This year for National Engineers Week, we are running a series of interviews with women engineers. Today’s interview is with Andrea Corey, VP, Quality & Performance Engineering, Eloqua.
1. What is your favorite thing about being an engineer?
I love investigating problems, analyzing data and finding solutions – especially when under pressure due to a key business need or timeline.
2. Tell us about an exciting project you have worked on
I joined Eloqua as a Software Developer during its start-up period and built some of the core elements of the software platform. One of my key early projects is a workflow feature that launched 10 years ago and that is still heavily used in the market by most of our customers. The rapid adoption of this feature was exciting to me in the first few years as I expanded and refined it. Although this feature has since been worked on by many other amazing Developers, I still feel maternal pride!
3. Why is it important to have women engineers?
It’s important to have a breadth of experience and perspectives among a group of people who are solving difficult problems. This includes gender and cultural background – more perspectives bring a greater ability to tackle tough problems and produce positive outcomes.
In addition to this, women make a significant portion of purchasing and financial decisions – so companies need to be designing products and services that appeal to women.
4. What advice would you give to other women engineers?
You know more than you think you do. Speak up and be heard. Learn how to negotiate. Find a partner who is very supportive of your career. Seek out other women for support.
5. If you could tell a young woman one thing about an engineering career, what would it be?
I would tell a young woman that an engineering career offers a wide variety of rewarding paths. You may be finding new ways of making people’s lives easier and safe. You may be turning ideas into new tangible products that have never before been built. It’s a career that has the opportunity to broaden your horizons and one that will enable you to continue learning. I personally feel that it is a career that offers a lot of choice.
Biography:
Andrea Corey graduated from Queen’s University in 1998 with a degree in Applied Science from the Engineering Physics department. After graduation, she began working in consulting roles, developing custom software for several customers in the Financial Services, Telecommunications and Manufacturing industries. Andrea joined Eloqua in 2000 as one of its first employees, and has held a variety of technical and management positions in the Research and Development department. She currently leads the Quality and Performance Engineering team where she is responsible for all dimensions of product quality assurance.