“Don’t be afraid of failure. Figuring out adulthood as you are advancing in your career will challenge you and how you envision your goals, so you need to be ready when things don’t go your way. Successful people fail but do not give up.” – Mercy Canul
MERCY
CANUL Senior Project
Engineer, Griffith Company
F
or Mercy Canul, joining her high school robotics team was the spark that ignited her interest in pursuing engineering as a career.
“I was part of a team of 25 students, and we would collaborate and compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition once a year. Te robot would have to perform a specific task, be built within budget and be shipped off on time. I wanted to find a career that would be just as rewarding and challenging,” she said. Te first in her family to go to college, Canul started out
at California State University, Long Beach still undecided on her exact career path. “It took a lot of self-motivation to go out there and explore options and try to figure out where I would spend the rest of most of my life,” she said. She joined the AGC California State University Long Beach
Chapter after researching engineering related groups and clubs on campus. “Being part of the student chapter, I found mentors and friends,” she said. It helped her learn more about the construction industry and ultimately shaped her decision to obtain her B.S. in construction engineering management. Introduced to Griffith Company through the AGC Student
Chapter, Canul interned with the company the summer of her sophomore year and accepted a full-time job there after graduating in 2015. She is currently a Sr. Project Engineer on
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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR MARCH-APRIL 2022
the John Burroughs Middle School Modernization project for LAUSD.
Developing confidence as a woman in a heavily
male-dominated industry was initially challenging, she concedes. “Coming out of college, the first thing I did was look for women in the field so that I could ask them questions I was not comfortable asking my male counterparts.” Although there weren’t many women in the field then, as time went on she worked through how she fit in and grew more comfortable in her role. Mentors were an important source of support. “I think it
is important for women to find people that they can trust and have on their side that believe in them and in what they can do, even when they are doubting themselves,” she commented. The friendships, support and encouragement of other
women have been integral to her own journey, Canul said. “Being a woman in a male-dominated industry has connected us all together,” she commented. “We are stronger in numbers. I am extremely proud of and happy for all the women I met when they were in management positions, who are now in leadership/executive roles. Te idea of ‘if she succeeded in this industry, so can I,’ is the change in attitude that I sought for many years.” Her advice for girls considering a career in construction? “Don’t be afraid of failure. Figuring out adulthood as you are advancing in your career will challenge you and how you en- vision your goals, so you need to be ready when things don’t go your way. Successful people fail but do not give up.”
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