5 minute read
When she was 10, she was already tutoring younger kids in maths – in between trying to sell coconuts on her local beach in Itaituba, Brazil. She’s interned in a bank, taught at a university, and came to Australia on holiday with just one bag, never intending to stay.
We sat down with Mipac Control Systems Engineer Nagila Ribeiro to talk about her career journey to date, including why she chose to study engineering, how she’s dealt with gender discrimination along the way and why she turned down a job offer with a major Australian mining company to join the Mipac team earlier this year.
Nagila, take me back to the start – how did you decide to become an engineer?
When I was a child, I used to play with a lot of [computer] games, because my parents had a video game store. I think when you do this, you naturally help develop the logical part of your brain! My brother also became an engineer.
It started from a young age, then…
Yes, I think so. I used to like building things, too. For example, my dad had a room with a lot of tools and I tried to build a treehouse by myself. I did a lot of things like that. When I got older, I also spent my holidays solving maths exercises at home…
For fun?!
Yes! [Laughs.] Friends actually hired me to teach their children maths. When I was 10 years old, I was teaching maths to earn money. I had a good arrangement with the parents – I said, if your kids don’t pass the test, you don’t need to pay. It was like an insurance for them [laughs].
So how did you go from that to studying engineering?
I completed an internship in a bank during high school and met the network manager there. I wanted to learn, so I would come into the bank early in the morning, when it opened to employees, and he would teach me about networking. It was through this that I decided to study engineering.
That showed a lot of initiative.
I’ve always been like that. I’ve tried a lot of business ideas. When I was a kid, I tutored, I tried to sell coconuts on my local beach… sadly, none of these business ideas were hugely successful. Even as an adult, though, I’ve tried a lot of things.
So why did you come to Australia?
I actually came to Australia on holiday! I’d been thinking of finishing my Masters, starting my PhD or continuing some client work as a contractor. I got to know a few engineers here who told me Australia had a lot of opportunities for engineers, so I changed my LinkedIn profile and got two interviews: one for a major Australian mining company and one for Mipac. In the end, I was offered both jobs.
Why did you choose Mipac?
I prefer working with different projects, because when you’re working in the industry [for example, with a mining company], you don’t get to build the project – you just manage it. This isn’t the part I want to focus on at this point in my career.
That’s interesting. So, the fact that we work on a lot of different projects at Mipac appealed to you?
Yes, because here we work with different sectors. It’s mainly mining, but there are lots of different things. I don’t love routine. [Working on a variety of projects] gives me a chance to learn lots of different things and work with different people. Mipac also has a lot of experienced engineers so I can learn something every day.
Do you have any project-related highlights from your first 6 months?
I worked with Jock [Jock Grady, Control Systems Engineer] on a GT project for Atlantic Copper in Spain. This project was nice because I got to work with the [distributed control system] PCS7, which I’ve only used a couple of times before joining Mipac, and because we were able to build it from the ground up.
How have you found the Mipac culture?
The culture here is really one of helping each other. Whenever you have a problem, people are happy to help you and explain things. I have worked in similar companies to Mipac overseas, but the culture wasn’t like it is here. I think it’s very important that you feel comfortable at work, because it’s the place where you spend most of your time during the week! Also, in an industry that has few women, I feel that I am respected as an engineer here by my colleagues. Sadly, this is not a given.
I’m sorry to hear that’s not always been your experience.
Yes, sadly I have had many opposite experiences. I’ve worked with men who have said, “Hey, why are you doing this? Do you know this is not for women?” I once had an interview where the hiring manager told me, “I will try to hire you because we don’t have any women in this area… but I’m not sure if we can.” I’ve faced many situations like this. Mipac was the first interview I’ve had where they didn’t ask me if I have children or if I want to have children!
Do you think you have to be more determined, as a female engineer, when you are up against biases like that?
Absolutely. As a woman, you have to prove yourself all the time. This is exhausting. But I don’t feel like I need to do this at Mipac.
That’s good to hear. So, what kind of person do you think would enjoy working here?
I think someone who likes having friends at work. And someone who likes flexibility because we have quite a lot of flexibility.
What about your long-term goal – what will future Nagila be doing?
For now, I want to get as much experience as I can. Long-term, I’d like to be a project manager and maybe complete my MBA.
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