‘I Love My Job’: How I Feel Empowered to Innovate, Explore, and Grow as a Software Engineer

Welcome to I Love My Job, the series where we hear from women who really love their jobs. In this edition, we sat down with Miranda Dolan, a Software Engineer at Siemens Digital Industries Software.

Dolan’s favorite thing about Siemens Digital Industries Software “is their willingness to let me fail,” she tells us. “They encourage me to try new things, and they want me to step outside of my comfort zone. Sometimes that comes with failing — and that's okay.” This approach enables Dolan and her colleagues to view failure as “equally as valuable as succeeding,” she explains.

Due to this culture of unwavering support, Siemens Digital Industries Software empowers their employees to have the confidence to innovate and think big. No matter what, “they're behind me every step of the way,” she says. For Dolan, a culture like this is necessary not just to grow as a developer, but as a person, too.

In the video below, Dolan tells us more about why she loves working at Siemens Digital Industries Software. We also provide lightly edited highlights from the video discussion in the following article.

Can you tell us about your job and career journey to Siemens Digital Industries Software?

I started about six years ago in 2017 when I was a co-op in college attending the University of Cincinnati and studying computer science. During my co-ops at Siemens, I bounced around a little bit while trying to figure out what I did or didn't like. Ultimately, I ended up in large-scale development, where I work now on the meshing team in simulation and test solutions.

Can you tell us about a current project you’re working on that you find exciting?

I'm currently on a new project that I'm really excited about, and it’s unlike anything I’ve done before. It's a brand new team, and we are working on something called Smart Virtual Sensing, which relates to an executable digital twin. This means that we can see how things might act and interact before we actually have to implement them in real life. This can allow us to predict and read certain metrics on how something might act in real time. 

I’ve also gotten to be the Scrum master on this team, which is a great opportunity. It's a new role for me, and it's given me a lot of room to grow and learn. I’ll also be able to see this project from start to finish, which isn’t all that common sometimes in large-scale development… I'm really excited to see where that takes us!

How would you describe the culture at Siemens Digital Industries Software?

When I normally describe the workplace culture at Siemens, I like to say two things. 

1. It's very flexible.

   • It's really great to see a company that understands not everybody's day-to-day is the same. So, they know that your work hours might look different, your time off might look different, and they're very understanding of that. They really want to work with you to make sure that it's the best possible schedule for you.

2. It's very genuine. 

   • I feel like my relationships have gone past just being coworkers. These are my friends and people who I really value and inspire me to perform at my best.

How does Siemens Digital Industries Software support you?

Siemens has really great benefits, and I do genuinely feel like they support me the best they can in my work-life balance. One of the biggest pieces of that is having unlimited PTO… [which is] really healthy for your workers and your employees. It allows me to take time off when I need it and to not feel like I need to hoard my vacation days to save them for a big holiday when I need a day off right now. Having that kind of flexibility makes it really easy to avoid burnout and… it really helps with work-life balance.

Another great benefit of working at Siemens is getting to explore my creativity at work. I have this strategic and logical brain that helps me in my engineering work. But I also have this creative side that I really need to express…. I can't explain how much being able to satisfy both parts of my brain really encourages me to continue working for this company.

Another great support system at Siemens is the generational gap, which is a big positive at Siemens… This generational gap is a huge opportunity for me to learn a lot from experienced developers who are so willing to teach me as much as they know. I think that's something that will advance my career in every aspect.

What advice do you have for other women looking to work at Siemens Digital Industries Software?

I have two big pieces of advice: 

1. Look at your career as a learning journey. You don't need to come into Siemens knowing everything and anything. You can trust that the people here will teach you — this place is an overflowing well of knowledge and there is plenty for you to learn here. Trust in yourself that you're able to learn.

2. Be as open as you can to learning from others and be ready to try things outside of your comfort zone. And, whether that means you succeed or fail, both are equally important, and Siemens will support you every step of the way

Fairygodboss is proud to work with Siemens Digital Industries Software. Find a job there today!

Check out other posts in the ‘I Love My Job’ series:

• ‘I Love My Job’: I’m Proud to Be Part of a Team That’s Building Technology to Change the World

• ‘I Love My Job’: ‘Endless Possibilities’ to Define Your Career While Being Supported as a Mom in IT

• 'I Love My Job’: I Found My ‘Forever Home’ at a Firm Where Everyone Truly Supports One Another

• ‘I Love My Job’: How 1 Senior Manager Is Helping to ‘Mitigate and Manage Crises Across 6 Continents'

• ‘I Love My Job’: Making an ‘Upsized Impact’ on How Finance Is Done at a Mission-Driven Compan