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Women's Success Stories

Eman Ramos

Eman Ramos

Age 42, Caucasian
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Intern
Employed by Sweetwater Authority

“Picture yourself doing something that you love to do, and put yourself in that picture, and tack that picture up on the inner wall of your mind and keep it there. Picture yourself being a happy, professional person. Otherwise, it’s easy for that image to get brushed aside when you’re washing dishes at 1:00 in the morning. Let your mind enjoy the picture.”


Career Quick Look
Salary: $10 - $15 per hour Education:
Years in Field: 1.5 years A.S. Degree, GIS, Mesa College, 2007
Currently fulfilling requirements to transfer to San Diego State.
Multiple courses, Mesa College and San Diego City College.
University of New Mexico, 1 year
City/State: San Diego, CA  

Getting Started: Eman Ramos started out working at a series of shipping and receiving jobs for 15 years, first in a print shop and then at a small software company in the Bay Area, where she packaged orders, and loaded pallets for transport by truck. When she moved to San Diego, she found work in a warehouse, where she learned to drive a forklift, and handled large pallets. Eman learned about GIS by accident. As the mother of a toddler and a teenager, she wanted to find work closer to home and out of the cold, drafty warehouse. When she realized that her office skills were out of date, she decided to take a class in MS Office. While looking through the SD Mesa College catalog, she saw a course description for an Introduction to Mapping course, and because she was curious and had always loved maps she decided to enroll. After her first class, she announced to her family, “I’m changing careers. This is what I’m going to do now.” Her decision was reinforced once she learned about the exciting new technologies that would be available to her through SD Mesa’s GIS program. Her first course was difficult because she didn’t yet have the computer skills, and she also was working part-time and parenting her two sons (the younger son was less than three at the time). In the fall of 2005, she decided to quit her job and go back to school full-time. A supportive friend urged her to apply for financial aid, and she was surprised to learn that she qualified for a Pell Grant, which took off the burden of books and tuition. Thanks to the courses she had already taken over the years, she found she was less than two years from achieving her A.S. degree. “I can’t say enough about taking a course now and then, even if you’re working. Take an evening English course, or an evening speech or political science course or any of that general ed stuff, it adds up,” Eman advises.

She finished her GIS courses in one year in 2006, and then began the work-study/internship portion of her program when she was hired by Sweetwater Authority, a public/private water company. Her initial internship was meant to last for a single semester, but the project was ongoing and they kept her on for a full year. Then they asked her to stay for another year to do another project. “It’s very enjoyable work,” says Eman of her internship. “This job that I have now is like getting paid to get another two years of schooling.”

Was money a factor in her decision? “Yes and no,” says Eman. “At the moment, my hourly wage is less than it was at the warehouse.” She just knew that she wanted more of a mental challenge and less physical work. “In the warehouse I was working very hard at what used to be called men’s work. The work in the warehouse was rough and hard. Warehouse work was also very dirty. I was handling sharp edged things and heavy things and working with machinery, and I wanted to do something more creative and interesting.” She now works 15 to 30 hours a week, depending on her school schedule, and has had a warm, supportive reception at her job. Her current internship will go until July 2008, and she’s not sure what will happen after that, but she sees tremendous potential.

Education: Eman attended the University of New Mexico for one year in 1985, but had no particular goals at the time, and when her family moved to California the next year she found a job there as a shipping clerk. Over the years she took many community college courses in the evening to feed her mind, and eventually she found her way to the GIS program, where she completed the remaining requirements for her A.S. degree in one year. While doing her internship, she decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in geology as well, so she is currently taking the preliminary math and science requirements at SD Mesa and San Diego City College. She hopes to transfer to San Diego State for her bachelor’s program.

Eman found several mentors and supporters during her schooling. Eileen Goff, one of the GIS teachers at SD Mesa, was the person “I went to for advice, technical advice and advice about how to get a job, etc.” She also cites Donald Barrie, a geology teacher who helped her out with a combined GIS/geology project and inspired her to pursue geology further. “They have outstanding teachers at SD Mesa. I’ve been going to City and SD Mesa for almost nine years off and on and I just can’t say enough about what good schools they both are.” Eman also notes that the small class size results in more attention for students.

