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Welcome to The People of Work, the podcast where we explore the unique journeys that bring people to their careers. Every episode is a deep dive into the twists, turns, and surprises that shape how individuals find their career paths—whether they’re engineers, artists, baristas, CEOs, or anything and everything in between.
It’s not about the destination; it’s about the story. Through honest conversations, we’ll uncover the moments that define careers, the challenges overcome, and the lessons learned along the way. These are real stories from real people, celebrating the diversity of work and the individuality of the people behind it.
Join us as we break down stereotypes, embrace the unexpected, and shine a light on the human side of work.
[00:00:00] Kylie Bright-Schuler: just be confident in your voice, and if you are knowledgeable in your field your opinion should be valued and you worked what your way here.
[00:00:11] Ami Graves: So don't sell yourself short. You are listening to the People of Work, the podcast that dives into the real stories behind what people do for a living and how work shapes who we are.
[00:00:27] Ami Graves: Hi everybody and welcome back to the People of Work podcast with Ami Graves.
[00:00:32] Ami Graves: I am here today with our guest, Kylie Bright Schuler. Kylie is a civil engineer and we are gonna talk about her journey into engineering, and she's also a podcast host, so we're gonna talk about that a little bit as well. Kylie, thank you for joining me today.
[00:00:46] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
[00:00:48] Ami Graves: Yeah, we're glad to have you. So we're gonna dig in and talk about all things work uh, first of all, I, I love talking to a female in engineering. I, I, I work in tech, so this is a, a space that I understand as a male dominated field. And I always think it's cool to share stories of women that are up and coming and building their careers in a field like that.
[00:01:10] Ami Graves: So I can't wait to dig in. But before we dig into your current role.
[00:01:14] Ami Graves: at American Structure Point, I would like to just kind of take it back a little bit and talk about you at home with your parents or whoever you lived with, and I'd like to gain an understanding about what work looked like for you and what kinds of conversations you were having as a young person in your home around work.
[00:01:32] Ami Graves: Can you talk to me a little bit about that?
[00:01:34] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah. Uh, so I feel like I grew up and work was a really positive thing. Um, both my parents worked. My dad was a company owner, just sold his business in 2021. And my mom worked in medical sales, so both of them very career driven and were working constantly, I would say. but it wasn't really anything negative, you know, like that they were working a lot or that, you know, I had to go to daycare.
[00:02:00] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I know some people without having a working mom, you know, have different perspectives on that. But
[00:02:05] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I had a really great experience and my mom, I feel like was a really good role model for me of. What I wanna be like for my family, and that you can have a career, but also be a kick-ass mom too.
[00:02:16] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So yeah, it all around a really good experience.
[00:02:20] Ami Graves: Were they talking to you about what you wanted to do when you were older or did you have an inkling when you were young that you were, you would go into a field like engineering?
[00:02:29] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Not at all. So. my parents, yeah, definitely did always ask what do you wanna do? And, you know, the typical responses. I feel like I wanted to be a vet or a cook or,
[00:02:39] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I don't know, just maybe one off. And I really didn't know what engineering was. It is just such a broad term, you know,
[00:02:45] Kylie Bright-Schuler: so I didn't really have any idea around it.
[00:02:48] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Um, my grandpa actually, so he's kinda like your typical, like older generation. He's like, you need to work hard, make, make a bunch of money, be successful type of thing. And,
[00:02:58] Ami Graves: Stay at, stay at the same place for 25 years at least, or maybe, maybe 40.
[00:03:04] Kylie Bright-Schuler: right. Because, so he, 'cause he owned the business with my dad. So like
[00:03:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: he, that's what he's all about.
[00:03:09] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So everyone knew I was kind of good at math and science in high school and I was definitely gonna go to Purdue University. just 'cause that's where my family went and it was kinda like I was destined to go there.
[00:03:20] Kylie Bright-Schuler: But I was good at math and science and I was gonna go to Purdue, my grandpa just. Kind of suggested, Hey, you should check out engineering. So that's really the first introduction I had to it. And I got accepted into Purdue engineering program. My thought about it at first was that my idea was like water quality was kind of what I was thinking. Like I'm gonna design wells for people in third world countries. But then I kind of realized that that's not something a lot of people do, really. It's very niche. So then I just got exposed to other types of engineering at Purdue.
[00:03:56] Ami Graves: So before you went to Purdue, so you, let's go back to your teenage years, for example. Your parents and your grandfather were talking to you about exploring a career in engineering, obviously Purdue for a couple of reasons. One, that was your, where your family had gone to school, so that there was an interesting kind of continuing that legacy but also.
