As I am gearing up for SWE’s Annual Conference – WE23, I wanted to share my tips on saving money when attending conferences. For those unfamiliar WE23 is SWE Annual Conference and it is the world’s largest conference for Women in Engineering and Technology. It will be held on October 26-28, 2023, in Los Angeles,…
Dani’s Declassified Guide to High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSAs)
This month, we are continuing our personal finance series talking about High Yield Savings Accounts or HYSAs! For our first blog in the personal finance series, you can read this at https://stemchangemaker.org/2021/05/30/danis-declassified-guide-to-personal-finance/ . Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko Disclaimer: I am not a licensed attorney, accountant, or financial advisor. The information below is for educational purposes…
An In-depth Guide to Becoming an Envision Sustainable Professional (ENV SP)
The Envision Framework is quickly becoming globally recognized as a highly credible approach and rating system for sustainable, resilient, and equitable infrastructure. It is a way to apply the principles of sustainability to infrastructure projects—bringing some structure to a typically amorphous topic. The framework is supported by the Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) designation—an increasingly…
Dani’s Declassified Guide to Taking Time Off
This month’s blog post is focused on taking time off for vacation or other occasions. Taking time from work should not make you feel guilty as paid days off are part of your total compensation, just like your benefits of a 401k or wellness rewards are. It can be nice to disconnect too, but it…
ASCE CI Student Days Application Tips and Experience Attending
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Construction Institute (CI) holds an awesome annual event for students called CI Student Days. This is a jam-packed 4-day student competition where you prepare a bid package with your team and then present it to a panel of top construction professionals. All students who are accepted to attend…
Attending and Speaking at SWE WE Local
Earlier this month, I had the honor of speaking at a SWE Conference. In this month’s blog post, we will cover preparing for being a speaker, the associated costs to attend this conference, as well as tips if you are attending a SWE Conference in the future. One of the things I always recommend to…
Goals for 2023
Each new year, I like to take some time to start the year with intention. There are many ways to do this from setting a word of the year, to setting foci or even SMART goals. I personally like to set goals to help me focus on making incremental changes throughout this upcoming year. Below…
Review of 2022 Goals
Continuing the tradition, my December post will summarize my year and review the goals I set at the beginning of the year. 2022 was full of transitions – My partner finished his residency in June and then the following month, we moved apartments. I celebrated 1 year at my new company, finished my 3-year term…
Dani’s Declassified Guide to Becoming a Professional Engineer
Below I have broken down my high-level journey month by month to becoming a Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. Please reach out with any questions as this is to help you with your own journey to becoming a PE! Prior to October 2021: October 2021: November 2021: December 2021: January 2022: February 2022: March 2022: April…
Changing Jobs? Things to Keep In Mind When Making the Move
As I come up on almost my year anniversary at my 2nd job post graduation, I wanted to share a few things that I have learned through my first job transition in engineering. I put in my two weeks at my former job after I had already signed the contract for my next job. If…
STEM Changemaker 