Tamara Whitaker, technical services manager at R.A. McClure (RAM Inc.), paid P&Q a visit to discuss her path into the industry and share perspective as a woman in aggregates. Additionally, Whitaker reflects on the aspects of her job she finds to be most rewarding.
How did you get involved in the industry?
I just fell into it. It was 2005, and it was tough for explosives companies to get a mining engineer because they were all going to the big mining operations.
I went to college at the University of Wyoming and graduated with a structural engineering degree. I was supposed to design buildings, but I got a job with Orica right out of college doing survey work. I started doing explosives design and shot design.
What does your everyday job look like at R.A. McClure?
It changes almost every day. This week, I’m spending a lot of time in the office getting caught up on some reports and writing, but next week I will be out in the field, flying drones and doing blast design. Because I go all over and do many different projects throughout the year, every day is different.
I have been working with Bob McClure (president at R.A. McClure) for 11 years. We do everything from explosives and blasting, as well as explosives disposal and remediation. We also work with the government and do mining, quarrying and construction.
This job has given me the most experience in a range of different things, including blasting optimization programs and explosives disposal. We do training, and I’ve gotten the opportunity to expand that even more into fragmentation analysis and drills and audits for different operations.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced in your field?
When I started out in the industry, you’re conscious of being a woman in a male-dominated field. But as a young engineer, my biggest challenge was getting over thinking I knew more than I did and learning when to say: ‘I don’t know.’
When you’re young, you think you know everything. Sometimes it is still a challenge for me today to admit when I don’t know something.
What has your experience been like as a woman in a male-dominated industry?
To me, it hasn’t really been that big of a deal. Everybody has been really accommodating. I haven’t seen any discrimination. If you do your job and do it well, then people appreciate you for who you are.
I advise everyone to just do their job. I think it’s important not to take yourself too seriously. You’re going to have bumps in the road, and there are going to be people you don’t get along with. But you have to show them you’re competent and capable.
A big part of that is learning, and then a huge part of it is listening. Learn from the people you work with.
Tell us about a time in your career when you felt accomplished.
There was a funny comment someone made to me once – and it didn’t click with me right away. I was doing training with a customer of mine, and he said to me: ‘Well, you’re the expert.’
I told him I’m not the expert. He told me he hopes I’m the expert because that’s what he’s paying me for. That is when it clicked, and it got me thinking: ‘I really am the expert.’
Related: P&Q Profile: South Carolina Aggregates Association’s Jessica Palmer