[00:04:17] Ami Graves: I mean, Purdue's obviously a very well known school for, all different types of engineering, so that makes a ton of sense. I'm curious about, yes, you're good at math and science, but what was it that made you decide, or how did you decide civil engineering or, or engineering at all
[00:04:34] Kylie Bright-Schuler: so really what intrigued me was environmental engineering,
[00:04:39] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and that was the water quality aspect.
[00:04:41] Ami Graves: it.
[00:04:42] Kylie Bright-Schuler: The idea that you can design these water quality treatments for I mean, any municipality has them. But the part that was intriguing was like the traveling third world countries.
[00:04:54] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I did some mission trips growing up,
[00:04:55] Kylie Bright-Schuler: so that is what really intrigued me specifically. And I didn't know what the possibilities would be within civil engineering specifically, but environmental was where I focused.
[00:05:05] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And yeah, so that's kind of where I started and it led me, obviously in a very different direction now.
[00:05:10] Kylie Bright-Schuler: But that was what was in the back of my mind was, oh, I can provide clean water for, and maybe travel to do it.
[00:05:16] Ami Graves: I love that. I mean, I often say that where we find so much joy in work is there's some sort of like a heart tug in some way to like, there's some meaning that connects us to the work that we're doing. That to me is a very big, you know, heart tug, right? We're gonna go help.
[00:05:33] Ami Graves: Third world countries have more clean water and access to that. That's amazing. So it sounds like that was a little more of a, a niche, type of experience that you had to have and, probably not a lot of, you know, engineers that, or opportunities for engineers that want to go down that path.
[00:05:50] Ami Graves: So at what point did you decide, I assume it's while you were at Purdue, that you were gonna shift gears to a different type of engineering, and tell me about that and how you selected civil engineering specifically.
[00:06:01] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah. Yeah, so it's a really unique situation because I was in I was actually in the environmental engineering division within agricultural engineering, and I remember for one of my classes I was gonna have to drive a combine simulator for something. And I'm like, well that doesn't really correlate at all to what I wanna do. and then I had an internship where I was doing, I was working for a firm that I was doing exactly what I'm doing now, but on an intern level, obviously I'm not doing the exact same thing.
[00:06:31] Kylie Bright-Schuler: It was the, the company was what I would be doing now. I thought I didn't wanna do that at that time. And so I changed course drastically actually.
[00:06:42] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So after two years in engineering at Purdue, I was still gonna do a dual major in environmental engineering and then natural resources, environmental science.
[00:06:52] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And with that, I was hoping to do more like wetland investigations. And it's basically the step before civil engineers get involved. So a lot of permitting related items. And you're basically just prepping the site for an engineer to come in and design it,
[00:07:09] Ami Graves: can I ask you a question about that? When you say wetland engineering, I'm envisioning. There not being a lot of opportunity for that in Indiana, but maybe I'm wrong. Can you elaborate a little bit about what that means?
[00:07:20] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah. Sure, So really any type of existing ground that's sitting there to be able to be developed has to go under a wetland investigation. And that's where environmental specialists come out. They do a field report and they basically look around your site and make sure there's, there's no wetlands.
[00:07:39] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And if there are, they need to be permitted. And actually there's almost always at least one wetland on a site
[00:07:45] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and that could just be even a low spot in the ground. So a wetland, it just needs to meet three criteria if if I remember correctly. But, um, it just needs to have the, the correct vegetation soil type.
[00:07:58] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And then the third is, hydrologic indicators. So it actually is very, very common and it is expensive to permit.
[00:08:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So that's why developers try and get ahead of it. It would be nice if you just have a farm field that's very flat and nothing going on, but even sometimes in farm fields, if it's a low point and the conditions are right, it could be classified as a wetland.
[00:08:19] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So
[00:08:19] Kylie Bright-Schuler: that was kind of what I turned into because what intrigued me about it was the field work aspect. I liked the idea of being outside and. All things. And after that previous internship I was like, I can't be at a desk all day like this. There's no But I was also, you know, 19, 20 years old and, and so fast forward and lemme know if I'm getting ahead of myself, but. I stuck with that major.
[00:09:13] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And then I got a job here at American Structure Point, um, out of college COVID as environmental scientist, actually within our environmental science group. And after about four or five months of working in that group, it was about February. And I was just, I wasn't doing any design and I really had intended, 'cause that was what I wanted to do at first, was just design. And whether it's water quality or. Civil site design, which is what I do now. I was getting a little bit of a taste of that within our environmental group, but it wasn't, it was more the science route. you know, I'm six months outta school at this point. I'm devastated because my first job wasn't working out.
