My Career Path as a woman in engineering
In my opinion, nothing in life is accidental. Especially not the fact that I got hired at Continental – a decade ago – and I’m still here. Is it a long time? Or a short one?
I started working at Continental in the Qualification Laboratory (QL), in the area of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) at the end of my fourth year of study, just before completing my bachelor’s thesis.
The company offered me the chance to do my dissertation, the theme of my thesis (design, sizing, simulation and physical construction of a log-periodical antenna), in correlation with the job I was doing then. I noticed then how Continental encourages all those who want to improve not only professionally, but also personally. I took English and German classes, but also self-knowledge, time management courses and others. And I have no regrets. I got to know myself better, understood what I want, what I like, what defines me as a human and as an engineer with a rational thinking. And yes, I understand that my place is here, that I do what I like and that this is what I want to keep on doing. It is a work in which there is no monotony because in each project new challenges appear, and we must find quick and efficient solutions. And we do that every day. Collaboration with other colleagues is essential because our activity involves a lot of teamwork.
My professional career development? From tests planning to EMC test engineer in the EMC laboratory and now a validation engineer. Thus, due to the openness and support of both the team and the management, I had the opportunity to work in several positions, both technical and administrative. These experiences helped me expand my knowledge and have a larger perspective on what QL EMC means.
As a test engineer in the EMC laboratory, I had the opportunity to work with state-of-the art technology and equipment which implicitly meant my technical improvement.
In 2015, following the comparative analysis of the tools used by our counterparts from France (Toulouse) and Germany (Regensburg, Ingolstadt, Markdorf), I created a test planning system that is still used today.
I participated as an auditor at two partner laboratories from Germany (Mooser laboratories from Ludwigsburg and Thanning) and I was pleased to find out that our EMC laboratory in Timișoara is at least equal with the standards I found in my visits.
Currently I am EMC Validation Engineer; I'm the interface between EMC laboratory and the lab's "clients", providing support on both sides.
Over these ten years, I participated in many interesting projects with national partners or international projects. I was also a wheel of this mega mechanism which is Continental. I feel each day that my work is also important and appreciated.
This article was written by our employee.
