SWE NATIONAL CONFERENCE REVIEW WE12: 3 Days of Energy. A Lifetime of Opportunity. The SWE society conference can be a life changing experience. There are so many engineers in one place sharing ideas on various topics to support females in engineering. Over a hundred sessions are held to help get important information out to all SWE members. Pitt SWE makes a sincere effort to send as many of our members as possible to the conference, but not everyone can attend. This review is written by our Pitt SWE members who attended the conference so YOU can have some of the information from some of the sessions we attended. If you would like additional information, please email us at pittswe@gmail.com.
Purse 101: Managing your Money Written By: Sandy Liu Most people have a similar reaction to their first job: buy a car, splurge, and forget about saving. The problem is that your money disappears much faster than you anticipate! The basics of budgeting will divide your take home pay (after taxes) into three main categories: 50% needs, 30% wants, and 20% savings. However, it is really much more complicated, and it is best to create a plan for how to spend your money. It is recommended that you track all of your spending in the first month of your job to see where your money goes; alter your plan for the rest of the year based on what is necessary. Once you start budgeting, you will quickly realize that unexpected events will happen. Create an emergency fund – not for shopping – that you can go to when you need money for car repairs or other emergencies – remember, not for shopping!! Ideally, your emergency fund should be $1000 for a single person, and much more for families. In cases of unemployment, you should also have a long term savings that will support you (and your family) for three full months, based on the plan you created in the previous paragraph. Don’t forget about your student loans – the faster you pay them off, the less interest you pay. There are also a few basic facts to be aware of: 1. As you make money in a given year, you move up through the tax brackets; basically, you don’t pay taxes based on your annual salary. Instead, you pay taxes in the lower brackets at the beginning of the year and “graduate” into successive tax brackets as you make more money in the year (higher portion of your annual salary). 2. As you make money, you will need to consider your take-home pay vs. your compensation. Compensation includes your base pay, your signing bonus, insurance coverage, 401K matching programs,
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What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Being an Engineer and a Mother Written By: Claire Hoelmer At the SWE conference in October, successful female professionals shared their wisdom and about starting a family while maintaining a career, which can be of great concern to women who, in 2012, refuse to be forced to choose between their two aspirations. There is a misconception that unless she is Superwoman, a woman must focus on either rearing children or advancing her career, and that one of those goals must take a backseat. Well, as it turns out, this unrealistic expectation need not be true. If you decide that you are ready to start a family or discover that you are expecting, there are a number of resources and tactics at your disposal. First of all, you do not need to immediately disclose to everyone in the office that you are pregnant if you prefer to keep the details of your personal life private during the first few months. Morning sickness and fatigue may give you away, but this need not diminish your work performance –- having a friend in the office can help when you need to make a hasty escape. In fact, the challenges of the upcoming months can be tackled more confidently if you have a friend and confidante in your workplace. Secondly, do not hesitate to take the standard 6-12 weeks of personal time that you are allowed (12 weeks shared between mother and father, if you work for the same company). Do not let the fear of judgment or of losing momentum keep you away from your family. This time off is your right, fathers of newborns may also take time off, and you can demonstrate your motivation to return full-force by maintaining communication with your boss and your team. In terms of balancing work with a new baby, rest assured that many women have successfully negotiated a situation that fit their needs. For example, one woman worked from home during her baby’s early years by proving (in 6 month increments) that her work performance does not suffer in the slightest. Finally, do not try to be Superwoman: there is no shame in delegating tasks that do not contribute to family time, such as housekeeping. This advice, above all, I found most reassuring as an aspiring female engineer.
The Message of Engineering
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