[00:09:28] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I had actually had another offer somewhere else to do a bridged engineering, which I hadn't knew nothing about. And I was just like, oh, well, at least I'll be doing engineering. So then when I went in, went to put in my two weeks, my boss in the environmental group, he was like, well, you know, you can be in any department here, right?
[00:09:46] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Any engineering department, you could just change to that department. And I was like, wait, really? So I spoke or four departments here and, they were so gracious to give me the opportunity of basically choosing,
[00:09:59] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it ended up right where I started. At my internship, my first internship in college in civil site design, just since giving it more of a chance this time, it was so much more than what I saw as an intern, and it's been absolutely amazing
[00:10:14] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it was a great
[00:10:15] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Switch up for me too.
[00:10:17] Ami Graves: So when you were in the environmental scientist role in the first, what'd you say, six months of your, of your role at, American Structure. Point is that role a field role. So you're out in the field, you're not in the office, you are out in the field, what, 90% of the time or,
[00:10:32] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, so in the summer it was probably like 75% of the time
[00:10:36] Kylie Bright-Schuler: but then it was winter and all I was doing was writing reports
[00:10:40] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and I'm already, not that I would say detail oriented in my language. And those reports have to be, I mean, spot on.
[00:10:48] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Otherwise you're, you're getting marks marked up like crazy
[00:10:52] Kylie Bright-Schuler: because ndot is the reviewer typically, and they, it's very specific language.
[00:10:57] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So that just was not, I mean, when it came to the winter months, I did like being outside and that was fun. It did get a little hot
[00:11:03] Kylie Bright-Schuler: after so many visits,
[00:11:05] Kylie Bright-Schuler: but once I was inside writing reports, I, it was very clear that this wasn't for me.
[00:11:11] Ami Graves: How did that first role though, prepare you for the next role?
[00:11:16] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it's kind of neat because not many people do that, obviously, and, uh, not many people have that environmental background. So now I'm really able to help my clients and developers understand the permitting process before we even start our design. So oftentimes maybe a developer
[00:11:33] Kylie Bright-Schuler: will wanna take a piece of ground and put a hotel on it, for example. And they might call us about it and ask us to do it. Well, if you don't have any reference of to what the permitting is, that timeline could really
[00:11:44] Kylie Bright-Schuler: extend far out.
[00:11:46] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So being able to explain that to them and give them some background
[00:11:50] Kylie Bright-Schuler: on that permitting process, and at least be knowledgeable enough
[00:11:53] Kylie Bright-Schuler: to explain it, understand it has
[00:11:55] Kylie Bright-Schuler: been really important.
[00:11:57] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I think
[00:11:57] Ami Graves: How long have you been at American Structure Point?
[00:12:00] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I just had my five year anniversary. June,
[00:12:04] Ami Graves: Great. Congratulations.
[00:12:06] Kylie Bright-Schuler: yeah, thanks.
[00:12:07] Ami Graves: That's great. So this is your first, I don't know if I wanna say real job. It's every job is a real job, right? But this is your first job outside of college where you are a full-time employee doing what you went to school to do.
[00:12:21] Kylie Bright-Schuler: now you're a project manager, not an engineer, although of course, you know, you're always an engineer.
[00:12:27] Ami Graves: Once an engineer, always engineer. But your role there is as a project manager.
[00:12:33] Ami Graves: Tell me how that role is different than the engineering role you were in prior to taking this position as a pm.
[00:12:37] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, it's really interesting because yeah, you're always in engineering and that's where you get your expertise, it is fast-paced here. I will say. The journey to being a project manager, but within the first one to three years, you really cut your teeth on design and you're just cranking out different projects, nonstop, really for all different types of developers.
[00:12:59] Kylie Bright-Schuler: You're doing industrial, commercial, residential, a little bit of everything, what we do here. And then as you kind of transition and gain experience, you're interacting more with clients. So that's a really nice thing about civil site design and being a civil site engineer is it's. Mostly on the private side.
[00:13:16] Kylie Bright-Schuler: We do have some public projects, maybe some federal projects, but you're, you're working with private, local developers and you really have to build that client base so you have the opportunity to go the more technical route where maybe you're designing. That's just what you wanna do. You started in engineering, you wanna stick with that and just hone your craft. We have people that like to do that. Or there's the other route where you can. To kind of go into more project management, business development, you're meeting with clients, you're winning work, you're writing proposals. So that was the route I really wanted to
[00:13:48] Kylie Bright-Schuler: choose, basically because I really like interacting with people and the relationship aspect of it well.
