer myself!

Ok, I’ll admit it, my Engineering Emily Interview Series is not a totally unique or new concept. There is a cool website designed for girls interested in engineering called Engineer Girl that I love. They feature interviews with engineers, information about famous historical women engineers, an ask an engineer page, as wells as information about what engineers do and how to get there. It is an informative, engaging, and well put together website with great content. I wish this was around when I was deciding to become an engineer in high school! I think I would have better understood what I was getting myself into if I spent a few hours reading articles on this website. Check it out and share with any girls interested in engineering that you know: http://www.engineergirl.org

I’ve also found a few blogs about and by women engineers. These blogs are different from mine in that they aren’t as focused on the working mom perspective but they still have great content and feature a woman engineer’s voice and perspective that I’d like to see more of on the internet.

Engineer Chic’s tag line on the About page says “This is Engineer Chic – the blog that brings the fabulous to Engineering.” I love it! The blog isn’t updated too often, but the existing articles are short, to the point, relevant and interesting. I liked browsing the articles and appreciated that they are fast reads. This blog seems to have a large following and I’m not surprised because of the content. To read Engineer Chic yourself, visit the site here: https://engineerchic.com

Steminist is a website and blog focusing on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). They have profiles (interviews) with women in STEM with careers ranging from CEOs to students as well as interesting articles relevant to women in STEM. The website layout is clean and easy to navigate, but the blog hasn’t been updated in more than a year. I hope they start updating the blog again, because it is a great resource and featured some great profile stories. To read some of the profiles featured on their site, please visit: http://steminist.com

Finally, I found Engineering in Style while searching for women engineer blogs. The author is a women engineer, but she doesn’t blog about being a women engineer, she is a fashion blogger! And it’s fabulous! I love her beautiful photography and enviable wardrobe. Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit, so I love that it’s where she works and the backdrop of her blog. Get motivated to update your work wardrobe by checking out her blog: http://www.engineering-in-style.com

I hope you’ve found a few new favorite websites from the list I’ve shared today. I’m glad you’ve found my blog and I hope you continue to enjoy it. 🙂 I’m hoping I am a helpful voice about being a working mom engineer. I want my stories to continue to interest, inspire and motivate you to keep on keeping on with your work and family life.

What are some of your favorite blogs?