Traditionally, technical jobs have been underrepresented by women. But that's changing, says Emily O'Dea, commercial services process manager at Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence.

“Without a doubt we're definitely outnumbered,” says O’Dea. “I started [my career] in a smaller company. It was unusual because we were four application engineers, and three of us were women.”

Technical jobs can become great careers for both men and women. In today’s social and professional climate, we see efforts to encourage young women to study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics. We’ve even seen Hollywood reflect the changing mood in movies such as Hidden Figures, a film heralding the accomplishments of three black female mathematicians at NASA.

“Gender really shouldn't matter,” states O’Dea. “It’s a matter of what you enjoy and what you can teach others. It’s being able to be involved in this wonderful industry.”

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