[00:13:54] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I love the design and that's why I stayed in civil site. the project management and people management is, kind of what intrigues me most.
[00:14:02] Ami Graves: do you have your p and p, do you feel like, you need to have your p and p is it beneficial for the role you're in?
[00:14:10] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, so actually someone just asked me that out here, not many people have it. Who are project managers within
[00:14:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: engineering? The license that I would a hundred percent recommend and I still am working on getting is the professional engineering license.
[00:14:25] Ami Graves: Yep. The PE Right, right.
[00:14:27] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yep, exactly. So I'm an engineering intern currently, and I'm eligible to get it next year, so I need start studying for that.
[00:14:35] Kylie Bright-Schuler: but that is kind of, you know, that's the gold standard. That's what every civil engineer should work towards because that's your, stamp that and you can say, Hey, these are my, my plans. And it's definitely a necessity, I would say within civil engineering.
[00:14:49] Ami Graves: That's an important credential that, you know, it tells your client that you are, Have the technical skills to perform the work that they need.
[00:14:58] Kylie Bright-Schuler: A hundred percent. yeah,
[00:14:59] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And, when a client hires us, you're paying for that stamp too, because
[00:15:03] Kylie Bright-Schuler: you're developing in Westfield, Carmel, they're not gonna accept your plans without a professional engineer stamping them. So working at American Structure Point, obviously there's plenty of engineers who can stamp your drawings,
[00:15:14] Kylie Bright-Schuler: but it still adds value to yourself as well
[00:15:18] Ami Graves: So as a project manager at American Structure Point, are you no longer doing the design process instead, you're kind of working with the client to make sure that the project is happening kind of on time, in budget, et cetera?
[00:15:31] Kylie Bright-Schuler: We're doing a little bit of both. It's kind of like a hybrid role a little bit. Ideally, it would be fully just, you're managing the project, the budget, you're scheduling people to work on it. You're talking to the client about maybe hurdles, timelines, like you're, like you mentioned. but right now we're kind of at a point where sometimes you do just have to hop into the design and get it done.
[00:15:52] Kylie Bright-Schuler: we're just so busy at this point, but I do have a good team and it's nice. You can just delegate at some point, but then maybe they're bogged down with something else. So you're gonna have to hop in and, change something real quick. Now, the more senior you get, ideally you're not in CAD, is the software we use.
[00:16:11] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Um, you're not in that at all. And you're strictly just, you know, emails, talking to clients, organization items, but it kind of happens. Project to project depends.
[00:16:22] Ami Graves: I, um, was at an event a few months back, uh, nonprofit event with Dream Alive, and I heard the, president and CEO of American Structure Point speak at that event. and I recognized that there's a, An emphasis at American structure point on the hiring of women and, diverse populations and minorities.
[00:16:45] Ami Graves: And I loved to see that, particularly because as we know, engineering is a field that's predominantly, I think just by the stats, it's predominantly white men. So, um, tell me about your, your personal experience there as a woman in a male dominated field.
[00:17:01] Kylie Bright-Schuler:
[00:17:01] Kylie Bright-Schuler: It's been interesting, that's for sure. And then I, I feel like I even started in school
[00:17:05] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and then in in my internships and then now, and I've been extremely blessed just with the opportunities I've had and the leaders I've had too. I mean, that's a huge, huge thing. in this field. If you have the right people leading you, it obviously helps a lot, but you still have the, every once in a while stereotype or rude comments or. Kinda locker room talk, I'll say on certain calls. so that has been interesting to, to navigate. And I would say at the beginning it really did. Like I would let small things maybe hurt my self confidence a little bit, now in my career, I'm at a point where I'm confident in my ability to do my job and know that I'm good at my job.
[00:17:49] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So I don't let those things impact me as much as I feel like I did.
[00:17:53] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Plus, like I said, I have really good mentors that, give me space to speak in a room and, kind of lift me up, so to speak.
[00:18:02] Ami Graves: Are those mentors, I'm just curious, are those mentors men or women, or a combination of both?
[00:18:08] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah. So like you said, because most people at this company and in the engineering field across all companies, I would is.
[00:18:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: majority men. My three, leaders above me are all men.
[00:18:22] Kylie Bright-Schuler: but they specifically, I would say are the ones that have, have helped me kind of find my voice in the field. And maybe it's as small as we're on a call and I'm the lead engineer on it, but somebody's asking my boss the question,
[00:18:37] Kylie Bright-Schuler: well, he knows I know the answer, so maybe he reframes the question and says it to me. small things like that, that just make a lot of difference. then, you know, that contractor knows, okay, Kylie does know what she's talking about.
