Exams Aren’t Everything: A Q&A with Choy Keen Yap

For International Women in Engineering Day 2022 we’re excited to bring you a series of interviews with some incredible #OurJacobs women from around the world. In this article meet Choy Keen Yap and learn how she got to where she is today, why she was attracted to a career in STEAM and what she thinks is the best part of working at Jacobs.

Let's talk with Choy Keen:

Tell us what you’re working on these days.

I’m a principal engineer in the Ports and Maritime team in Malaysia and am currently working on a sea crossing transmission line project in northern Malaysia. As a design reviewer, I have to ensure conformance and structural integrity of the structures. Apart from technical reviewing, my role also involves assisting the project manager to oversee the project and aligning focus for the project delivery.

What led you to this point on your career path?

I’m not good at essay writing but have found it easy working with numbers since childhood. My physics teacher in secondary school encouraged me to pursue an engineering course in college. Eventually I chose civil engineering  — I was hopeless at anything related to electrical and electronics — and have continued that journey for more than 25 years to today.

What inspired you to pursue a career in STEAM?

Solving problems.

Tell us about a memorable project you’ve worked on that has helped build a brighter future.

When I was a graduate engineer, my first project was assisting in design and overview of site supervision of a vehicular bridge and roads connecting a power plant at seashore to the existing road network. When the bridge and roads were completed, it was exciting seeing cars traveling on them - I was thrilled about the impact of infrastructure bringing improvements to the daily life of a local community.

A project I’ve been working on recently on is also very meaningful as one of our objectives is to achieve technology-transfer during project delivery. Technology-transfer is not just limited to active sharing of technical knowledge through discussions, practice and teaching others but extends to demonstrate how we’re challenging today and reinventing tomorrow at Jacobs to bring innovative solutions and have a positive impact on the world.

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?

Teamwork makes the dream work. As a project manager, bringing the project team together to work collaboratively and with agility is a great challenge. However, involvement of global talent brings a remarkable depth and breadth of experience and technologies to local projects and facilitates advances in delivering innovation.  

Most interesting career moment?

When I started to view a project as a whole and not from the perspective of a structural engineer. It was fascinating to me when I started connecting dots between planning, architecture, structure, MEP, operation and function, commercial and erection.

What does the future of engineering look like to you?

Engineering elevates quality of life but great engineering shows the humanity of life and is inclusive.

If you could tell your 18-year-old-self one thing, what would it be?

Exams are not everything in your life!

People would be surprised to know that I…

Have no sense of direction and am not good at driving. Luckily, I can use a private hire car hailing service for site visits!

What do you enjoy most about being part of #OurJacobs?

It gives me the chance to challenge myself to venture beyond my comfort zone and advance to new fields of expertise and knowledge. The diversity of Jacobs’ business sectors gives me the opportunity to work on prominent engineering projects, which are a catalyst for sustainable personal growth.