Kind, sympathetic and riding a wave of good humour. That’s exactly what Ing. Jana Kulichová, who works at Water Management Structures -Valbek, spol. s r.o. in Prague. Thanks to her confession of a womanly, gentle designer, you will not only find out whether she also laughs with her technical colleagues and why you can always use your boots, but you will also find out what has been the biggest stress for this young lady lately.
I have been working in Valbek since March this year, so I am celebrating my half-year anniversary.
This was definitely a fascination with the natural elements and especially with floods, which I often encountered in my life. Another factor was my technical thinking from an early age. This made my choice of study quite clear.
Historically, yes, but nowadays I would say that this inequality is gradually disappearing. At least during my studies, I didn’t have that feeling. However, it seems that fewer women than men are still entering the design practice.
As someone who chose the designer route as a first choice, this is hard to judge. But I’ll list a couple of factors that I think might be part of the reason. Working as a designer is definitely not a job where you can avoid stress. It’s a mentally demanding job that requires focus, precision, and accountability for the decisions you make. Good technical reasoning and perspective is important too.
Due to my short time in Valbek, I don’t have such a “pearl” yet, but one of the interesting projects I am currently working on is the water management structures for the bridge on the I/27 road in Žiželice. This project is interesting because of the variety of the individual water management objects. Here we meet a classic sewer with a settling tank, a drainage relocation, underground seepage objects, a retention and sedimentation basin and a water flow treatment.
The biggest challenge for me so far was when I joined a company at the very beginning of my apprenticeship where I was the only water manager. It was a very challenging time, but I learned quickly because of it. The next challenge I will face in the future is authorization.
The workload always depends on the level of documentation I am currently working on. For me, the most interesting level of documentation is the DÚR (documentation for planning permission), in which it is necessary to design all the objects basically on the “green field”.
Before the actual design, it is necessary to explore the terrain first, so it is advisable to always have boots on hand. The design itself also requires consultation with the investor and the various authorities. Communication with colleagues working on the project is also important. So as you can see, the work of a designer doesn’t just take place behind a computer.
You have a pretty good idea, but it’s definitely not as serious as it may seem. After all, we all have a “work deformity” and we enjoy dealing with technicalities. But I would definitely describe the atmosphere at work as relaxed and friendly in general. I think most of my colleagues even bring back a special album from their holidays with photos of bridges, dams, retaining walls etc.
Personally, I’m not very good at relaxing. I am a very active person, so I always have a lot of plans in my free time. But what I always find the best mental rest is a weekend in the mountains.
I’d tell him there’s no hurry.