[00:18:49] Kylie Bright-Schuler: He has confidence in her. She's the one who designed it. I'm gonna have confidence in her as well. So, those three above me have been great. And then there's also people internal to American Structure Point that don't necessarily do what I do. But they are females and I look up to them
[00:19:06] Kylie Bright-Schuler: been, I feel like coordinating, helping each other.
[00:19:08] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And it's just good to bounce ideas and kind of every once in a while I'll just rant a little bit things, you know, stories that if you're a guy you don't understand what it's
[00:19:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: on a construction site, right. Sometimes,
[00:19:20] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it's good just to bounce stories off, but also just build each other up and, yeah.
[00:19:23] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So that's been really good too. It's, It's,
[00:19:26] Kylie Bright-Schuler: knit community for
[00:19:27] Kylie Bright-Schuler: sure.
[00:19:28] Ami Graves: mentioned that it was a, a little thing, but. It's a little action for him to call out and reframe and direct the question to you, but it's with huge impact, right? Because even if we can't come to consensus, we all wanna feel like our voice is heard and you as the lead engineer should absolutely be the one answering those questions.
[00:19:48] Ami Graves: So I'm really glad to hear that you are working with a team of people or leaders that are above you that are. Are that recognize that they recognize your talent, they redirect the questions from clients to you, that you are the lead engineer and, and you can answer those technical questions for them, and that helps your client have confidence.
[00:20:07] Ami Graves: Right. So I, I love to hear.
[00:20:10] Ami Graves: tell me about this podcast that you started. I wanna hear about this.
[00:20:14] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yep. So it's called Cheers with engineers
[00:20:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and I just kind of had an idea, um, kind of what we're talking about now. When I started in engineering, I had no clue all the different types of engineering or really what you could do with it. Just such a broad term and you hear the word engineer and I mean, I always thought of like mechanical engineers doing. Designs for cars or parts and stuff like that and using your hands, and there's just so many different facets to it. So I thought it might be neat both as like a recruiting technique for American structure point, but also just, kinda like you, the point of your podcast, it just meeting new people and, and,
[00:20:54] Kylie Bright-Schuler: hearing their stories and their experiences of why they chose which engineering field they chose. So, basically set out and. it wasn't meant to be all women, but I'm a part of an all female organization called IndyCREW, and I sent out a blast on crew and so many female engineers replied. And so most of my, my podcast guests were women. And it's just been fun to hear their stories and all different types of engineering that you wouldn't even think of, like acoustic engineering, had no
[00:21:23] Kylie Bright-Schuler: clue what that was. And just something you don't think about, but really, really interesting people and. I would go to Purdue with Structure Point to do some recruiting sessions or, um, we would do panels and they can ask all the engineers questions and stuff. And I would,put my podcast out there just so if you're in a first year engineering program, you can figure out what other opportunities might be out there and,
[00:21:48] Ami Graves:
[00:21:48] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, hear a little bit about it.
[00:21:50] Ami Graves: cheers with engineers. That's what you said is the title it. Yeah. That's great.
[00:21:55] Kylie Bright-Schuler: the cheers part is because I was gonna be drinking wine with my guest, so I didn't end up doing that for every recording, but I
[00:22:03] Kylie Bright-Schuler: would introduce whatever wine I was
[00:22:06] Kylie Bright-Schuler: drinking, even though I'm not wine connoisseur at all. And most of the time it was Costco wine, but that was the, that was the,
[00:22:14] Kylie Bright-Schuler: behind it.
[00:22:15] Ami Graves: Hey, even two buck Chuck Counts. Okay. That, that Joe's red Right. I'm interested, you mentioned something earlier you said.
[00:22:24] Ami Graves: right now I'm an engineering intern, but then you also said you're a lead engineer and when I think intern, I think about your experience getting exposure in a role in a company while you're still in college.
[00:22:35] Ami Graves: Can you help me understand what, what you mean by that and help our listeners that?
[00:22:40] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yep. It is a little confusing in the term, so if you go to my LinkedIn, you type Kylie Bright Schuler. At the end of my name it'll say EI dot, and that stands for Engineering intern. So it's not necessarily the role of an intern, but that is the stage in my licensure that I'm at.
[00:23:00] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So get your EI license and then after your years of experience, you're able to get your, and take your test for the PE license. So just because somebody has EI doesn't mean they're actually an intern. It's just where they're at in their licensure journey.
[00:23:16] Ami Graves: But Yeah.
[00:23:16] Kylie Bright-Schuler: that is confusing.