She also shared mutual support with her friend Vicki, a nurse who started midwifery school at about the same time Eman went back to school. “Knowing that someone else is ‘toughing it out’ too, and that that person is looking to you for encouragement, is a kind of encouragement in itself,” says Eman.

Greatest Professional Achievement: Eman considers her first project as an intern for the Sweetwater Authority as her greatest achievement to date. This project involved comparing reservoir levels from current and past studies, bringing together data from multiple sources, and writing a comprehensive report with illustrations. “That was the first time I worked on such a long term project, and I worked on it very independently with little supervision. It was really satisfying to get that done and get it right.” She has received a lot of compliments on her report.

Example GIS Maps Illustration developed by Eman Ramos in her GIS internship project

Barriers: Eman sometimes found it difficult to manage school with all her other commitments. “You have to continue mothering your children no matter what the demands of school or work. And if you are lucky enough to have a loving and supportive husband, it's important (and hard!) to at least try to treat him nicely even as you demand his help with the chores and shoo him out of your way so you can do your homework,” she says. She sometimes found herself feeling depressed at the end of the semester, but she took positive steps to fight it off so she could stay focused on her reason for being in school and keep moving forward. “The hardest part is believing you will reach the goal,” she says.

Working with Men: Eman works mainly with women on her current job, but she was the only woman in the whole company at her job as a shipping clerk. “Don’t worry too much,” Eman advises other women entering male-dominated fields. “You earn their respect if you show up and do the job, and don’t let any kind of attitude get under your skin.”

Advice for Women: “Picture yourself doing something that you love to do, and put yourself in that picture, and tack that picture up on the inner wall of your mind and keep it there. Picture yourself being a happy, professional person. Otherwise, it’s easy for that image to get brushed aside when you’re washing dishes at 1:00 in the morning.” Eman has put a poster of one of the maps she did of the reservoir in front of her desk to remind herself of what she did and what she can do. “Let your mind enjoy the picture,” says Eman.

“When I don’t believe in myself, and don’t believe that that goal is reachable, I just grit my teeth and keep on stepping toward it anyway. That’s the thing I never really got before I first started this. When I really started doing the [GIS] work it was so hard! But this image of being able to do it, and of being this professional person, that was powerful enough that it motivated me to stick to it, and it gets easier over time because you can look behind you and see all these steps you’ve already taken.”

Typical Workday/Environment: Eman has worked on two large projects during her ongoing internship with the Sweetwater Authority. The first involved creating a map of the bottom of a reservoir, and then developing a summary report with illustrations. She visited the reservoir to see the location, and then compiled data from aerial photographs, aerial elevation data, and bathymetric data gathered from a boat on the lake. She combined this data into one set of contours, and made a comparison with contours from previous years. The data showed how the depth of the lake had changed because of sedimentation and other factors. Except for visiting the reservoir, she spent most of her day on this project in front of the computer.

Her current project requires documenting each of the 37,000 water meters in the water district. She comes in to the office for 15 minutes in the morning, then goes out into the field with the meter reader. Eman photographs each meter, sends the photo to a GPS device via a wireless connection, and documents positioning and other details about the meter at each location. Each meter takes just a minute or two, so she may visit up to 160 locations in one day.

The dress code in her office is casual, yet professional. She can wear slacks, but no jeans, khakis, or t-shirts, with a nice blouse or pullover. Casual Fridays, she says, are not all that casual.

Career Ladder: Many positions in GIS begin with either unpaid or paid internships, which may pay up to $15 per hour. Eman expects to take on a full-time salaried position soon. She has seen positions advertised for candidates with an A.S. in GIS and a B.S. in earth science at $40,000 per year. She has no benefits in her current role, but the salaried employees at her company have a generous benefit package. She may try to find full-time work at the end of her second year of internship, and continue her studies via evening classes. She sees many opportunities for advancement, especially with a bachelor’s degree.

Professional Associations: None at present.

Hobbies: Eman enjoys listening to music and baking in her spare time. She also enjoys sculpture and clay modeling.

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