Overcoming Imposter Syndrome: A Structural Engineer's Perspective

Luvelyn Benitez. A hard working mother of two kids and a strong mentor to young female engineers. 

As a kid, she was surrounded by STEM through her interest and easy ways with mathematics and science. However, structural engineering in particular interested her the most. It was the construction aspect and seeing walls go up that amazed her. Being able to contribute to the creation of buildings inspired her to pursue a career in structural engineering. Benitez attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and majored in architectural engineering. She loved this major due to the fact that it’s not commonly seen, especially among women. As a woman in STEM, she loves motivating her mentees and being a part of their journey to the next level. 

Beneath the surface of structural engineering, it’s integral to practice on written and oral communication since structural engineering requires a lot of collaboration. Communication and interactions with contractors and engineers is very frequent when working in this field of occupation. Benitez emphasizes how important it is to know your equals since you grow with them. In aggregation, she mentions how significant it is to always be curious because what you learn in college is just your “beginning tool box.” There’s so much left to explore and experience after college not just in engineering, but in any STEM field. 

Benitez used to work for Hope-Amundson Inc. with Chuck Hope and Jim Amundson, both of whom she looked up to as her mentors along with a lot of female mentors. As a female structural engineer, Benitez states how “it’s so hard to find a lot of female engineers.” Being in a male-dominated field meant being consumed by imposter syndrome. “Believe in yourself” even if it can be intimidating at times. Luvelyn Benitez expresses how males underestimate women and how that makes it ten times more worth it when you command and earn that respect. 

“I could be as good as you or even better than you,” Benitez proclaimed when retelling the feeling of male underhandedness. 

As of right now, Benitez is a principal, one of the structural engineering leaders, at Coffman Engineers where she’s been working for 18 years. She was hesitant in believing in herself but male engineers grew to have confidence in her and she chose not to take that for granted. Her bosses saw the potential she had as a leader which is how she got to where she is today. She continues to look for female engineers and is active in the Structural Engineers Association in San Diego where she mentors young engineers. As a woman in STEM, she encourages other young girls to pursue these male dominated fields as women can accomplish anything a man can.