[00:23:17] Ami Graves: That makes, no, that makes sense. So generally, how long are you an intern in your licensure before you become, an engineer,
[00:23:25] Kylie Bright-Schuler: you ideally take your FE it's fundamentals of engineering. You take that exam right after school or during school. Some, some schools require it to graduate that you just take it. So you take that during school and then, as soon as you pass that and you have your degree, you're able to get your license
[00:23:43] Kylie Bright-Schuler: as the EI engineering intern license. And then if you graduated from an ABET accredited school in engineering, you have four years then of experience within that field to then sit for your PE
[00:23:57] Ami Graves: okay.
[00:23:58] Kylie Bright-Schuler: have to take another test and get your exams. So for me, it's actually six years because of my unique, degree path that I
[00:24:05] Kylie Bright-Schuler: took. So I'll be next year, May, 2026 that I'm able to sit for my pe.
[00:24:10] Ami Graves:
[00:24:10] Ami Graves: Do you have a favorite project, that you're allowed to talk about that you can share us today?
[00:24:16] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, there's, behind me I guess are a few of our cool projects that
[00:24:20] Kylie Bright-Schuler: we've worked on, but, um, one that just sticks out to me, I don't think, I mean I'm only five years in, but I don't think I could top this project, just 'cause it's at my alma mater at Purdue.
[00:24:31] Kylie Bright-Schuler: But basically a donor came and said, Hey, I wanna donate. $20 million for a new golf clubhouse facility. And they're also at the same time gonna rework the road up at Purdue. So this ginormous new clubhouse, very visible project, huge for the school and for the community right there on Cherry Lane was one of the coolest things I ever had to work on.
[00:24:55] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I got to go to Purdue, obviously like once a month for meetings. now for it to be done and to go onsite and see that, that's what I've worked on. And I mean, there's no topping that,
[00:25:06] Ami Graves: Yeah, that's really cool. I could see that.
[00:25:07] Ami Graves: So, what's something about being an engineer that you think people don't know or don't understand?
[00:25:14] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So I think maybe the
[00:25:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: most common misconception and stereotype is that engineers are. You know, you're at your desk, you're not talking to anybody, you're socially awkward. Um, there's, yeah, you're at your desk and you're, you're not talking to people. Basically. is kind of the stereotype that I learned and people still think that for sure.
[00:25:37] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and you'll have that every once in a while. I'll say just 'cause, you know, that's the type of people, if you do wanna be your desk and be at a computer, like I mentioned, the two different paths.
[00:25:47] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Project managers can do technical. So the people that stay technical, maybe they don't wanna be as interactive, but really civil site design specifically is really interactive with so many different people.
[00:26:01] Kylie Bright-Schuler: And you have to lead a team and design this project effectively. you're not only talking to people internal that you might be comfortable with, but you have to coordinate with the client daily. And you're talking to municipalities. So as you're developing something in Carmel, you need to make sure that the planning department is on board with your project. So you're, you're speaking at, town council meetings, you're presenting at plan commission, and you really do have to be an extrovert in that way
[00:26:29] Kylie Bright-Schuler: when it comes to that or. At least try to be and get
[00:26:32] Kylie Bright-Schuler: your project across the finish line for your client. So there's a lot of more social interaction than
[00:26:38] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I feel like people think. And you're leading the project from a very early stage, right up until construction starts.
[00:26:46] Ami Graves: So what kinds of either classes at Purdue or maybe on the job training. Once you're hired helps prepare you for that aspect of the role. I mean, we know that you're getting the technical training right? You're, you get, you gain the technical chops through, your time at Purdue. But are there specific types of training or skill building or classes or on the job training that where they really help you build out those soft skills to prepare you for that aspect of the role, which seems really critical to the work you're doing.
[00:27:17] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Honestly, no, there's not, and that's across. I mean, most companies there is not something that teaches you how to talk in front of
[00:27:29] Kylie Bright-Schuler: people. Maybe your speech class would at school, but how to interact with people, how to lead people. There's not at least something at at school that teaches you that.
[00:27:39] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Like you said, soft skills you learn along the way, which I think makes those type of
[00:27:43] Kylie Bright-Schuler: engineers so much more unique. And desirable to hire because they have those maybe already, because it is hard to develop that when you don't have even a starting point for it. But I will say, at least at structure point, they're trying to do a better job of turning engineers into these leaders and project managers, because only so much of it can come to you naturally.
[00:28:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Like, okay, if I'm good at public speaking, okay, I can present this project that I'm technically knowledgeable on. But leading a group of people and managing a budget or managing a project to be under budget, that's a whole different
[00:28:21] Kylie Bright-Schuler: set that Mm-hmm.
