Fictional action-movie character John Wick has been described as one of film’s greatest examples of the indomitability of the human spirit. Six team members in Haskell’s Malaysia Design Center used a Wick reference to describe Siew Tee Kong.
In nominating Kong for Haskell’s quarterly Living the Values Award, Thien Toh, Ivan Y. Ong, SoonHon Chu, Jia Yi Lim, Mei Siau and Mandy Seng, praised her effectiveness and precision.
“She drives excellence in every aspect of her work and treats everyone with respect,” their nomination letter said. “She is also a very supportive colleague who is open to different opinions. Watching Siew Tee in action is akin to watching John Wick in action.”
A Process Project Engineer, Kong credited her family’s influence for inspiring in her a spirit of camaraderie and professionalism.
The immediate Kong family has six members, five of whom are in engineering. Her father, Bunkin Kong, is retired but spent a career as a civil engineer for the government, building roads and airports in Malaysia. Her three siblings went into different engineering disciplines. Her mother, she said, made sure everyone completed their studies.
“I wanted to follow my father’s career,” Kong said. “I was only exposed to engineers growing up, and when I chose a profession. I didn’t know what else was out there.”
Her nominators credited her with inspiring younger female engineers and acting as a friend and mentor. She said those were roles she relished.
“On many occasions when I go on-site to projects, I have to work with all-male contracting teams,” Kong said. “I don’t have any problems with that. It benefits me. When you are different, people pay attention to you. It’s easy to be remembered, and it’s easier to ask for favors when something needs to get done.
“If that’s how I inspire other girls to get into engineering, that’s great. If you do your job well, as a woman in the field, it helps other girls who think it is possible. Just put in the effort.”
Kong stays nimble on the job site, displaying a sense of humor and an understanding of younger co-workers’ culture. Away from work, she recently began playing the piano – “This is a childhood dream,” she said – and enjoys learning different languages as she travels to job sites outside of Malaysia, including Korean, Japanese and now Spanish prior to the Mexico visit.
She has more than a decade of engineering experience, the last 1½ years with Haskell. Receiving the Living Values Award, which is given to those who demonstrate the company’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust, reinforced that she’s in the right place, she said.
“I am so grateful to my teammates who recognize my hard work and personality. Haskell presents such a challenge with work in meeting people from different parts of the world and learning advance software and tools. It has been a big learning curve for me, and I am enjoying it.”
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