That was beginning of the 1970s when the author started her engineering career. Surprisingly, she was hired, but she was the 1st woman structural engineer in a company. Men engineers revolted, they thought that now their engineering career is going down-a woman is going to design a bridge.
The first 3-4 days the author was reading volumes of federal and state codes, requirements, and regulations. Then, a chief engineer called her to his office and, in front of 3-4 other chiefs of departments, has unrolled a field drawing. And, announced: "Alla, you are going to design this 3-span bridge, over a ramp A, alone, one person." Then, he took a red marker pen and drew a line in the middle of a drawing. There he added a letter A-indicating the beginning of a bridge. And, a letter B-the end of a bridge.
That was it. No examples, no instructions, nothing. The silence fall, indicating that the rendezvous was over. As the author took this field drawing and start walking towards her office -the panic and dizziness come down. "How in the world I am going to design this bridge? Only if some miracles could happened," she though.
She never designed a bridge before. And, in engineering school she took only courses: math, physics, statics, kinematic, dynamics, strength of materials, reinforced concrete, and many other subjects. There was no one on how to design a bridge, or a building, or a highway. Only after the school, on the job, engineers are learning how to design such structures.
In the end she designed this bridge by inventing from a scratch all calculations and drawings. The company was so impressed that they started looking for another woman engineer. How she took a risk, and how "miracle" happened-please read this story. Once you finish reading-you will learn new skills. And, from now on the readers became knowledgeable and fearless in solving any problem, or taking any risk.