[00:28:23] Kylie Bright-Schuler: That needs to be developed. So we're trying to do stuff internally.
[00:28:26] Kylie Bright-Schuler: There are like some external, project management bootcamps they call 'em, that might be technical people across Indianapolis or wherever they bring their.
[00:28:36] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Their services too, but there's nothing really that everyone does. So it's just if your company is going to sponsor you, like, if I were to go out and find a program that I think would really benefit me, I could present it to my company and I know they would send me, but it's not something across the board that all engineers are doing, which is actually really interesting and I, I'm a big advocate for that.
[00:28:58] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So we need keep it going.
[00:29:01] Ami Graves: it sounds like American Structure Point sees that need, and they're, as an employer taking steps to help prepare, you know, their engineering workforce, to have all those skills or to further develop 'em, at least the ones that want to develop 'em. I, I remember when I worked at Rolls Royce many years ago.
[00:29:20] Ami Graves: Noticing such a difference between there's no judgment here. I'm not, you know, but this is Ami's HR hat on, but I'm not, you know, I don't wanna be offensive at all. But I just remember walking the halls of Rolls Royce and. The older generation, okay, this is 20 years ago, 15 years ago. But the older generation of engineers literally would walk the halls with their eyes down.
[00:29:47] Ami Graves: you would barely get a hello. And not that they weren't friendly, just locked in, focused, introverted, right? but then I would see all these brand new fresh outta college. engineers walking around and they were joining committees. They were doing all kinds of fun projects outside of their regular workday.
[00:30:08] Ami Graves: They were they really fed on kind of being connected to the, the rest of the workforce and not just doing the specific role they were hired to do. Had very good communication skills, which I attributed to, you know, kind of learning some of that through. college or other internships or whatever it might be.
[00:30:24] Ami Graves: But certainly it it felt like to me, and I was working in recruiting at that time, that there was a bigger focus on. Training our engineers to be more well-rounded and not just have the technical skill and are really prepared them for the workforce. So certainly I think it's a response from, the employers that need talent to find those people.
[00:30:47] Ami Graves: Or if they don't have that skill when they join, kind of help equip them with it. It.
[00:30:51] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, for sure.
[00:30:53] Ami Graves: Okay.
[00:30:57] Ami Graves: So let, let's talk about what's next for you. Anything fun on the horizon fun projects you're working on at American Structure Point or personally, something that's, uh, going on in your life that's fun that you're looking to do?
[00:31:04] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Well, I am starting to study for my PE exam,
[00:31:08] Kylie Bright-Schuler: so that's
[00:31:09] Ami Graves: A year, a year ahead, huh? It's, it's that intense.
[00:31:12] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, because I
[00:31:13] Kylie Bright-Schuler: definitely wanna take it right away. It's not something you wanna just sit in. And wait for, so the fact that it's looming there, I just wanna be prepared and study and, and hopefully knock it out. So definitely that is looming over me. But we just have, yeah, we have so many projects right now, so there's not a shortage of different things going on.
[00:31:34] Kylie Bright-Schuler: We're trying to get involved in things happening at Grand Park
[00:31:38] Kylie Bright-Schuler: and
[00:31:38] Ami Graves: Love that.
[00:31:39] Kylie Bright-Schuler: yeah, so a lot of cool local things. We're trying to. be involved in. And it's always fun to do those, those fun projects that are local.
[00:31:48] Ami Graves: Love that. Tell me about your, um, your routine, your morning routine. What's a day in the life? Morning in the life for Kylie?
[00:31:56] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it just depends. That's a nice thing about civil site. It just depends. Every day, like on Friday, I had a golf outing with some clients, but today, I actually worked from home in the morning because I had a pre-con. In Westfield. So,
[00:32:09] Kylie Bright-Schuler: um, pre-construction, sorry. Yeah, pre-construction meeting. So that's our project. We got it through the permitting process. Our job's done, we're basically handing it off to the contractors and with City of Westfield, we sat down and basically they talked through their process to make sure everyone's on the same page. So,
[00:32:27] Kylie Bright-Schuler: had that this morning. but typically, yeah, I would just come in, sit at my desk, maybe go through my emails, Work with staff to figure out where they're at on projects, what, what they need from me, what information from clients they need, maybe, potentially connecting people with the right people to get the right answers. And then I might also do a review of the whole civil plan set. So throughout our days as we're compiling these sets, we obviously want to have a thorough QAQC process. So at some point it might come to me and I would do a thorough review. So that might be throughout my day. But then, yeah, a lot of project meetings as well and
[00:33:08] Kylie Bright-Schuler: just check-ins with clients, but also contractors.
