My career as an Engineer following in the footsteps of My Mother as a Continental Member
Reina W. has joined Continental Japan on 1st April 2021 right after her graduation, the same organization, where her mother, Ritsuko W. is working as a Cyber Security Manager. With her entry, she is following her mother’s footstep, an idea which was planted in her head during internships at Continental Japan. This article shows her story of before and after joining Continental Japan, based on an interview between her, her mother and Continental Japan CEO, Bert W.
My name is Reina and I am excited to join Continental! My mother has been working for 4 years by now. I have started my journey at Continental Japan as a member of J.DRIVE 2021, two years’ intensive training program to Professional Engineer. Half a year since my entry, and from day one to now, everything has been a whirlwind and I have enjoyed every single bit.
I knew about the company because my mother joined a couple of years back, while my direct connection with Continental started in my first year at university, when I participated in an internship program. Then, through some internship experiences, I truly felt this was the place that I wanted to work at after graduation. The reasons were the global working environment, the people, and the “Diversity” culture. It might be true my mother influenced my decision but, in the end, I was the one to select Continental Japan as my career starting point. I am now in J.DRIVE program since this April, and I hope to work alongside my mother and other Continental members globally in future.
Starting my first career during COVID-19 pandemic was nothing easy. All J.DRIVE 2021 members needed to plan the schedule of working from home and working in the office, and I didn’t get to work in the same working environment with my contemporaries and other senior employees as much as I would have liked to. However, because people in Continental Japan are open and flexible to communicate with others both online and in the office, I was able to connect and work efficiently with those even from home.
Recently, I had the excellent opportunity to meet our CEO Bert W., and I talked about my experience entering Continental Japan, working the same company as my mother does and what it was like to work in Automotive industry as an engineer. My mother was also a part of the talk as well and shared her experiences at the company. We exchanged ideas on what is needed to promote the color of “Gender Diversity” and improve in order to make Continental Japan a better working environment especially for women. I personally believe a drastic change is not necessary, I hope there is no gender difference and no gender barrier in our business environment where we can collaborate with everyone. I am sure we are able to achieve goals of both personal, and company once the environment can be created.
My mother and I also got to talk about our career aspirations. Wherever I may be based in five or ten years, I always strive to be in close connection with the voices of customers and global automobile manufacturers including Japanese ones. By having a good relationship with them, we are able to define what the real technical issues are and provide the best available engineering solutions to them, maybe even before customers will recognize the issues themselves. My mother on the other hand wants to focus her attention on the Software Quality, which there still has room for improvement. She is keen on enhancing the quality level in order for Continental to provide the best Software Quality for advanced technology and products of Continental.
Last year Continental Japan celebrated its 20th anniversary and this year, Continental reached its 150th year anniversary, I am really excited to be part of this time-honored organization. I would like to contribute to Continental’s further advancement along with my mother, our CEO Bert W., and all of the other Continental members all over the world.
This article was written by our employee.
