At Dover, one of our core values is “Respects and Values People.” We believe that cultivating an inclusive culture where employees feel valued for their contributions and diversity is important for our continued success. Our engineers are best-in-class, and we encourage them to continuously learn and grow, advancing our innovation.
Dover is proud to partner with and support the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and we are aligned with SWE’s mission of empowering women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders. This commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment is exemplified by the experiences of our operating company employees, such as Sara Venkatachalam and Emma Miller.
Sara Venkatachalam
| Sara has been at Dover Fueling Solutions (DFS) for over 13 years. She began her career as an automation testing engineer and has risen to director of solutions engineering and software engineering lead. Sara believes one of the most important aspects of her career is her willingness to adapt. “In the various roles I have served, I look for the learning opportunities and what lessons can be learned… Obviously, we can’t avoid mistakes, so when they happen, we can always learn from those mistakes,” Sara explained. Sara also expressed the importance of having a diverse team supporting each other in the workplace. “Having that diverse mindset and different approaches to working together help make the problem quite simple sometimes,” Sara said. |
Emma has been an engineer at Colder Products Company (CPC) for seven years. Starting in design engineering, she recently explored a new role within application engineering and currently works within the thermal management business unit. While attending college, Emma noticed that fewer than 10% of her classmates were women. To her, being surrounded by diverse teams at CPC is refreshing. “Diversity is crucial for success on teams. I have seen firsthand that if we didn’t have diverse backgrounds and thoughts, we wouldn’t reach the same innovative solutions that we do today,” Emma stated.
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Emma Miller
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Similarly to Sara, Emma emphasizes the importance of continuously gaining new forms of wisdom to foster professional growth. “It’s a good habit to develop early in your career. Keep learning and keep an understanding that there is so much out there that you don’t know,” Emma suggested.
Both women reveal that their company’s growth and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, as well as leadership structure, have helped them become who they are professionally.
Sara mentioned multiple ways in which DFS encourages learning and career growth for all employees. Among these are the DFS Women’s Network, which hosts external speakers to share their experiences, and access to professional third-party mentoring. She also emphasized that DFS is committed to talent development, with new roles and opportunities made available equally to all employees.
Emma shared that representation in leadership roles at CPC has been encouraging for her own personal growth.
“There have been mentors that I go to for career advice, and they typically are women in leadership roles. It’s important to me to have that kind of support system…It’s refreshing to have them in a leadership role, inspiring women,” Emma explained.
Throughout their careers, Emma and Sara have gained insight which they shared for current and future women in engineering.
Emma suggested, “Stick with it if it is something you are passionate about, and see where your career can take you.”
Sara advised that women in the field should “take any opportunity, even if it doesn’t exactly fit what you had in your mind as your career or career path. There is always a learning opportunity that will take us to the next level and prepare us for future roles.”
For more information about Dover and available career opportunities, please visit our website or our LinkedIn page.
This article originally appeared on SWE's All Together Blog.