[00:33:13] Ami Graves: Got it. Do you like to read Kylie?
[00:33:15] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I do like to read. I've actually picked it up this year again. I deleted like TikTok and Instagram
[00:33:21] Kylie Bright-Schuler: earlier this year and
[00:33:23] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I'm like, wow, I have so much time.
[00:33:25] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So I've yeah. What am I reading?
[00:33:28] Ami Graves: Yeah, what are you reading?
[00:33:29] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I am reading, well, I just finished the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.
[00:33:34] Ami Graves: Okay. Yes.
[00:33:35] Kylie Bright-Schuler: I didn't expect to like that, but absolutely loved it
[00:33:38] Ami Graves: Everybody says that.
[00:33:40] Kylie Bright-Schuler: it's so good. yeah. Lessons, lessons in chemistry though. I mean, if you're like.
[00:33:45] Kylie Bright-Schuler: about women in stem. You gotta read that book. That
[00:33:48] Kylie Bright-Schuler: is definitely one of my favorite books I've ever read. Probably. But yeah, I read that this year and then right now I think I'm queued up at the library to check out, um, every summer after.
[00:34:02] Ami Graves: Okay.
[00:34:03] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So that's a
[00:34:04] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Trendy summer book that
[00:34:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: have been reading and
[00:34:09] Ami Graves: Kylie, if you could give a piece of advice to, uh, and I, I'm gonna focus on women. So a young woman that's interested in going into the field of engineering, or, a more seasoned woman who wants to maybe do a complete pivot in career change and, and look into engineering.
[00:34:26] Ami Graves: What advice would you give?
[00:34:28] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, so kind of what I touched on earlier about my fears originally, and maybe lacking the self-confidence to say what I need to say in a room. I would say that I would give the advice to just be confident in your voice, and if you are knowledgeable in your field and you like you are valued, your opinion should be valued and you worked what your way here.
[00:34:57] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So don't sell yourself short. Really.
[00:35:00] Ami Graves: Yeah.
[00:35:02] Ami Graves: I love that you've talked a little bit too earlier about, um, the importance of mentorship and that seems to be a reoccurring theme that I hear with. My guests often is around the importance of mentorship. Is that something that you kind of fell into or did you seek that out purposely?
[00:35:19] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Yeah, a little bit of both. one thing again, that structure point does is they pair you with a mentor. And it's kind of luck of the draw, I will say. But my mentor, um, he doesn't work here anymore, but he is, I mean, a big reason of why I was able to be brought up to speed so quickly and excel, I feel like, at this company.
[00:35:42] Kylie Bright-Schuler: so that was definitely just given to me and kind of fell into my lap. It's kind of been a few of those type of people have just been there and it's just worked out that they've been so amazing to, to work with and have really made me grow the way I have. And then some of it has been, sought out.
[00:36:00] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So, you know, I was lacking that, that women mentorship, 'cause all my mentors internally in my group here have been male.
[00:36:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: So getting involved in an organization like IndyCREW where it's not even engineering-focused But it's really just women supporting women. And I have learned that has been huge. because although people might not understand what I do day-to-day or the technical aspect of what I need to grow in my career that way, it's been great to just lean on other mentors, in different industries and just understand how they got to where they're at and just give me confidence in myself.
[00:36:38] Ami Graves: the power of mentorship and networking just cannot be, you know, overstated. thank you for sharing that. Kylie.
[00:36:45] Ami Graves: Thank you for your time today. I really appreciate you. This is a. It's an interesting journey into engineering, particularly as a woman. And uh, I love that you were able to share your story today.
[00:36:55] Ami Graves: And, and I I've learned a lot. I knew very little, so this has been very informative for me. So thanks for your time and thanks for, uh, being a guest on the People of work.
[00:37:04] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Thank you for
[00:37:04] Kylie Bright-Schuler: having me, Ami. I appreciate it.
[00:37:06] Ami Graves: you're welcome. Take care.
[00:37:07] Kylie Bright-Schuler: Thanks for tuning in to the people of work. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow along and share it with someone who loved these stories too. Do you or someone you know have a unique job or an inspiring work journey? I love to hear about it. You can find me on Instagram at the people of work, or visit the people of work.com, and if you're navigating a career transition or just.
[00:37:30] Ami Graves: Need support in your work life. I'm here for that too. From personal coaching to leadership and HR consulting, I'd love to help head to the people of work.com to learn more and get in touch. Until next time, thanks for being a part of the People of Work.