Thobile Bhembe is a junior site agent at Construction Associates, which is part of Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings. She says she was propelled by a love of maths and science — and a desire to show that engineering is everyone’s world What are the four most important things you do at work?Site supervision - conveying and relating drawings and schedules to the general foremen and site engineers; site co-ordinating with a professional team (structural and mechanical engineers, architects and quantity surveyors) and company head office; producing progress reports and profit and loss reports; and managing and controlling costs on site when purchasing materials, by authorising with a signature the material to be purchased.story_article_left1What drew you to engineering?A love of mathematics and science and being a hard worker, and to follow [in] my grandfather's footsteps, as he was a construction worker and foreman . I wanted to prove that construction is not a man's world: it is everyone's world.As the first woman site agent at Inyatsi Construction, has it been difficult in a traditionally male-dominated environment?Yes, especially working with the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled men on site and having to give them instructions on how to do the job, which they claim to know. They also tell me they have been in construction since before I was born. Some of my subordinates pretended to support me, yet they influenced other employees on site to rebel against me and not to take instructions from me.What advice would you give to a young person wanting to pursue a career in engineering?Be prepared to face challenges, such as not getting all the support you need from some of the men on site who still believe that "women are not meant to be in construction". You have to focus, be strong and be a hard worker. Always stay humble, involve them, let them feel that you are part of them and that working together, rather than as individuals, will benefit the company. Those challenges make you stronger. The good thing is that you will not be working with the same employees for the rest of your life.What do you most enjoy about your job?I really enjoy working on site and having my own project - starting from scratch and working on it until its completion. I also enjoy working with different professional teams, for example, structural and mechanical engineers, project managers, quantity surveyors and architects on different projects and at different places.And what would you rather not do?Work in the office. This is because I want to see the start and the completion of a project. I am a hands-on person.What did you want to be when you were a child?I wanted to be a nurse until I was 15. Then I decided I wanted to work in the construction industry, because my grandfather did not think that a woman would work in the construction industry. I was determined from then on to prove that women can do the job too.story_article_right2What qualities do you need to be an engineer?You need to be:• A hard worker;• A team player;• A co-ordinator, with good leadership skills when dealing with clients and professional teams;• A strong decision-maker;• Independent;• Responsible;• Good at understanding, reading and relating to drawings;• Able to supervise on site and the administration process;• Good with people so that you can work well with suppliers; and• Skilled at preparing reports...