Street of Hong Kong’, the Central District.
For the stability of Asia’s premier financial
market, the reliable supply of electricity
is of paramount concern. For three years
from the design stage to commissioning,
she led a team working long hours to
ensure that financial activities would
remain robust and not be threatened by
electricity failure. While the task was
challenging, she remembers the project
fondly as the team spirit was high and Ms
Ng established a close rapport with her
team. Her dedication in the field served
her well and Central and Wan Chai are still
the districts lit up 24–7, giving Hong Kong
its reputation as the city that never sleeps.
Airplane wings, not fairywings
Engineering fathers aren’t the only source
of inspiration. For Mayy Du, growing up in
Guangxi province, it was the stories told by
an ex-Chinese People’s Liberation Army air
force pilot, her neighbour, which captivated
the child’s imagination. Ms Du traded in
a little girl’s dreams of fairy wings for real
aircraft wings and pursued a Bachelor’s
degree in Instruments and Equipment at
Nanjing University of Astronautics and
Aeronautics. In a still-conservative society,
her parents were concerned about her
decision, but supported her in following
her dream of working in aeronautics. “If
other people can do it, so can I,” she told
her parents.
Ms Du joined Guangzhou Aircraft
Maintenance Engineering Co Ltd
(GAMECO) after she graduated and
started her career as an Avionics
Mechanic working in the component
repairs section. She later became a Senior
Reliability Analyst, then an Electronics
Engineer and is now a manager in the
Software Development and Management
Section in the Engineering Department.
As a woman in an industry dominated by
men, she was never overtly discriminated
against. However, there was a time
when she felt her colleagues from other
departments questioned her abilities as
they thought she knew little about their
jobs. “I could feel it from their attitude and
the way they talked.”
“I want to follow in my
father’s footsteps.”
Alfreda Ng,
Protection Engineer of HK Electric
Sphere
#38
2015
20
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Strong Brew: Women rising
Ms Du set out to show her colleagues
that she was a true professional, spending
extra hours learning about every aspect of
not only her job, but of those of the people
around her. “I try to learn, observe and
understand as much as possible,”
she says.
Onwomen as engineers
After getting past the hurdle of convincing
her colleagues that she was every bit their
equal, people began to see what she could
really do.
“If you don’t mind working hard and
taking on the same technical tasks as
men, women are well-suited to this
kind of work.” Ms Du even believes that
women can be better engineers than men.
